Chem lights taped to paddles are a great idea. ALONG with other adequate lighting. Its just not expected at night for a kayak to be out in the middle of a lake. Is it even legal to be on a body of water without legal lighting after dark? I have no clue what is required on kayaks or if they're even legal at night.

See that [censored] all the time no matter where we are.




I nearly ran over a canoe in a river one year during the white bass run. Lucky for him I decided to turn on my front light.

I truly despise that ramp but every time I haul my boat down there to take my FIL fishing he always say "lets launch at Diablo East". One of these days I'm gonna drive right past it just to tick him off.

Kayaks are legal at night however to BE LEGAL they are REQUIRED to have at minimum a white stern light visible for two miles. Lights are cheap. Pretty ridiculous someone would be on the water in any vessel without them.

Kayaks are also required to have a noise making device - seen several people get ticketed for no whistle.

So since it's not against the law means it's safe? One would hope common sense would come into play and discourage people from running fast after dark.

I know the answer to the this question, but I'm wondering what the "on plane" crowd knows.

What happens, day or night, lights or no lights, when a motorized vehicle that underway collides with a non-motorized vehicle that's not underway? How much is the fine, if any? How much jail time, if any?

speed limit after dark is "minimum planing speed". That varies for each craft. My Skeeter doesn't plane out till 40 or so.

The lake I was on has no posted limits. However, there are several in southern Dallas area with a posted speed of "all watercraft 35mph max" at each boat ramp.

To answer your question. The person underway will 99% of the time be found responsible for a collision. Failure to control vessel/vehicle would likely be the citation. But, that may differ at night without lights on the anchored (or moving) vessel that was hit.

I was running back to a midnight weigh in on Lewisville once and caught sight of some lines running thru the sky, so I shut her down. Come to find out, there was this BIG yacht with 8 anchor lines out and not a single light ANYWHERE, and this was right next to the running lanes. I spot lighted them to know there were 8 anchor lines out. Probably a 50 or 55' boat, too. I guess rules do not apply to them. Another time I was heading back in after fishing at night for a while and noticed white lines in the water, only thing that does that is a boat, er, excuse me, a jet flea. There were 2 jet fleas and a cabin boat running at night w/o light # 1 on, so I am VERY leary running on Lewisville. Can scare the crud out of you when you see something like that. Of course, there IS a reason why Lewisville is one of the most deadly lakes in Texas, too. Go figure. Tight lines, keep safe and good luck.

Thad Rains

I can tell you for a fact than if there is a collision at night and the vessel hit does not have proper lights it is the dark vessels fault.
As far as going 60 at night it is not safe either. Not illegal on most lakes but not safe.