You need UV lights to make your rods light up Tim. Colored lights won’t do it. Any rod with fluorescent on it will light up under UV. You don’t want the entire rods to glow either. You want the rod tip to light up and a few parts of the rod as well as your line. You want to be able to see the rod tip go down and also the part of the rod your grabbing when you hook into a fish. Not the entire rod. Warrior cat rods do not light up at all so your going to be disappointed in those. If your going to be pulling planer boards then I recommend the BCF trolling rods. They are the best planer boarding rods hands down and it’s not even close. They have a much softer tip than any other catfish rods I’ve used which helps smooth out the pull as well as cut down on hung up boards by 90%. For regular drift fishing I like a rod that loads up good like a whisker seeker which helps set the hook but for planer boarding those kinds of rods are loading up and helping you get snagged more often.

Nice upgrades! The laundry room is back in order and I get to go fishing next weekend. Three weekends and no water is more than I can stand.

Chris, I mainly wanted to try the green LEDs to add light to the back of the boat without calling in every cotton pickin bug within 10 miles. I am looking at the black lights this morning. I thought it strange that they come on a 1/4" jack instead of just a pig tail like other lights do. The jack makes it a bit more challenging to mount in a place it will light up the rods without being in your face.

I looked at the links you added to the thread. I also saw the UV tape lights and I think they might work a little better for my boat. I could put a strip on each side outside the transom under the rods and I bet they would light up real nice. I am going to switch out my rods. I'll keep the warrior cats for anchoring and I'm going to get a new set for pulling boards. I will look at the Big Cat Fever rods you recommended.

Thanks brother! Have a great week...

Those UV strip lights will work fine Tim. Just make sure you test them at night on your rods before you install them. When considering light colors fir the boat I will say this, Red attracts the least bugs but you can’t see that well. Blue is second best allowing you to see enough to fish and attracts few insects. Green is 3rd best in which you will see a little better than blue but more insects are attracted to them. This is not my opinion on light color but just the facts. I actually have to turn my green light off sometimes due to bugs. There are a ton of insects in Texas!

I like the slime green, if I have to put up with a few more bugs, I will. It just looks cool. You got me all twisted up on rods and reels man. I am looking hard at those Shimano Tekotas and the BCF trolling rods. The rods are not priced too bad. About the same as most good custom rods. I have never bought a $200 reel and these are getting close to that. Give me a while and I'll have myself talked into them...

You get what you pay for Tim! I will let you borrow a couple of Tekotas to fish with and your mind will be made up in 1 trip buddy. I’ve converted a bunch of guys that have been Lews and Abu guys. They crank harder, the drag is better, snd the gear ratio is amped up to get all those long lines and heavy planer boards with big baits in quickly and with little effort. In the grand scheme of things Tekotas will actually cost you less over the long run. I’m sure they probably have a problem from time to time but I haven’t had to send in 1 Tekota for repair in 5 yrs while I’ve sent in at least 8 Abus in that time. An Abu 6500 c3 with 1 repair job will cost you about the same as the Tekota. When you get one in your hands you will feel and see the difference. Nothing wrong with the Abu or the Lews for the most part but the Tekota is perfectly suited for reeling in heavy planer boards with big baits. I will say it again, you get what you pay for in the Tekota.

My son is a fire arms expert. He always tells me the same thing. "buy once cry once" is his favorite thing to tell me when I say something is too expensive. I tell him my life doesn't depend on things like his does but he always seems to convince me in the end. I'm seeing the same thing here. I have had some of my Lew's reels for a couple years now and they are starting to get sloppy. I'm going to order one and give Tekota and one BCF rod. I'll give the combo a go and if it's half what you say it is, I'll be getting 5 more of each...

Your gonna love em buddy! The biggest bonus is little kids like Wyatt the Riot and Action Jaxon can crank in fish twice as big on a Tekota I guarantee. I would get 2 if I were going to try them out. One for each side of boat. If you don’t like em here in a month I will buy both from you before big fish season.

Chris, the more I study those reels the more impressed I am. 38" of line retrieval per crank. 38"! For comparison, the TEK600 is only 25" (only) and the Lew's speed cast that I'm currently using is 23". When you say they are good at getting your baits back to the boat when it's time to move, wow! You mean it! That retrieval rate would make a huge difference. Drag is good, line capacity is good. The frame looks small but the line capacity says otherwise.

Once again I have been schooled by the great and powerful Azul...

Took Sandy Too back to the lake last night. Wanted to do a little night fishing. Got her on the water, caught some bait and then I went from fishing to floating around like an idiot. I had lighting problems. First, the green LEDs I installed - When I turned them on they came one and after a few seconds they faded out to nothing. Turned them off, waited a few seconds, same thing. Don't know if I have a voltage issue or a polarity issue or what. Second, the stern light socket got all jacked up somewhere along the line and the pins at the bottom are bent so the light wont light. I need to replace the socket. Next, the headlights. I turned them on to see what they looked like in the dark on the water, and they came on fine, I adjusted the angle a bit and turned them off. I started fishing. I suspended some lines on a ledge. Got bit after just a few minutes and the fish was a saboteur. He took the line and wrapped up all three of the others I had out. I had a huge tangled mess. The only light I had (that worked) was my head lamp and if I turned it on my face would be covered in bugs in a few seconds. I pulled the lines in and decided it just wasn't my night. Went to head in and turned the headlights on and nothing. Some days we fish some days we float around like idiots. Last night I was the idiot. Got some troubleshooting to do when I get back out there...nuts!

Night fishing can be a real pain in the tail! I’ve been having a ton of those side running fish lately. Lots of tangled wrapped up lines and it’s a real mess when the rods are going down left snd right. Get you a UV fishing headlamp Tim for backup. Here is the one I use and it does pretty good. Also toggles to green if you need to unwrap lines and such.
https://www.amazon.com/Quarrow-Head...6020&sprefix=uv+headlamp+&sr=8-5

love the color. I got one in the cart!