Do any of you guys know a cheaper alternative, to a underwater light, than the $600-$700 ones I'm finding online? Is there a way to make homemade ones? Thanks for any info.

Academy sells a 3 footer for $20. I bought 2 and they are VERY bright and do the job.
Tight lines!
Jim

I assumed you were referring to the "green" type... that is what these are, also, they are 12 volt so they are portable.

Check out SeaBlaze underwater lights, 12 or 24V. I have three SeaBlaze 3 lights on the sport boat. I will be fishing off the back platform coming this summer.
Seablaze 3 run around $220, 750 lumens, white, green or blue
Seablaze X run around $420, ~4K lumens, multi color

Great long lasting lights and best lumen/$ you can get. And you dont have to worry about a wall outlet. Or buy a simple 110-12V inverter and run them off the wall outlet.

Bought one of these last year for the slip and worked good, but it really needs a basket around it or something to keep the fish from bumping it.
http://www.fishinglightsetc.com/MagnumComboII.html

Thanks, those are some great options.

I used this info to make the one for at my dad's. He did most of the work. It's been in the water for about 9 months so far.

http://2coolfishing.com/ttmbforum/showthread.php?t=210879

this is how it turned out. and this is muddy water also.

You can price all the stuff out and it ended up being about right around $100.

Biggest price variance was how long of extension cord to use, and getting a metal box big enough to hold the ballast to help dissipate the heat.

I believe i got the best deal on EBay for the cord and local electrical supply store for the box.