Why do Underwater Lights Attract Fish?

Now you may be asking, “Why do underwater lights attract fish?” In this article, not only will we explore why underwater lights attract fish, but also the best underwater light to buy for your specific underwater lighting application.

What are Underwater Lights?

Underwater lights are lights that are able to be submerged under the surface of the water for a beautiful aquatic glow. These lights are proven to lure fish for commercial and recreational fishing applications. Various types of underwater lights include LEDs, xenons, metal-halide, mercury vapor, and halogen bulbs.

Why do they attract fish?

Most fish have two color receptors in their eyes. These color receptors are best at picking up blue wavelengths at 425-490 nanometers and near UV wavelengths in 320-380 nanometers. Shrimp and insects have both of these wavelengths in their color vision, alongside green light receptors at 530 nanometers.

Phytoplankton

Perhaps the most significant aspect of fish attraction to underwater lights is Phytoplankton. These microscopic photosynthesizers are attracted to underwater lights as a food source when the sun goes down and day turns to night. As there is nothing else to feed on, phytoplankton swarm LED underwater lights as a food source. Other aquatic life will be drawn to the phytoplankton as a food source; ultimately creating an underwater fish feeder.

The Food Chain

As an underwater light is left fixed in a single location, more and more fish will discover the light and come back to feed. This process will continue all the way up the food chain until all sorts of aquatic life are congregated around the light.

What makes a good fish attractant?

1. High Intensity
   • High-intensity underwater lights are essential for increased visibility of the light alongside increased lumen output. Increased lumen output and increased visibility will lure more phytoplankton and aquatic life to your underwater light. LED lights are the best in providing high lumen output at lower electrical costs and are the go-to products for underwater fishing lights. Different LEDs release differing lumen outputs as a measure of their power. White, green, aqua, red and blue EpiLEDs release 180, 130, 110, 90, and 50 lumens per LED respectively. In effect, when buying LED lights you need to think about the color of light, but also lumen amounts.
2. Emit Light similar in wavelength to Blue or Green
   • While having blue or green light is not essential to attracting aquatic life, it is helpful. White light also works because of its heavy intensity and because its broad spectrum includes green and blue. Here at Loomis LED, we sell a broad range of colors including white, green, aqua, red, and blue.
3. Powered by a portable electrical supply
   • Being able to be fixed to the boat and hooked up to a marine battery
4. Be Submersible
   • Using above-water lights is not as efficient when compared to submersible underwater lights because a lot of light is lost and reflected off the surface of the water. Additionally, water acts as the perfect heat sync allowing your light to operate at a higher temperature with more wattage.

What color light attracts fish the best?

Overall, green light attracts the most fish. Green has a high lumen output of 130 per LED alongside a 520 nm wavelength. Shrimp and insects have both of these wavelengths in their color vision alongside green light receptors around 530 um. Therefore, a green light is both bright and attracts the bait that many other fish will feed on.

Ranking Colors of Fish Attractants

1. Green
2. Aqua
3. White
4. Blue
5. Red

What Submersible Fishing Light Should I Buy?

All underwater fishing lights will attract fish one way or another. Depending on your intending fishing application there are many different lighting options to check out. It is essential to carefully assess your intended application for your underwater light.

Important Questions to Ask Yourself When Buying an Underwater Light

• What is my water clarity?
• What beam angle do I want?
• How bright do I want the light to be?
• What am I going to use as a power source?
• Is it for a fishing application?
• What color underwater light do I want?
• Is it for freshwater or saltwater?
• What company do I buy from?
• What is the lumen to dollar ratio on the product?
• Is the company providing electrical information to determine the approximate lumen amount?

Below we will give you the information to best decide the answers to these important questions.

Why choose Loomis LED?

Here at Loomis LED, we offer high-intensity underwater lights at a fraction of the cost to competition. We boast the highest lumen to dollar ratio in the market by far. To keep costs low, we don’t use custom injection molded parts. Instead, we use low-cost high-quality materials that get the job done. While we may not use fancy packaging, we sell high quality, incredibly bright underwater lights designed to last a lifetime. To us, the aesthetic of the product itself isn’t important as they will be submerged underwater where you don’t see them anyways. We offer underwater boat lights, transom lights, docks lights, gigging lights, scuba dive lights, fishing drop lights, portable battery-powered lights, pool lights, and the world’s first underwater kayak lights. Below is a comparison of how our light compares to other lights in the underwater transom lighting industry when looking at lumen per dollar ratios.

Issues in the Underwater Lighting Industry

There is a lot of false advertising in the industry when it comes to lumen totals. Many companies don’t include electrical information, making it impossible to determine the correct lumen amounts. For years, companies like Aqua Dock Lights has been selling a 24,000-lumen dock light with no electrical information. Many of these falsely advertised products are made in China and fail within a year or two of use.