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Head Torch

Alex Green

Alex Green

Senior Member
Does shining a head toch on / over the water really spook barbel?

Are the red filters really necessary?

Would be interested to hear views....
 
With regards to red filters they certainly help you to maintain your night vision. So, if you're rebaiting a hook for example, as soon as you switch off your headtorch your vision is perfectly clear to cast in straight away and you'll have no problems focusing on your isotopes etc.

However, if fish see red better than other colours, as many will argue, does this spook the barbel???
 
i thought the red filters were used because red is the part of the spectrum that disappears first in water so fish cant see it from under water. thing is, how far under water do they have to be?
 
I've forgotton most of the science I was taught at school, but does that mean that violet (opposite end of the spectrum?) is most visible? If so, feel free to send me your purple haze Delks if you're worried about them spooking the fish.:D
 
Andrew Green said:
i thought the red filters were used because red is the part of the spectrum that disappears first in water so fish cant see it from under water. thing is, how far under water do they have to be?
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Red is the first colour to be filtered out of the spectrum and at 9m it has totally gone, but this is a divers view, ie being underwater at depth. At 10m and below the sea bottom to me gets very boring and uncolourful, without the aid of a torch.
The way is see it is if a light with a red filter is shone onto the water, at some stage the red will be filtered out, but the rest of the light spectrum will still shine through, because its not pure red light. imo.
 
Hello Alex, sure this topic has been covered before. There is a video on Youtube of someone shining a torch on barbel in a river in Croatia without it spooking them. Tbh I tend to keep a light on just to keep the rats at bay in the dark and from the previous post opinion as usual was divided but don't think it spooks the fish.
 
Used red filter whilst carping...mice came right up to me...!!!
 
From my experience , bringing a barbel to the surface at night in turbid water and shining a bright white light does spook them if you are not careful . Solution , , don't use a bright light / don't shine directly on the barbel . Not sure if using a red option would help , on my torch[ Energiser] the red option does seem softer ,as in less intense . In terms of your own sight , red option is much better as it doesn't screw up your night vision when you switch off your torch . Hope this helps
 
i prefer the light from the green filters I have on mime as i think it generates a much softer light, no scientific basis for this just seems better for my 44 year old eyes
 
It's not exactly scientific but the red low wattage laser my brother in law teases his dogs with scares the bejeebers out of his goldfish when the beam crosses the tank.
 
Adrian Williams said:
It's not exactly scientific but the red low wattage laser my brother in law teases his dogs with scares the bejeebers out of his goldfish when the beam crosses the tank.
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We used to use those type lasers to scare coots, tufties and swans off of our baits at night while carping, and some it scared witless, others ignored it. It would seem they got used to it after a while. Oddly, it didn't seem to upset the carp like it did your friends goldfish...probably because our beam was directed across the surface and so was reflected upwards rather than penetrating downwards towards the fish

Oh...and before the bird police get a head of steam up...it's an awful lot kinder to frighten our feathered friends off than risk the alternative :D

Cheers, Dave.
 
I've watched barbel feeding for half an hour or so on pellets in 8 inches of water at my feet at night in the Summer using a red led head torch. As an experiment I switched to white light from behind my hand and slowly moved the beam onto them. Sent them into blind panic and they didn't return.

I have no doubts that the dull red LEDs are worth using, and they are far better for your night vision, especially on those nights when the moon is bright, but you still need some extra light.
 
I used to fish the Grand Union Canal for carp and the location method was to walk the banks at night shining a powerful torch into the water. Picked out the carp a treat - they seemed pretty casual about being caught in the searchlight. I'm not sure that the barbel are that bothered either.

Steve
 
I've had a laser pen shone in my eye and trust me, it's no surprise that it scares the birds off! Imagine a camera flash (red in my case) going off directly in front of your eye and you've got the picture.
 
Anthony Pearson said:
I've had a laser pen shone in my eye and trust me, it's no surprise that it scares the birds off! Imagine a camera flash (red in my case) going off directly in front of your eye and you've got the picture.
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Anthony, laser pen in your eyes - you must be a teacher! The only way of deducing whether barbel are spooked by a headtorch is to try it. The observations on this thread seem inconclusive. Some living creatures cannot see red light. Whether fish come into this category is an interesting question.
 
Anthony, laser pen in your eyes - you must be a teacher!
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Jim, I've no bait boat so have to swim out in scuba gear to place my boilies in the clear patches on my local gravel pit. Bloke in the next peg....:rolleyes:
 
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