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Head torches and swim disturbance

A bit research will tell us that red light penetrates the least through water, and that at certain depths red objects don’t appear red.
 
I have recentry been enjoyng some very good roach fishing using a float, in the margin. 4' deep and aluminating the float with a torch
 
Bill Walford said:
Kevin,
The Ridgemonkey 150 is plenty powerful enough, has a green light option and a bit more budget friendly than the 300. BEWARE thou’ can be turned on in tackle bag very easily, it has two switches! and being rechargeable if it flattens the battery without you being aware you are buggered! I keep mine in a small plastic box to stop accidentally switching on…..I’ve been there🤣
Regards
Bill
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I found exactly the same,and use the same plastic box storage,the only fault with it,a brilliant torch.
 
I use an old 3 led energiser that even with new batteries isn’t particularly bright. But I only use the red light until I come to play a fish and even then I turn it on briefly to help me get to the edge of the bank without falling in and occasionally to see where the line is going if I think it’s getting a bit close to any snags. Other than that I’ll play the fish in dark until I need to net it. Plus it just attracts bugs to your face while your hand are too busy to swat them away if you have it on while playing a fish
 
I fished a very flooded River Loddon after dark a few years ago. I had to wade along a flooded path next to the river to get back to the car and I was amazed when my very bright headtorch picked out a group of chub mooching along the path. They were totally unphased by the torch and my presence, several fish brushing my waders as I walked along the bank. Since then I haven't been worried about using a headtorch when baiting up and casting out etc.
 
Used to be a headtorch stealth merchant; using red wherever possible to retain night vision and only the brightest setting to land fish in tricky spots / pack up in the dark etc - now I actually don't really think it matters that much in reality; both on lakes and in rivers. Having a super annoying bright headtorch annoys other anglers more than fish IME . . .

Would recommend the Nitecore NU25 (have been through the whole gamut of Petzls / Lensers / Energizers over the years) - the Sunblesa is the pikey version but almost as good - very light / bright / comfy and easy to operate as well as being rechargeable . . .
 
Jim Ufton said:
What if your red/green colourblind???? Like a lot of the male population, wich is why all of my wagglers are yellow or black,,,
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Colour blindness, as far as I understand it [ and I am colour blind ] is experiencing difficulty differentiating between colours when put side to side .i.e. comparatively .However even to a colour blind individual red will look different to green and vice versa . Another interesting aspect of colour blindness is when none colour blind people say '' well what colour is the grass ?'' The colour blind person will say green because you KNOW it is green , just like you know a red stop light on a traffic light is red . Problems start when you are given colours like a selection of pencils and are asked to pick out a colour . There are many different types of colour blindness ,,I for example struggle to differentiate between certain shades of yellow and green , red and green ,brown and red and more unusually certain shades of pink and silver .Anyway don't really know what this has to do with head torches , all I know is using red at night doesn't mess with your vision as much , and idiots with very bright head lamps are extremely annoying !
 
Steve Reed said:
I fished a very flooded River Loddon after dark a few years ago. I had to wade along a flooded path next to the river to get back to the car and I was amazed when my very bright headtorch picked out a group of chub mooching along the path. They were totally unphased by the torch and my presence, several fish brushing my waders as I walked along the bank. Since then I haven't been worried about using a headtorch when baiting up and casting out etc.
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I agree I don't really think fish spook as much as we think with light, in fact light is used by off shore fishing boats to attract vast shoals.
 
I have seen the farmer on the stretch i fish spot fish on the shallows with an high powered spotlight on his truck and they never moved just sat there.
 
Noise is more likely to spook fish, saying that though the rivers I fish aren't exactly teeming with barbel so I'm still mindful to keep the odds stacked in my favour and keep light off the water.
 
I’m pretty sure Peter Stone ( in Gravel Pit Angling) talks about shining a bright torch on floats when margin fishing baits for large Stillwater chub and the fish not being spooked
 
For what it's worth, I said yesterday that I've been enjoying some quality roach fishing in the dark illuminating the float with a tourch.

Interestingly, this evening I fished two feeder rods in the usual spot so no need for the tourch. Had four between 5 and 5.30 but didn't have a bite after 5 30. Coincidence?
 
I've never had a problem using torches at night. In fact pre chemical night lights, I always shone a torch beam onto my rod tip. Never affected my catch rate.
 
I fished the Trent with the "Biggun" backend of August just gone and let us just say that his headtorch was of the brighter variety. Lumens for the Lumen God,
We enjoyed a v good nights fishing and having not seen each other for a number of years I decided to wind in and have a social and catch-up time with him in his swim. I sat there alongside him, watching whilst he shone his torch into the margin, illuminating a shoal of Barbel that was happily foraging under his rod tips and that were in no way whatsoever disturbed by the light. Where as I couldn't actually see his hook bait I could see the Barbel clearly rooting for food. It was a very surreal feeling watching his rod tip bend round and then seeing the hooked individual bolt whilst the rest of the shoal carried on regardless.
 
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