How the Right LED Fishing Lights Can Take Charter Trips to the Next Level

As the old saying goes, you don’t miss water until the well runs dry, so you might not think about your boat’s lights until something goes out, gets damaged, or needs to be replaced. But if you’re looking to enhance the charter fishing experience for your passengers in any of the areas below, you should take a closer look at your current lighting setup and identify how an LED fishing light upgrade can help attract new customers, enhance the charter experience, improve safety, and increase your bottom line.

Raising Bait With LED Fishing Lights

Using LED lights to raise bait and attract fish can change how you think about preparing for charter trips. By projecting specially designed lights on top of the water at night or before sunrise, charter boats can draw in baitfish like shad and minnows thanks to phototaxis—their natural curiosity for light. Raising bait with light saves you time, money, and trouble by eliminating trips to bait shops or having to throw bait nets before scheduled trips. You can use that time to rig lines or prep gear instead.

However, not all LED lights are capable of raising bait. Lights need to be specifically designed with a lens collimator and high-power chip to ensure they are bright enough to penetrate the water. You can’t go by lumen count alone since it only measures the amount of light emitted rather than penetration power. Effective bait-raising lights need to emit light that’s powerful enough to penetrate deep enough to reach your targeted depth while also being the optimal wavelengths for attracting fish.

How can you tell if a light is designed to raise bait or not? You shouldn’t assume every LED fishing light can attract bait unless it’s specifically engineered to do so. The best way to check? Ask to see it in action:

The number one secret of the captains on Wicked Tuna? They trust DuraBrite lights because everyone has lights, but only DuraBrite lights bring fish right to their boat.

Brightness isn’t the only thing that matters—color is just as important since fish will ignore one light yet flock around another even when both are equally bright. The white light of LEDs is optimal for attracting fish because they combine blue, green, and red to create the color white. Studies show that blue and green are the two colors fish are most naturally attracted to, so by illuminating the water with a properly powered white LED light, you have the best chance of attracting fish to your boat.

Maximizing Fishing Hours and Revenue

Are you looking to expand your charter availability into nighttime or multi-day trips? If so, the right lights are an essential starting point for expanding your schedule and extending service hours. Expanding service hours directly influences revenue, proving advantageous for business growth and sustainability—and it allows you to get customers out on the water when the bite is hottest, no matter the time of day.

Along with extending fishing hours, LED runs more efficiently than any other type of lighting system on the market. Whether you’re running them off battery or generator power, you’ll be able to power them longer without having to fill up or top off as frequently, all the more important when planning for extended or multi-day outings.

LEDs also have the longest lifespans on the market today, so they last longer without draining batteries or fuel over time. Running for 12 hours a day, they’ll last 11 years before you start noticing any performance degradation. Even then, they won’t go out completely; they just won’t be as bright as they were when originally manufactured. That’s why you also need to make sure the manufacturer designed the light housing, mounts, seals, and other components to last as long as the chip, otherwise it will lead to premature failure before the light’s end of life.

If a light doesn’t specifically mention it’s designed to attract baitfish, there’s a good chance it won’t. Explore DuraBrite’s Gen2 Lineup to start exploring lights designed to illuminate your boat and the water while creating an irresistible attractant for any fish in the water.

Explore DuraBrite Bait Lights

Safety Whenever You’re Anchored or Underway

As a charter captain, your number one priority is ensuring the safety of every passenger on your boat. Proper lighting is paramount for safety whenever you’re on the water at night. Deck and cabin lights should provide more than functional lighting—they should be strategically positioned to eliminate shadows and dark spots on the deck when operating at night to prevent mishaps.

When anchored, passengers should be able to move around the deck confidently, avoiding potential hazards that would otherwise be obscured in low-light situations. Proper illumination makes for safer angling, especially when a trophy is on the line, when baiting hooks, or when handling gear.

While the right lights should help you, your crew, and your passengers see better at night, they should also need to ensure you can be seen by other boats. Adequate lighting, when anchored or trolling at night, helps prevent collisions with other vessels. The farther off other boats can see you, the safer you and your passengers will be.

Delivering more lumens per watt than any other lighting system, LEDs have become the best option for captains needing to strategically tuck lights into tight spots.

Easier Loading and Unloading

The good news is that the right fishing lights aren’t only useful when you’re on the water—they can also help at the dock. With properly placed LED fishing lights, you can also illuminate the key areas you use when loading or unloading the boat for an easier experience getting on and off the water while also creating a safer environment for passengers to board and step off the boat in dark or stormy conditions.

[insert image of boat lights illuminating dock]

Fishing boat lights illuminating dock at night, side view

DuraBrite: Best-in-Class LED Fishing Lights for Charter Boats

When you’re ready to take the charter fishing experience to the next level for your passengers, choose DuraBrite for the best-in-class lineup of LED fishing lights designed specifically to withstand the rigors of harsh marine environments. Backed by a ten-year warranty, our lights are trusted by the captains of Wicked Tuna, the NYPD Harbor Unit’s entire fleet, and lobstermen across Maine, so we’re confident they’ll withstand anything you put them up against.