Charging your Glow

[trollmonkey]

What are you guys using to charge your glow lures, hootchies,dodgers,etc.? I recently bought an LED flashlight for lighting them up,but haven't found time or willing fish to experiment so far.

[MackPrince]

A 35mm camera flash works AWESOME. Click, and you're done.

[MMDON]

A 35mm camera flash works AWESOME. Click, and you're done.

Which works even better when the lure is put in a coffee can.

[Full_Monte]

What about which glow products last the longest after being charged? Has anyone done a side-by-side comparison between brands? I have heard that some "glow" products don't really work well.

[AFDan52]

I use the Radical Glow stuff, to me it lasts a very long time. I have not done aside by side comparison, but I have seen the and used the Radical Glow tubes and I am very Happy with them. Just my take.

[SuperD]

For beads and plastics, Radical Glow is the only brand I'll buy now. Got tired of being scammed by the packaging. When I buy glow products, I always home test them to see what I've got.

[SilverBullets]

I use the camera flash and coffee can method. As far as glow beads, I use Radical Glow on my glow spinners. Years ago I came upon a website that sold glow blades that advertised a 8 hour glow time. I ordered them and these blades will literally keep you up at night for a good 4 hours! They were called Nite-Lite 8Hr Glow Title Shot Spinner Blades made by a company called Fin-Tech. As far as I know they don't sell them anymore, but might be worth checking out. The blades came in around 6 different colors.

[Full_Monte]

I use the camera flash and coffee can method. As far as glow beads, I use Radical Glow on my glow spinners. Years ago I came upon a website that sold glow blades that advertised a 8 hour glow time. I ordered them and these blades will literally keep you up at night for a good 4 hours! They were called Nite-Lite 8Hr Glow Title Shot Spinner Blades made by a company called Fin-Tech. As far as I know they don't sell them anymore, but might be worth checking out. The blades came in around 6 different colors.

That sounds pretty impressive! Are you sure they weren't radioactive? Have you put a Geiger Counter next to your tackle box?

[SuperD]

Funny how we talk about how long the glow will last on a charge. If it hasn't caught a fish in 30 minutes, it is either getting checked or replaced!!!

[DLM]

This ties in with my winter project that I will share when it is complete.

I found a 12v black light on the internet that is about 13" long. I am making a box and mounting the light to the inside of the lid. The sides, top and bottom inside will be covered with mirrors. Plug it in to the boats cigarette lighter after launching and everything will be fully charged by the time I get to the hotspot. The box will hold several dodgers and lures so I can always have the next sure thing charged and ready to go. Entire project will be under $30. Box should be about 14"X6"X6" when finished.

Anyway, that is the plan and what else am I going to do this winter now that all the lures have been retied.

This of course is for the early morning hours. During the day I just keep what I think I will be using out and let mother nature charge it up.

[MackPrince]

I agree with SuperD, although when jigging at night if I haven't glowed up in about 10 minutes, it is time for a recharge. "Make it bright, get a bite."

[HiTechKoke]

One thing to keep in mind is that the length of time a product glows is affected by the temperature. You should find the glow time is significantly reduced when put into water. Try it out with some ice water versus the product in the air. So while it may look great on the surface the products will generally lose their glow a lot quicker in water, especially our Kokanee water of low 50's. In the end I am a huge fan of the Radical Glow products as they they out perform other products in their class by a long shot.... of course more importantly they catch fish too!

Kevin

[Bduck]

I use to work for the Navy on fast attack nuclear power submarines at Mare Island shipyard. My glow has been charged for yrs. Give me a spear gun and I'll take care of business.

[SuperD]

Something new and flashy!

I just ordered one.

http://www.rapala.com/products/tools/charge_n_glow/

[DLM]

Very interesting. It looks like there is a notch at each end??? maybe for your line to go through, close the lid and hold the lure in place during charging?? Hard to tell the size and I did not see it on the website, hopefully it would be large enough to charge a dodger also.

[SuperD]

Some times it might take me 15 - 20 minutes of run time to get to my fishing destination once I leave the marina/ramp. In the past, I could only hit the lure for a minute with the spotlight before I ran it down. Glow time and intensity is in part determined by charge time. Now I can throw my lures in the case when I leave the ramp and have them charging while I'm riding out to the secret spot.

[SuperD]

Okay, I got my rapala charge 'n glow last night and was not impressed. The power button has to be held continuously to be on and the amount of illumination charge is weaker than I had expected. I give it an overall thumbs down.

[skookum9]

Wow! The idea of using a black light to charge your lures, I never would have thought that would work. I use an LED flashlight, as was initially mentioned here, when I want to charge my glow in the dark's. This works really well because of the extended battery life of these little lights. The only thing to keep in mind is to make sure of the flashlight quality that you buy, not all LED's are equal. I would make sure that the light I use was at least of an 80 lumin output, and I really enjoy the fact that the one I currently use is also waterproof, in case I accidentally found myself fishing near water, or heaven forbid, in the rain. :)

With all of that said, I have to add that I had a very pleasant conversation with Gary at the sportsman's show on Wednesday about glow lures and tackle. As he demonstrated to me, when you buy the good stuff, it would seem that a charge is unnecessary. He uses a black light to display the quality of the flourescent properties of his tackle, and it really shows up well. In theory, these quality lures should show up very well even in some of the deeper waters as they seem to reflect UV light very well. With the demonstration of his lures/flashers/beads, I don't see the need for stuff that requires a charge unless you are fishing excessive depths, or in water that is not very clear. Perhaps I am wrong about this, if so, please let me know.

[DLM]

Wow! The idea of using a black light to charge your lures, I never would have thought that would work.

With the demonstration of his lures/flashers/beads, I don't see the need for stuff that requires a charge unless you are fishing excessive depths, or in water that is not very clear. Perhaps I am wrong about this, if so, please let me know.

I am only concerned with charging and using glows about the first 2 hours of fishing in the morning. When the first lure hits the water the sun has not yet creeped over the horizon so not a lot of uv to be had. As you know more often then not there is also cloud cover here in Oregon (duh) which also cuts down on the uv. So until the sun gets up and starts providing some rays I go with glow.

[Jim F]

it would seem that a charge is unnecessary.

uhm, Night time!

[DLM]

uhm, Night time!

Can't do that here. 1 hour before sunrise or 1 hour after sunset only.

[Bduck]

A good way to rig a lite up is purchase a good 12V LED from maybe a trailer supply and make your own box, lined with stainless steel, aluminum, or even just foil to reflect the lighting from all around. LED's don't use much battery power as it is. It doesn't have to be that big and can stay on board at all times.

[SuperD]

This was posted by one of our members on a different board.

A black light shining on a glow surface for 30 seconds will cause that surface to be 10 times brighter than a flashlight on it for 6 hours.

Here is a simple list of bulbs in order from least to most efficient:

Least - White LED's
Blue/Purple LED's
Incandescent - standard light bulb
Compact Fluorescent or CFL - spiral tube, screw-in
Fluorescent Bulbs - long tubes
UV LED's
Black Light Tube
Best - Direct Sunlight

[Old School]

I heard about the black light thing last year and bought one of those mini LED blacklight flashlights off EBAY. It has about 9 LED bulbs and takes AA batteries. It seems to work pretty good. Ultimately, I was disappointed with the results and went back to my old SLR camera flash/ shiny can.

SD, Sorry bout the Rapala box. You had me sold.

Old School

[Bduck]

As I was doing my normal surfing on the net, I came across this site and found to be interesting on using glow in the dark paints & powder. http://glowinc.com/glow-in-the-dark/fishing-lures.aspx