Under water LED squid light

Squid. I don’t need to tell our readers what a fantastic asset they are. Just about essential, when chasing jewfish. Deadly on snapper. Preferred over everything else, by kings. Right now in Sydney we're experiencing a good run of kingfish inside the Harbour. If you can find squid, you will score a kingfish. If you can’t find squid, you won’t find kingfish. Kayden Dhyon found both last week:

"Hi mate, went out today out of Tunks Park. Managed 10 good squid and went out to the spot you mentioned but had no luck so we went back and tried around different moorings around the spit and managed 3 nice ones and released a couple rats. Biggest was 88cm"

Squid are so essential to kingfish success that a lot of big king specialists now spend the night before fishing on the water. That is, taking the sleeping bag and air mattress along. Why? Because squid are much easier to catch at night:

Squid - and the small fish they prey on – are attracted to light. Which is why commercial squid boats have giant lighting arrays:

Some of our clients are copying the technique – in a small way, of course. Here’s Craig Till showing some good ol’ Aussie inventiveness:

"Hi Andy I saw your light the other night thought I would try my one i used a pool noodle to float the light and lead sinker to hold it straight and it will also follow the tide . Here is a pic"

So these overnighter fishos drift under well lit bridges or whatever, and bag out on squid. In a way you never could, during the day. The downside being that for a lot of busy blokes it’s not easy to find time to spend a night – as well as most of the next day – on the water. What if there was an easier way??
 
Meet our new underwater squid light. An amazing bit of gear:

 Here's how effective the green lights can be:

Specifications - and prices - on our lights are impressive: 

Underwater squid light
LEDs colour: green
Lifespan: 50,000 hours continuous
Weight: 400g 
5 side panels, gives 360 degree view
Voltage: 12-24V
Power: 8 watts
Cord: 7 metres with copper alligator clips
Brightness: 900 lumens
Dimensions: 180 x 30mm, easy to store
No. of LEDs 180 (5 sides, 36 per side)
0.9 amp draw, runs 8 times longer than equivalent output Halogen lamp
Price: $55
Delivery: $10, to anywhere in Australia

First shipment only arrived last week so two nights later we headed down to Balmoral wharf about 9:00PM. I set the green LED squid light off the end and powered it up with one of our 12V 7AH batteries. After about 15 minutes there were hundreds of tiny baitfish slowly circling the light, with more arriving every minute.

Around the 30 minute point a couple of squid appeared, one of them big. I had my Yamashita jig set about 3 metres from the light. That one's caught a lot of squid but they ignored it. Instead, they charged through the baitfish cloud every minute or two. My squid jig was 2-3 times the size of the baitfish. We were gone in under an hour because it was pretty chilly and my wife was getting cold. I posted the videos to Facebook and our keener clients ordered straight away. Positive feedback arriving already:

Here’s how it works, for one of our canny clients:

1. Purchase cheap plastic laundry hamper, from ALDI or K-Mart;
2. Head down to your local well lit jetty or bridge, after dark;
3. Lower light into the water and connect to battery;
4. Baitfish will appear first, and then squid. They get very excited, by the light;
5. Catch them in the usual way, using a small squid jig;
6. Put them in the laundry basket – which has the top held on, with some cable ties;
7. When you’ve caught enough squid lower the basket down beside a pylon and tie it off with a dark coloured rope or something that’s not too obvious;
8. Go home and have a good nights’ sleep in your own bed;
9. Next morning launch the boat and get to the wharf early to collect your baits.

Note that, in the unlikely you can’t find any fish with your squid baits, the squid themselves make a delicious meal:

We’ve had an amazing response, with a lot of clients already aware of how deadly these lights are:

• "Andrew - keen to order one of the new squid lights please. Happy to pick up. Couldn't see them on your shop yet. Cheers Richard"
• "Hi Andrew, Wanting to buy one of your new underwater Squid lights, plus delivery."
• "Could you let me know when the green ones come into stock please."
• "I will take a green one when they come in andy"
• "I’m interested to get one too . Let me know when they arrive andy"
• "Put me down for one green please."
• "100% would get a green one cheers"
• "How do I order a green one"
• "Put me down for 2 please Andrew"
• "The green lights are red hot with squid
• "I have 4 which i use on both sides of the boat"
• "Light up about 20ft circle around the entire 21ft 210 Outrage"
• "Andy, I'll definitely take a green light mate. If you can post up a 'How to order' I'll jump on it straight away mate. Thanks heaps."

One last request, if not too much to ask? Let me know how you go. Squid have worked for us:

And I'm sure they'll work for you too:

Thanks for reading.