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This is my first flounder gigging report here. Sorry for the late report. Hopefully I'll be posting a few in the future. My son-in-law and I wanted to get a gigging trip in before the end of October. My high school bud and I have been gigging on Galveston's West End since the 70's with the older red Coleman lanterns with the reflective plate. We walked in tennis shoes or just went barefooted......not anymore. Nothing wrong with Coleman lanterns, but times are a changing. My SIL and I decided to build diy LED underwater flounder gigging lights.
My SIL and I decided we would make 2 lights. I bought 2 LED spotlights and 2 LED floodlights from Oznium.com. Phil is the owner there and talk about customer service. I emailed him a question at 3am and got his reply within minutes. I bought the Cool White ones and they are super bright and have a slight yellowish tint to them. We made the run to Home Depot and Lowes to get the pvc and connections. We followed the build thread over at the 2coolfishing website. We made a few changes that may be helpful to others. The pvc piece that keeps the submersible LED light inside the 45 degree pvc is different. Don't know the exact name of the piece but it leaves a bigger gap allowing more of the LED to show. I just had to put a little more clear silicone around the LEDs. I made sure to put plenty of silicone behind the LEDs as well before we glued the pvc together.
Here's a pic to show you what I'm taking about:
My SIL works with a machinist so he asked him to machine the lower LED spotlight pvc casing so more of the LED would show. Instead of cutting and angling the upper LED floodlight pvc casing he cut the pvc to resemble a traffic light. The upper lip protrudes causing the light to be directed with the lower end letting the light disperse well. He even beveled out the bottom rounding it out more. I think this is more for looks, but I like it.
Check it out:
Here's a pic of the lower end of the flounder light with both the lower spotlight and upper floodlight showing:
To power the units we decided to go the RC battery route because we wanted a self-contained unit. We are using a 11.1 v 3 cell LiPO battery that weighs 11.11 oz. They are pricey at $58 each. Venom is the maker. I did a quick test before we went gigging that night and the battery ran 5.25 hrs and was still going strong. We figure we could get 8 or more hrs off each rechargeable battery. We didn't want to have to count our time out in the water and wanted to be able to use it as a general floodlight around the truck. I bought a charger for the batteries for around $75 and it charges each one in about 45 minutes. Yup, going this route is pricey, but I'm figuring keeping these lights for a long, long time.
Here's a pic of the battery for size reference and the 2" compartment it fits nicely in with a screw on top. The main handle is 1" pvc.
I didn't have time to find a proper strap for the lights. They are super light but I wanted to be able to have hands free operation at times. I tied some rope and made a strap which worked really well. I think I will keep it as is.
I wanted a longer light to be able to get that light out in front of me so the length is 7' long and again it is super light.
In the water the light floats somewhat which works well. Instead of pointing the light vertically with the floodlight on top and the spotlight on the bottom I ran it sideways and moved it 180 degrees in front of me back and forth. Once I made it as far as I wanted to go to the right, I flipped it over and moved it to the left. The longer light covers alot of ground. To keep the light down all I had to do was push it down slightly....no problemo.
I bought some flat black spray paint, but the label on my marine silicone sealant says you can't paint it. All the pvc joints below the waterline are siliconed. Kinda overkill, but I don't want any water behind the light on around the butt connections. We shrink wrapped the connections and electrical taped them. We gigged for 4 hours last night and not a drop of water entered the lights from below. Back to the painting......I'm opting to keep them white as is. I could see the light stick really well even in deeper water.
So, my SIL and I are very proud of our lights. It was a good project for us and it makes you feel really good when you gig a flounder knowing you built the light yourself.
Here's what we got that night. We saw 2 small ones that we scooted off and missed a 15"+ that I wanted my SIL to get with this being his first time.
This is the mama that didn't get away!!!!!
Here's the low-budget vid................
The strap gives it character. LOL
For those of you that may be discouraged by this DIY project, don't be. It's not difficult and well worth the end result.
Lastly, I have 2 Academy bought 2 prong gigs on a wooden handle. You guys may be able to help me. I would like to make or buy 2-3 gigs with a Calcutta bamboo handle with a single prong (maybe double prong) SS point. I'm even thinking allthread to be sure they don't come off. That one I got was about 20" and she was wiggling mighty fierce even upside down after I placed my hand underneath her and lifted her up. Does anyone here make a gig like this or can you point me in the right direction? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'll keep 2 for myself and give one as a X-mas present to my long-time buddy. Post here, pm me or email me at: rrodriguez38@comcast.net. Thanks!!!!!!!
My SIL and I decided we would make 2 lights. I bought 2 LED spotlights and 2 LED floodlights from Oznium.com. Phil is the owner there and talk about customer service. I emailed him a question at 3am and got his reply within minutes. I bought the Cool White ones and they are super bright and have a slight yellowish tint to them. We made the run to Home Depot and Lowes to get the pvc and connections. We followed the build thread over at the 2coolfishing website. We made a few changes that may be helpful to others. The pvc piece that keeps the submersible LED light inside the 45 degree pvc is different. Don't know the exact name of the piece but it leaves a bigger gap allowing more of the LED to show. I just had to put a little more clear silicone around the LEDs. I made sure to put plenty of silicone behind the LEDs as well before we glued the pvc together.
Here's a pic to show you what I'm taking about:
My SIL works with a machinist so he asked him to machine the lower LED spotlight pvc casing so more of the LED would show. Instead of cutting and angling the upper LED floodlight pvc casing he cut the pvc to resemble a traffic light. The upper lip protrudes causing the light to be directed with the lower end letting the light disperse well. He even beveled out the bottom rounding it out more. I think this is more for looks, but I like it.
Check it out:
Here's a pic of the lower end of the flounder light with both the lower spotlight and upper floodlight showing:
To power the units we decided to go the RC battery route because we wanted a self-contained unit. We are using a 11.1 v 3 cell LiPO battery that weighs 11.11 oz. They are pricey at $58 each. Venom is the maker. I did a quick test before we went gigging that night and the battery ran 5.25 hrs and was still going strong. We figure we could get 8 or more hrs off each rechargeable battery. We didn't want to have to count our time out in the water and wanted to be able to use it as a general floodlight around the truck. I bought a charger for the batteries for around $75 and it charges each one in about 45 minutes. Yup, going this route is pricey, but I'm figuring keeping these lights for a long, long time.
Here's a pic of the battery for size reference and the 2" compartment it fits nicely in with a screw on top. The main handle is 1" pvc.
I didn't have time to find a proper strap for the lights. They are super light but I wanted to be able to have hands free operation at times. I tied some rope and made a strap which worked really well. I think I will keep it as is.
I wanted a longer light to be able to get that light out in front of me so the length is 7' long and again it is super light.
In the water the light floats somewhat which works well. Instead of pointing the light vertically with the floodlight on top and the spotlight on the bottom I ran it sideways and moved it 180 degrees in front of me back and forth. Once I made it as far as I wanted to go to the right, I flipped it over and moved it to the left. The longer light covers alot of ground. To keep the light down all I had to do was push it down slightly....no problemo.
I bought some flat black spray paint, but the label on my marine silicone sealant says you can't paint it. All the pvc joints below the waterline are siliconed. Kinda overkill, but I don't want any water behind the light on around the butt connections. We shrink wrapped the connections and electrical taped them. We gigged for 4 hours last night and not a drop of water entered the lights from below. Back to the painting......I'm opting to keep them white as is. I could see the light stick really well even in deeper water.
So, my SIL and I are very proud of our lights. It was a good project for us and it makes you feel really good when you gig a flounder knowing you built the light yourself.
Here's what we got that night. We saw 2 small ones that we scooted off and missed a 15"+ that I wanted my SIL to get with this being his first time.
This is the mama that didn't get away!!!!!
Here's the low-budget vid................
The strap gives it character. LOL
For those of you that may be discouraged by this DIY project, don't be. It's not difficult and well worth the end result.
Lastly, I have 2 Academy bought 2 prong gigs on a wooden handle. You guys may be able to help me. I would like to make or buy 2-3 gigs with a Calcutta bamboo handle with a single prong (maybe double prong) SS point. I'm even thinking allthread to be sure they don't come off. That one I got was about 20" and she was wiggling mighty fierce even upside down after I placed my hand underneath her and lifted her up. Does anyone here make a gig like this or can you point me in the right direction? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'll keep 2 for myself and give one as a X-mas present to my long-time buddy. Post here, pm me or email me at: rrodriguez38@comcast.net. Thanks!!!!!!!
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