Built mine for under $150. 2" emt conduit and fog lights from harbor freight and a Bigfoot switch. Worked well!

 

Don't bighead but would guess anywhere from 2-4 , 50 watt or any of the 27 watt or smaller 12/24vdc LED 's on a pole mounted to a trolling motor Bigfoot switch so could turn on/off by stepping on it..

 

We have 9 27watt LEDs on a tower. 7 are spot beam and 2 floods. Lights work great but defiantly not a cheap route. The small 12v 55watt halogens like pictured above work good and lot cheaper. Could pbly get by with 5 lights unless you go spot beam then I wouldn't want any less than 9 to get full coverage. Any set up on a Bigfoot switch will beat the hell out of a spotlight!

 

How high would I need to make the tower. I would like to keep it as low as I can

 

Hey carpdown I've got a setup like lightemup and it works fine up high like his - uses 10' poles and a big foot. A buddy has the same except he only went up 7 or 8 feet and I don't like it as it shines on the back of your head too much. The ten foot height is more natural as it shines over your head to illuminate about 15 to 20 feet in front of the boat.

BTW later in the season the bigheads seem to spook with the lights on the tower maybe that is too much light. We've had some success keeping the tower lights off, drifting as quietly as possible, and then flipping on a spotlight forward over the heads of the shooters. When a shooter sticks a fish he flips on his head light and that is all the lights we have on as the spotlight is only on for a few seconds to scan in front of the boat.

 

Our tower is 8ft above our head but it loops out over our head so the lights don't shine on our back.

 

I run 12v floods (not led) off a bigfoot have them on a tower i threw together out of pvc made a "t" on the end of a 10' stick and I drove another piece into it for rigidity. I think this year im taking them off the tower and put them on my knee rail that my halogens r mounted to for ease of use not having to deal with putting the tower up and taking it down. Might not work well idk but im going to give it a try.

 

now when your doing this we don't have any lakes or big water with big heads we flip wing ***** in the day time to shoot ours but do you leave the lights on or hit the switch when you see something or what ?

 

whay cant you guys just use your lights that you would for commons? bigheads way spooky i take it?

 

Bigheads are sometime extremely spooky and some times there not. Leaving lights on all the time is an absolute no though and no genny. We just troll around and flip lights on every 30 sec or so. Sometimes on full moon you can just watch for ripples and troll right up on em but have to be extremely quite also.

 

do they run in big schools or just a few here and there?

 

Silvers are n schools more than bigheads, sometimes by the hundreds. Usually never see a group of bigheads more than 10 or so around here.

 

when you say silvers, i assume thats the "flying fish"? i wanna go after them so bad some day

 

Come on down will put you on some! Yes silvers do fly!!!

 

As far as lights on a light rail I don't know. We're getting a new light rail setup for next year with 12v 50 watt led's to try but might be way to much light and scare them way more than our tower.

 

Last year we used 4 50 watt LEDs on a bigfoot switch on our knee rail for bigheads. It worked good but you couldn't leave the light on for more than a couple seconds or they would scatter. If u just flipped the lights on shot quick and shut lights off sometimes you could shoot more than once at the same school. We were seeing hundreds in the schools but they were separated far enough you couldn't flock shoot them.

 

I wanna go after some bigheads so bad! I would love to shoot one of those 50+ fish I always see on here!

 

There a blast! A 50# bighead is bout like pulling up a 100lb anchor, sometimes they just don't want come up and when break the surface you better have a gaff ready. Like shot said, every week is like a new hunt cuz they move around a lot.

 

There are some "rules" in general for the bigheads but lately seems every night is different, especially when your trips are a week apart. In the section of river I've counted on for years the bigheads are really thinning out, damn silvers by the thousands tho. More of an honest hunt these days. Lights....some swear by the towers and do well. We've been out on nights where anything more than the bow lights would keep you seeing much of anything, other nights the fish act as stupid as can be. Last two years havent been good conditions for us, crossing the fingers for the law of averages to be on our side. Anyone wanting a clue if you visit the area please let me know, more than happy to help out.

 

All good info guys thanks. Should b a good year. Can't whate for warm weather

 

Hmmm I guess I just got lucky in the bighead department. Our bigheads just cruise. They aren't spooky at all just like a dang bus chillin' under water.

 

The only time I see them just chilln is in flood waters

 

IDK what it is then. The place we go to they are never running. We come across them all the time two or three at a time. Usually pretty big too like 40#. Silvers are the ones I hate. You only see them running down the main channel with the outboard. Or they like to give you a heart attack by jumping 2 feet in front of your face while you're trolling.

 

o I know the silver's get me every time. Had one knock me out last year. Right in the back of the head. I was driving. The Boat. Could have been bad.

 

I've been in water too where they dont seem to give a happy damn what ur doing, but that's usually flood water, or holes that have been receded and trapped the fish. And I very seldom see any of size in those spots, but I have had buddies have some great shoots on those fish. Every trip I have where I think I have em figured out for awhile they always fool me...

 

I found. 43 of them last year in a flooded corn feald most iv ever found in one place. From 7lbs. Up to 37lbs

 

Couple spots I get into as the fields are beginning to flood, they'll stack up where the water is running in, like they're waiting for the level to come up enough to let em in. usually 12-15 lbers but a lot of em at times. Too easy...

 

anyone use something as small as a 10-20w led on the towers to not put out as much light?