Hello,
Interested in recommending for a torch.
What number of lumens is recommended for fishing in clear water at rocky area,reef, fishing style in holes and crevices.
Thx
This probably more than you want to know and will confuse you but for hunting, the lumens printed on the box are almost totally irrelevant.
Things that matter are in no specific order:
- Light temperature. Lights that are more red will be less likely to spook game. I am not scientist but would venture to guess that since red tones disappear with increasing depth, marine creatures do not see red very well, so an amber light seems dimmer to them than a white or blue white which is of equal brightness. I have found this to be true with both fish and lobsters. Most LED's are very white/blue because those are cheaper to manufacture and will trend brighter (higher lumen) when tested, and the average consumer is going to go with the most lumens for the cheapest price.
- Light quality. The human eye does better with higher CRI lighting, we see better so can recognize patterns, shapes and colors better and faster. This is essential to hunting. High CRI LED's are also much more expensive to manufacture and source.
- Lights spook marine animals. So if your light is too bright or penetrates significantly further than the range of your spear gun, or hand grab range, you will scare things away before you can get close to them. This is your number one consideration. You basically want just enough light to see what is range and not much more.
- Most 'dive' flashlights are manufactured to have a very tight beam in order to penetrate and throw as far as possible underwater. This spooks game, and if you are hunting in clear water is especially frustrating.
For hunting, lower power underwater photo/video lights have produced the best results. They tend to be more of a flood style light as well as higher CRI. For some years now I have building and using my own hunting lights, when tested my speargun light was about 120 lumens, but a 90+ CRI and I forget how many kelvins but it would be commercially described as 'warm white'. It throws a very wide beam with barely any hotspot (hotspot can be nice for aiming on a gun though). My lobster light is a little bit brighter on high power.