led hoochies do they work?

I couldn't get them to work for me.....

SpringFever reported that they don't work so hot in the daytime....but if it's getting dusky or low first light or evening light he had good results with them.
 
There are LED hootchys and LED hootchy"s. I have great success when I make my own with good cuttlefish hootchy's or a hootchy from Pirates Den called a pearl glow wench(about the size of a turd). If I am using a PNT cuttlefish hootchy such as a pearl white with a double flash pirates den white LED then you can only get one 5/0 gammie or similar good hook in there and make it look good. If using the wench or turd hootchy you have enough room for 2 regular hooks. Use your regular ties. They are extremely effective below -say 50 ft-a real killer below 140 or so-late evening and early morning. Not so good at hi-noon above 50 feet-they catch fish but no better than a similar hootchy. So which LED hootchy's don't I use or like-the pre-tied ones that come straight from China with 80 lb test and crimps for joins-they are never the right length-I wouldn't trust the line-in short they don't look right. To be fair I have never fished them!! I have been shown guys LED hootchy's made with wire-Looked God awful!!!! Yet the guy made really nice regular hootchy's-it was as if he expected the LED to catch the fish in spite of what he contributed. The LED's are just a tool -the same as everything else in your repertoire-you have to learn to work with them. I won't be without them-but I also never give up my anchovy's either. I never fish a hootchy now that is not an LED unless I think the bait calls for a needlefish or squirt presentation.

We have and are testing tomic plugs with LED's-they are awesome. Hopefully the folks at Tomic will come through for us and manufacture them with Pirates Den LED's. Regardless I love them and will fish them even if I have to make them myself. They are a bit difficult to manufacture at home to say the least-I have 8 now in a little black suitcase. Off shore and right on the bottom they are a blast. If they don't go into commercial production I'll post a how to . Guys like seafever would take it to high art!!LOL
Should also mention we have had some pretty good results with a Pirates Den glow wench plus LED in the extra Large Juggie
Got some very large Springs late last fall when nothing else was hitting. Unfortunately my only rig was sharked after 4 springs in a row off WH. Did well in Baja as well. So lots of things to look forward to!!
 
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thanks for the info. I ordered some last week online from a website think it was called lighthouse. sounds like I will have to make some modifications. appreciate your help
 
spring fever said:
There are LED hootchys and LED hootchy"s. I have great success when I make my own with good cuttlefish hootchy's
Click to expand...

x2 on this one. We fished a couple home rigged cuttlefish last year against same hootch without LED and the Led out fished the regular about 4-1. we where fishing 120 at the shallowest and as far down as 200 . We have fished the big offshore ones you speak of with little success. Have been responsible for a couple springs off bottom as well as a few chickens. We re-rigged them before using.The leaders are short and the hook is ridiculous that come with them. I will be rigging my own cuttlefish with an led and a single siwash as big as I can get away with to try again this year. All my testing so far has been Wes coast offshore.
 
I have only used the double flash LED in a large turd hootchie. We have caught salmon, lingcod, and halibut all on the same lure. It does work. Not sold on it though. Time will tell.
 
Glow works but not all the time, IMO, most guys use glow too much and by the time they switch (if they do) to a non-glow lure (i.e. as sunlight penetration increases) they've wasted valuable fishing time......just my opinion.
 
searun said:
Or...is the lure designed to attract the fisherman more than the fish! ;)
Click to expand...

You could say that about almost any lure out there. All lures are designed to catch fishermen first, some of them catch fish. If a lure is not attractive to fishermen it won't be bought and therefore won't catch fish. LED's work plain and simple but they have to have a proper presentation and the right situation.
I have used them for 3 years extensively and I am convinced that they work, so much so that if I am fishing a hootchy 90 percent of the time it will have an LED in it.
I am predominantly a bait fisherman, Anchovy, cut plug etc but there are people on my boat who can't or won't use bait. There are also many times that it is too rough and I am too beat to fish bait that's why I tried LED's and Jugheads. I am always looking to find something that is as good as bait. If you are a one dimensional fisherman and only use rubber or metal and don't want to try other things-I understand that. Much easier than learning new techniques.
Science is on the side of lights, think of squid and octopus-when agitated or excited they light up much as an LED does. A good fisherman should always be trying to learn, perfecting his presentation, discovering better ways to entice the fish. It doesn't always mean buying something off the shelf, tying it on and having instant success. Sometimes innovation is what is needed and when you finally start catching fish on something you thought up ,then you are on the path to being a great fisherman.
Not all things I have used LED's on have worked, Cuttlefish hootchys in appropriate colors have, The big squid with double flash LED and bait(salmon belly, herring)has been excellent on Lings and Hali's. Tomic plugs with embedded LED's is a killer where plugs are appropriate. Extra large jugheads with a large hootchy and LED has shown great promise. Jugheads with a large squid tentacle and a double hook set-up was deadly in Baja and I don't see why it won't work up here. I have been fishing salmon and other fish around the world for over 50 years and I still love experimenting and trying to catch fish different ways. Think on it-if you love glow and think it works think what an LED looks like at 200 feet!!!
 
I'm trying these next time out.......the top is a Supertackle hoochy..the bottom is a Yozuri (PNT)...the Yozuri has a bit more room in the bodyhead.....the Supertackle is a bit of a tight fit.

Last year Cheech said the Yozuri hoochy was pretty good for Chinooks...but he wasn't using an LED in it...so figured I'd add the LED and see what happens.


001.jpg
 
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Those look great-same ties you usually use-I think you'll give them a try again. Fish them against something you really like(ie spoon, anchovy etc. etc.) Then it's a fair test. Neither catches fish-bad day!!!
 
There's a little tiny split ring on the end of the LED's......so the line goes through that instead of the eye on the end of the LED.

I'll call the bottom one "Vegas Baby!!"......the LED is red........:cool:

Top one is a green LED...



that flasher that they came out with around here that has the woman with the large boobs on it was clearly designed to catch fishermen.

And they want 18 dollars for it.......

they need to come out with smaller LED's....a smaller one would have more applications......
 
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The bottom hootchy in that pic is what I called my trip saver last year in renny always saved the day when bait was not working but I don't think mine had any of the sparkles in it
 
I need some stronger leader but I am looking for good things from my new splatter-back double flash LED.. Big thanks to Litehouse Lures for giving me the opportunity to giver a go.. :)002 (2).jpg001 (2).jpg
 
Seafever said:
they need to come out with smaller LED's....a smaller one would have more applications......
Click to expand...

Yes you are certainly right about that. I have had many conversations with salty-dog (Michael at Pirates Den) on that very subject. Don't think it is going to happen anytime soon. The major impediment is the batteries-if the lights were smaller then there would be smaller or fewer batteries giving a shorter life.
It is tough when you can see an ideal application but the light is just too large to make it work correctly. Can you imagine a large pilchard spoon that was flashing?
 
Fishin'Solo:-


I don't know if Lighthouse are the same body design as all the other LED's...but....

The reason the little split ring goes on the end is:-

There is a plastic eye on the end of the LED for line to go through....but others have experienced a break there at times....so the tiny split ring keeps the line out of the plastic eye but close enough so you still get direct pull pretty much...
 
Seafever said:
Fishin'Solo:-


I don't know if Lighthouse are the same body design as all the other LED's...but....

The reason the little split ring goes on the end is:-

There is a plastic eye on the end of the LED for line to go through....but others have experienced a break there at times....so the tiny split ring keeps the line out of the plastic eye but close enough so you still get direct pull pretty much...
Click to expand...

That little plastic eye was never designed to take the pull of the fish -it will definitely break and could cause abrasion on your line and a possible break. It was designed to hang off your jacket as a safety light if you went in the water, also for hanging off other gear such as hali spreader bars etc-but not load bearing.
I am a little mystified about the split ring you talk of-is this your own design? How about a picture if you don't mind. Thanks.
 
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