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Glow-in-the-dark Kokanee lure photo comparison test

17K views 32 replies 17 participants last post by  valleygems 
#1 ·
During the last hour of the day, right up to the end of legal fishing time, I usually put my other kokanee lures away and switch all rods over to luminous (glow-in-the-dark) Apex “Glowbugs.” When it’s starting to get dark, that luminous Apex usually catches kokanee when all of my other Apexes, including UV colors, have quit catching fish. I also use it when fishing very deep on the downriggers.

This year I’ve stepped out of my Apex safe zone by giving other lures like Mack’s Cha Cha squidder rigs (hootchies) and Double Whammy Kokanee Pros a chance, and those lures at times have outfished my favorite Apexes. So going a step further, I ordered some other luminous lures (but so far have not tested them on the water at last light).

With my past experience using the glowing Apex, I’ve noticed that most fish are caught during the first five minutes after charging with light and lowering into the water. It’s a hassle to have to bring the lure up off the downriggers every five minutes to recharge it with light – but you do what you need to in order to catch kokanee. This got me to wondering just how long do luminous lures really glow after charging…? So I put my glowing Apex, and 7 other luminous lures to the test.

Here are the eight test lures in daylight, before charging with light. Left column top to bottom: Mack’s Fire Tiger Glow; RMT Double Glow Rainbow; Mack’s Hot Pink Glow; and RMT Double Glow Pink. Right column top to bottom: Mack’s Watermelon Glow, Mack’s Super UV; RGT Purple Crystal Radical Glow Tube, and my old standby, the Apex Glowbug.



To begin the comparison test, I “charged” the lures for one minute with a halogen shop light, then photographed them in a dark room at five minute intervals. All eight lures are glowing brightly right after charging them with light


Five minutes later they are still glowing, but not nearly as brightly


After ten minutes, the Mack’s Watermelon Glow is barely visible and the others are fading… But wait, take a look at the RGT Purple Crystal Radical Glow tube; that lure is still glowing like crazy!


After 15 minutes the only one visible in the photographs is the RGT lure.


A disclaimer: To be consistent, I kept the f-stop and shutter speed constant, and after 15 minutes, most of the lures, although much dimmer, were still glowing enough to be visible in a dark room, even though not visible in the photos. However the photos do show the relative brightness between the different lures. The RGT Radical Glow tube kept on glowing brightly for at least 30 minutes if not longer – well after all of the other lures had completely faded to black.

RGT’s web site claims that their lures glow 10 times brighter and 8 times longer than other glowing lures, and after my test, I don’t doubt their claim. The RGT lure I tested is the only one I own, and after this test I plan on ordering an array of their glowing tubes and spinners. It will be quite an improvement to have some glowing lures that don't need to be brought to the surface for recharing every five minutes! :applause:

I’ve read that if you charge luminous lures with an ultraviolet light, they will glow brighter and longer than with sunlight, bright flashlights, or camera strobe lights. I have a Coast UV flashlight, and I compared the glow times with UV light verses other bright lights. I found that the UV light does make the lures glow slightly brighter, however the glow times were about the same – probably not enough of a difference to warrant buying a UV flashlight.

I also tested luminous mackinaw lures, and was very surprised with what I found there: a lure that glows brightly for up to 6 hours! I can’t wait for my next mackinaw trip! I will post those photos sometime later this week – if you fish for mackinaw, stay tuned!
 
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#3 ·
Great test Waterfish! I have been doing well on a glow red hootchie similar to the one on the lower left of your picture and noticed it held it's own for awhile in the photos. When I lived in eastern Washington, we jigged for kokanee at night which is legal up there. I did a similar test with glow jigs (sans photos) in a dark room and found a couple of jigs that seemed to last longer than others. Because you could fish at night up there, it was darned important to have a "glow" going down there.

I was also curious, does the winning crappie tube catch fish?
 
#6 ·
I was also curious, does the winning crappie tube catch fish?
That's a good question. I've been using the glowing Apex for years, but in my two kokanee expeditions so far this summer (Wallowa Lake and Paulina Lake) we limited or quit fishing way before dark, so I haven't tried any of the other glowing lures near dusk. But the main thing I gained from the test was to discover that RGT Radical Glow lures glow WAY longer and brighter than anything else that I tested. When I ordered some Rocky Mountain Tackle (RMT) lures earlier this spring, they included the RGT Radical Glow tube with my order for free - so there must be some connection between the two companies. A quick check of RGT's web site shows that they offer a good selection of glowing kokanee spinners, tubes, and beads in various colors. Assuming all of their products glow as good as the lure that I tested; for near dark conditions I think their products will rule on my boat in the evening!
 
#11 ·
I have a camera flash that operates on a single AA battery that charges glow stuff amazingly well. Just push the button and flash! Very powerful charge that seems to way outlast flashlights and other light sources.

When I'm using glow hootchies deep during the day, I do leave them out in the sunlight when they're not on the line to naturally charge.
 
#8 ·
Great job! I am going to need a bigger boat soon, this tackle business is making that step more than a probability.
 
#9 ·
Nice post.

So how about this....

1. If you break out the glow at the end of the day why couldn't you have left those glow lures out in the sunlight to charge "naturally" leading up to sundown?

2. I would be curious to see this same test done when one charged with sunlight for a much longer time than your test.

I don't carry a light source to charge with. (Never felt a need) I charge my stuff overnight the night before I fish....just open the box and leave a light on in my shop. Late season when fishing deep I use daylight to charge the lures I'm not using and will likely change to.

jz
 
#12 ·
Nice post.

So how about this....

1. If you break out the glow at the end of the day why couldn't you have left those glow lures out in the sunlight to charge "naturally" leading up to sundown?

2. I would be curious to see this same test done when one charged with sunlight for a much longer time than your test.

I don't carry a light source to charge with. (Never felt a need) I charge my stuff overnight the night before I fish....just open the box and leave a light on in my shop. Late season when fishing deep I use daylight to charge the lures I'm not using and will likely change to.

jz
Although I haven't done a timed test by charging luminous lures by sunlight, I have left the glowing Apexes out in the sun for hours and tried them later. By the time the sun sets behind the mountains and the light is fading, those lures that were in the sun just an hour or two ago are already beginning to fade. My theory is that they only charge up so much and leaving them in the sun or holding under a bright light longer than a minute or two won't make them any brighter or glow any longer. The only difference I've seen is that a UV flashlight does seems to make them a little brighter.
 
#15 ·
Great stuff.

I am a simple guy so this may be a dumb question. If most of them aren't glowing much after 15 minutes does that mean you to fish them effectively you have to recharge them after 15 minutes?

How long do you guys fish the in between charges; barring a hot bite where it doesn't matter.
Until I did this test, I didn't know how long they glowed, but I got suspicious when I saw a pattern of catching kokanee during the first five minutes after charging an Apex and dropping it into the water. If I had been trolling for 30 minutes, the catching dropped off. When they stop glowing you've lost the advantage that glowing lures have. So yes, you should bring them up and recharge them every 15 minutes, except for the RGT lures that glow for up to 45 minutes. If it's a hot bite and you're catching one fish after another there would be no need to recharge every 15 minutes - but realize that in a bite like that, the fish don't care whether or not the lures are glowing.
 
#16 ·
I've always read that the more you charge up the glow products or leave them out in direct sun light the faster the glow properties go bad and loose their effectiveness...plus some of these materials melt when left out in the sun. In my experiance the glow properties of alot of manufacturers lures are better than just a few years back. One company that put out EXTREMLY bright glow blades (indiana & colorado) in 6 bright colors was Fin-tech. I purchased these blades back in 2005 and their still the brightest glow product I've ever seen...absolutly unreal. Since Radical Glow doesn't make blades I had to shop around for something to complement their beads for making spinners. I don't know about Fin-tech's claim of a 8 hour glow time but they don't fade much in the first hour!
 
#17 · (Edited)
Great post and test!

I used to do some R&D at a powder coatings plant and did alot of work with florescent pigments and glo-louminous stuff.
Most all glo pigments will degrade if left in the natural sunlight. They are not UV stable to the full spectrum of sunlight. They might get bright but after a while of being exposed to the sun, they will overall glow less, and for less time. This is because the sunlight will degrade the pigment and oxidize it.
Best thing to charge them up is a large strobe flash from a 35mm cam or similar flash, and put a flap of foil over the strobe to get max reflectance through the tube or hoochie.

Oh, and yamamoto glo squids work awesome for steelhead in the spring. They glow for about 1/2 hour with a cam strobe flash.:cool:

I have about 12 cans of flo pigments and a can of glo pigment that I make up some glo color paints for lures. A little glo goes a long way! :D
 
#18 ·
SilverBullets,

"I've always read that the more you charge up the glow products or leave them out in direct sun light the faster the glow properties go bad and loose their effectiveness...plus some of these materials melt when left out in the sun."

Google the following: "light fastness of glow in the dark pigments"

There'll be lots of pigment manufacturers info to read.

I think you'll find (read) that pigment manufacturers have good stuff that glows well and doesn't fade or loose it glow qualities due to prolonged exposure to sun light. It would take many many months of continued exposure to have an effect.


jz
 
#19 ·
I made up a "Glow Box" to charge my lures. I used 9- 9mm LED lights in rows of 3, a few resistors and a plug in that goes in the 12V. outlet in my boat. It can also be made up without the plug in switch and run on 9 volt batteries.

I mounted it all in a 8x12 plastic box lined with Alu. Foil to reflect the light. Its easy to plug in & charge 1 or more lures/dodgers. And it seems to work well!

:twocents:...Kokonuts
 
#20 ·
Thanks for sharing the results of your experiment Waterfish. :)

Back in the day (mid '80s) we used small, cheap camera flashes when glowballing for steelhead. Cost around $12 back then. I built an aluminum lined, plastic box on mine and and a large glow corkie would come out so bright it could keep ships off the rocks!

Be careful with the flash though unless you like to fish by brail or seeing spots for awhile. :whistle:
 
#21 ·
if u would like to maximize your glow efficiency, might i suggest getting a small hand held UV light black light. they will really increase the brightness of the glow in the dark lure.

i seen one on google shopping for 9 bucks +shipping LED flashlight. do just the trick!
 
#22 · (Edited)
Here is a box I made for charging my dodgers and lures. It's from some plywood I had laying around and I cut up an old mirror for the sides and ends of the interior. On the bottom from end to end I stretched a screen door spring that holds the dodgers. Lures I just lay inside. I got the black on-line but I understand you can get them at some of the shops teens frequent in malls.

I plug in the light when I leave the dock and it takes me about 10 minutes to reach my fishing spot. That is plenty of time to fully charge everything. It it not recommended to charge longer than 10 minutes as it can downgrade the glow properties of the paint.

Here is a website with lots of information on this subject.

http://glowinc.com/
 
#24 · (Edited)
:idea:
Here is a box I made for charging my dodgers and lures. It's from some plywood I had laying around and I cut up an old mirror for the sides and ends of the interior. On the bottom from end to end I stretched a screen door spring that holds the dodgers. Lures I just lay inside. I got the black on-line but I understand you can get them at some of the shops teens frequent in malls.

I plug in the light when I leave the dock and it takes me about 10 minutes to reach my fishing spot. That is plenty of time to fully charge everything. It it not recommended to charge longer than 10 minutes as it can downgrade the glow properties of the paint.

Here is a website with lots of information on this subject.

http://glowinc.com/
That is a neat idea! I think I see one of those on my boat in the future... Also the glowinc.com web site was very informative. I might order some of their glowing paint and modify some of my lures :idea:
 
#25 ·
Sling Blades off the shelf are set up for the faster speeds, 1.5 and higher. If you put a bend in them they can make your hoochie dance down to 1.0 mph. 90% of the time I am trolling at 1.1 to 1.2.

The bend is up to the fisherman. The basic is a bend so that it lays over your thigh. Some I bend in the middle, some at the wide end. I keep a good supply of non-bent blades also for those days when I need to troll faster, such as with an apex.

At LBC during the derby I was catching fish and my wife was not. I noticed her rod tip was not bouncing exactly like mine was. I gave her blade a little more bend and she started catching fish.
 
#27 ·
DLM...."there is some type of grit in the paint"

The nature of this type of pigment partical....it's course.

Cannon..... never "tuned" a slide blade?

jz
 
#28 ·
Cannon..... never "tuned" a slide blade?

jz
Of course, I was just being a smart *ss. Anymore, I like to run them fast. Can't argue with DLM's success rate, but we seem to do just as well trolling fast, in fact I was catching fish up to 2.1 Mph one day and it was a riot. But in saying that, sometimes slow is the way to go.

I too intend to put a "magic box" on my boat. Great idea and it beats being blinded by a flash at 4:00 AM.
 
#29 ·
This is a very interesting discussion. I am planning a trip to my home state of Michigan this fall to hopefully catch some Great Lakes steelhead.
Do these glow-in-dark lures work in the shallower streams I'm going to encounter there? Would I only be benefiting from these kinds of lures if I was fishing the deeper mouths of some streams? Someone told me that if I armed myself with just 3 spoons I'd do as well as anyone:

1. gold or copper or pewter colored hammered spoon
2. genuine silver plated hammered spoon
3. chartruese spoon with black dots on it

These spoons range from 2" to 4" in length and .333 oz to 3/4 oz in weight.

I have a can of glow-in-dark enamel spray paint. It's sort of a very light olive color when it dries, kinda like gray poupon in color, not very flashy until you turn out the lights. I was pondering painting the underside of some of the above spoons with this paint. Does anyone have any experience in this area?
 
#30 ·
Wetnoodle,

It is traditional for new ifish members to post a fishing story as their 1st post.

Your question might be better served / answered in the ifish community section or the rod and tackle section rather that this trout section in a kokanee related topic / discussion....just a thought.

Welcome aboard and good luck with the steelies in MI.

jz
 
#32 ·
Valleygems,

I'd definitely be interested in the brand name of the clear stuff and the store where you buy it.

The glow-in-dark gray poupon paint I spoke of .....I purchased it in an art's & crafts store called Michael's which I'm pretty sure is a national chain. I will getcha the brand name of that stuff when I'm home tonight.
 
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