Has any one seen the lighted rods by Berkley? How do they work? Reflective tape or paint or L.E.D.'s and a battery?
I have been trying to design a lighted tip rod for night fishing. I have had a couple of ideas
in my head for a long time but still need to smooth out the bumps. Done correctly this would be a money maker!! However, if it can't be done without adversley effecting performance then it's only a short lived gimmick! Thoughts?

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

Batteries in the butt/handle powering a bulb that illuminates the light colored glass blank internally. It is not what you would call a high performance fishing rod, but it may work well for the purpose for which it was designed.

Wyle Wiggins has had or has been working on something like that for some time. I'm pretty sure his lighted rod predates the Berkley model by several years.

....................

Wylie Wiggins has had it for several years. At one point he had major outfit interested but I don't think anything came of it! It's a pretty cool idea and a few companies have had similar ones byr it never seemed to catch on. Here is Wylies web site [wylie_rods.tripod.com]

Mike

It would be great for the guys around here who catfish at night. Most guys here paint the rod tips with reflective sign paint. Not pretty like a little lED light. Plus the rods aren't excatly high performance so little would be lost by way of the battery and wires....Some of those old catters are stuck in there ways though!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/11/2005 10:39AM by Jason Pritchard.

That would be me!
Thanks for the plug fellas. The manufacturers I have worked with in the past have all fallen through the grid but I am gearing up now to build with tools that should allow greater production.
The Berkley rods did gain very good interest in the forum they were presented for even in the limited size and strength rods produced. Honestly I am left to guess on the illumination, it could have been a type of EL or L.E.D. with the L.E.D. much more likely the source of illumination. These are not being produced any longer or at least at this time because of the manufacturers cost going up for reason I have not been told of. The rods had two light outputs one a flashlight form for tieing and baiting and the other at the tip of the rod. The advertised illumination on 2 AA batteries was 40 hours which would have to be the tip of the rod and most likely not the flashlight setting.
It probably shouldn't be mentioned but a very well known builder has a blank I built for him. He has mentioned a show peice rod he has planned and would like to show at the Charolette Show in Feb.
At this time most rods/blanks of mine that would fit into catfishing forums are not cheap but then top quality and often run the same path.

Shoot me an email Raymond and I'll work on setting something up for you if you would like for me to.



Tight wraps and lines,
Wylie

Thay are almost hypnotic in a way.....They look so silly, but then you look at tham again and they begin to make a sick kind of sense. I produced one (very ugly) rod using a glow-in-dark paint that I used briefly to fish at night for sharks and rays but I ended up giving it to a friend's kid that wouldn't stop bugging me about it. The finish just wasn't holding up to my standards. The paint was activated by a cheap camera flash and lasted quite a while.

I have seen good results from purchasing the stock Berkley glowstick rods, stripping them, wrapping them in white with no CP and then replacing the illuminator in the butt with a high end multi-LED flashlight. The rod was REALLY bright then.

Derek

Thanks All,

Wylie,
I will be happy to email you !

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

In April at the rod builder's get together in Woodland, Washington there was a guy that had rods with a lazar in them. They glowed in the dark and when they were flexed they flashed. I can't remember his name but they were very cool.

Thomas F. Thornhill

Thomas,
You are right, the rods/blanks I modify or build do have a laser in them and thank you for the compliment. If I am correct you are the outwrapper that did the power wrapping presentation in Washington. If so I now have a wrapper that is in part based on the parts your wrapper is made from. Thanks for the info!



Tight wraps and lines,
Wylie

I have toyed with the idea of a lighted rod, and have found that a solid glass rod works like a fibre optic, light can be transfered up the entire shaft, from the bottom to the tip. This is food for thought .
Larry