Found this story in the Panama Cuty News Herald. Thought it was great, since the person who sent me the story won the light at the last club NFGFC meeting.
Fisherman get the green light to snag snapper
AL HUBBARD
Outdoors Writer
Diners at Capt. Anderson's had to be confused as they arrived to watch the boats unload their catch from the day's charters.
Mate John Fant began to untie the dock lines from the Lady Jane and that had to confuse the people watching from the restaurant. It would be dark in less than an hour and a charter boat was preparing to leave the dock.
What they did not realize was that Bill Cook, regional sales manager for the Sportsman's Outdoor Network, was in the cabin making sure the connections on the 4-foot Green Magnet submersible light were ready.
Cook's task was to introduce the light to the fishermen in the Panhandle.
Lady Jane herself was on the bridge with her husband, Capt. Mike Upchurch, as her namesake, a 41-foot Hattaras, pulled away from the dock.
The charter boat headed for the Blown Up Barges reef. Cook explained to Jim Wilson and his wife, Pat, how the green light had been designed to not only provide an attracting light, but to also look like a plankton bloom to attract the larvae and small baitfish. This in turn would start the food chain and attract the red snapper from the reef to the surface.
"Scientist have proven that when a white light hits the surface of the water, the color spectrum starts breaking down," Cook said. "Green is the color that travels the farthest. Green also means food to the zooplankton and larvae."
Upchurch has selected the Blown Up Barge reef for one reason.
"During this Memorial Day Weekend, you can probably bet that someone fished this reef during the morning or early afternoon," he said. "If this light does what it is supposed to do, we should catch some red snapper on it even after it's been fished."
As the sun dropped below the horizon, the water calmed and a cool breeze blew. There were no other boats in the area as Fant set the anchor.
The green magnet light was hooked to a battery and dropped over the back of the boat. All watched as the light immediately drew several small curious fish to the green glow.
Fant loaded frozen cigar minnows on a couple of rods and both Lady Jane and Pat Wilson had lines in the water.
It was hard to concentrate on the fishing equipment and watch the various sea life that came to the light. Bigger fish could be seen working the area right at the edge of the glow.
But the attraction hanging from the back of the boat could not camouflage the bite on Lady Jane's rod. She was bowed up with what was an obviously a big snapper. As she fought her fish, Pat also set the hook on another tough scrapper. Both red snapper were brought to the deck and were determined by Fant, "...to be big enough to make the ride back to the dock."
During the next two hours, more than 80 pounds of red snapper were caught and boxed. Even with the excitement on deck, the green glow continued to draw baitfish. A school of big squid swam into the glow, exciting everyone. Suddenly, a school of small dolphin fish slashed through the squid scattering them.
A cigar minnow tossed out on a spinning rod flat line to the outside edge of the green glow resulted in a strong strike. The cigar minnow had been floating on the surface. After a pretty tough battle, Fant leaned over the back of the Lady Jane and gaffed a 12-pound red snapper. It had slammed the dead bait on the surface.
But it was the flying fish that glided through the current and into the glow of the light that was the most fascinating. With their wings folded only about a quarter of the way in they looked, as Wilson pointed out, "like a formation of stealth fighters moving into the area."
It was midnight when the anchor was pulled, but nobody was nodding off in chairs or on the couch. The excitement of a strong bite of red snapper and cinema created within the glow of the Green Magnet kept everyone excited and alert.
There is no way to describe the peacefulness of the evening and the different aura taken on by the gulf after the sun goes down. I do not know if it was the green light, the relaxation of the cool evening without the glare of the sun, or the box full of red snapper that rode back to the dock with us that made it so successful.
I do know that it will be very easy to say yes the next time I get an invitation to head to an inshore reef about sundown.
Green Light story!
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