How to Set Up Fishing Lights for Shrimping: Capt. Lee Noga’s Complete 9-Step Guide

Why Learning How to Set Up Fishing Lights for Shrimping Changes Everything

Knowing how to set up fishing lights for shrimping is the single biggest variable separating anglers who consistently limit out from those who go home empty. Most shrimpers treat their light as a simple drop-in tool, toss it overboard, wait, and hope. Capt. Lee Noga of MacDaddy Fishing Lights® spent 15+ years proving that approach wrong. Strategy, depth control, positioning, and timing are not optional. They are the sport.

This 9-step guide is built entirely from Capt. Noga’s published research, the same research that earned MacDaddy Fishing Lights® 9 U.S. patents and made it Florida’s best-selling submersible shrimping light.

Why the Right Shrimping Light Is the Foundation

Before covering setup, the light itself must meet a minimum standard. Not every fishing light can function as a shrimping light. A shrimping light requires: vertical orientation in the water column, a depth-control system, a weighted anchor attachment, and adequate lumen output (1,800–6,000 lumens after housing loss). If the light you are using lacks any of these features, no amount of strategy will compensate. This is why understanding how to set up fishing lights for shrimping starts with equipment, not technique.

MacDaddy Fishing Lights® offers two product lines for shrimping. The Single Mode Light™ (PRO and ULTRA) provides reliable single-mode performance with full anchoring and depth control. The Smart Light® Series adds 7–8 programmable modes, including the patented frequency strobe that is essential for breaking up bait blackouts during peak shrimping season.

Step 1 – Choose Your Location

The first step in setting up fishing lights for shrimping is selecting the right water. Shrimp move with the tide, specifically the outgoing tide at night. Target tidal rivers, ICW channels, and estuarine systems where tidal flow is present. In Central Florida, the productive depth range is typically 10–15 feet in the Intracoastal Waterway.

Best locations for shrimping light deployment:

• Near drop-offs where water deepens gradually
• Edges of submerged sandbars
• Wind-driven and tidal bridge areas
• Shallow tidal cuts in saltwater rivers

Step 2 – Position Your Light Correctly

Underwater vs. above-water positioning is not a preference, it is the difference between success and failure. Submersible lights deployed below the surface create a 360-degree backlighting zone that shrimp approach calmly. Above-water lights shine down and cause light-sensitive species (brown and pink shrimp in particular) to dive toward the bottom to escape.

Always deploy your shrimping light below the surface, away from the boat, with the top of the light facing skyward. The water above your light must remain completely unlit, that is what draws shrimp upward and into net range.

Step 3 – Use Two Lights, Not One

One light attracts. Two lights manipulate. A single-light setup creates a point of attraction. A two-light setup creates a field, a corridor of light pressure that guides shrimp toward your net. For 2–3 anglers, two lights is the minimum for a productive shrimping operation. The larger the light field, the higher the shrimp density at the harvest zone.

• Single boat: position the boat horizontal (east/west), anchor bow and stern, deploy 1–2 lights on the south-facing side in tidal water.
• Dock: deploy lights at the correct depth for your water column, dock-edge surface light alone is not an effective shrimping strategy.

Step 4 – Set the Right Depth

Depth is one of the most misunderstood variables in how to set up fishing lights for shrimping. In warm summer months, shrimp hold slightly deeper as surface water temperatures rise. In cooler fall months, they rise closer to the surface. Start at 18–24 inches below the surface and adjust in 6-inch increments based on activity.

The MacDaddy Fishing Lights® patented flotation system holds your light at a fixed, repeatable depth, allowing you to dial in the exact position that is working and replicate it on every trip. Depth control is arguably the most technical part of how to set up fishing lights for shrimping, and it’s where most anglers lose consistency

Step 5 – Anchor the Light in Moving Water

In tidal water, an unanchored light drifts with the current, creating an inconsistent, moving target that disperses shrimp aggregations. A minimum 7–8 lb anchor attachment is required in strong tidal systems. MacDaddy’s patented anchoring hardware is designed specifically for tidal environments, keeping the light fixed and the light field stable throughout the entire fishing window.

Step 6 – Choose the Right Brightness and Color

Aim for 1,800–6,000 lumens after housing loss (retailers typically market LED strip lumens before the light is assembled, deduct 35–50% for real output). Green LED fishing lights are the strongest performer for Florida’s murky inshore waters. The MacDaddy system pairs green with a lower-lumen white strip for added visual depth.

For the MacDaddy Smart Light® Series, use the green or dual-color mode as your default setting. Activate the strobe mode when bait density causes a blackout, this breaks up the pod and restores your fishing window. Getting brightness and color right is a make-or-break variable in how to set up fishing lights for shrimping successfully.

Step 7 – Time Your Trip to the Tides

Shrimp move during the outgoing tide. The tide chart is your most important pre-trip planning tool. The productive window is the falling tide, plan to have your lights in the water and cycling before the outgoing tide begins. The first hour of incoming tide can also produce at the peak and end of the shrimping season, though shrimp tend to run smaller.

• Dusk: Deploy lights as daylight fades, shrimp become active as ambient light drops.
• Night: The falling tide is your primary window. A short falling tide equals a short night.
• Tide change: The best moment is at the end of the incoming tide, just as the outgoing begins.

Step 8 – Secure and Power Your Lights Safely

Tether all light cords to a cleat, rail, or battery bracket with a cable tie, losing a shrimping light overboard in a moving tide is a common and expensive mistake. For power, use a 675-crank-amp tractor or marine battery for lights under 6,000 lumens. The MacDaddy ULTRA Series requires a 1,000-crank-amp battery to run two lights at full power for an extended session.

Step 9 – Choose the Right Net

A dip net with a 3/8-inch mesh bag is the standard for night shrimping in Florida. Bring 4-inch cable ties to repair any rips mid-session, a small hole in the mesh can cost you dozens of shrimp per dip. Cast nets (14-foot maximum stretched length, per Florida FWC regulation) are used during daytime shrimping for white shrimp. All recreational shrimping requires a valid Florida saltwater fishing license.

Conclusion: Strategy Is What Separates Full Coolers from Empty Ones

Now that you know how to set up fishing lights for shrimping using Capt. Lee Noga’s proven system, you have the foundation for consistent, repeatable results. Depth control, current anchoring, two-light deployment, and tide timing work together as a system, not independently. The MacDaddy Fishing Lights® were engineered to make every one of these variables manageable, even in challenging Florida tidal conditions.

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Video Links:

View 60 Second Demo – MacDaddy Smart Light® ULTRA 8-Modes
View (1 hr) YouTube® Video – Stop Setting Your Lights Wrong

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