Access the official MacDaddy Fishing Lights® manuals, installation guides, and helpful resources.
Accessories are absolutely fundamental to the science behind our engineering, so please never skip using the included flotation & anchoring accessories. "Dumbing down" the light to simplify your setup completely cancels out the advanced, generation-defining science built into this tool. For example, if you are ice fishing in water deeper than 20 feet, attempting to deploy the light without its proper rigging accessories is understandable for drop-down ice fishing. If you feel confident that you can hit the bottom without snagging the light, you should still deploy the flotation and anchoring system. However, please note that doing so is at your own risk, as variations in ice thickness could potentially snag your anchor line and prevent retrieval entirely.
If you prefer, you can watch our step-by-step video guide showing you exactly how to install the flotation and anchoring accessories.
We highly recommend using leaded crab pot line for your setup. For water depths of 20 feet or less, you should rig exactly 20 feet of line. Because leaded crab pot line naturally sinks, it allows any excess rope to lay flat on the bottom instead of free-floating vertically in the water column. In the sport of shrimping, using a standard 75-foot floating foam-core rope (typically sold for around $7.95 at big-box retail stores) is a complete disaster. These wandering foam-center ropes repel the shrimp whenever they come into contact with the line, causing them to dive away from your setup, so please do not use them.
We recommend using a fishing light anchor that does not exceed 8 pounds. Our lights are specifically engineered to withstand the bottom torque, a design we have perfected through more than 10 years of active fishing and field engineering. We constantly evolve our lights so they continue to perform reliably in the harshest underwater environments. For a proper setup, you can often find local Florida vendors selling ideal 7-pound lead anchors on Facebook Marketplace. If you prefer a DIY approach, many anglers successfully pour concrete anchors using storage container molds with a sunken U-bolt. However, please do not use standard fitness barbell weights, as they will roll along the bottom and displace your light. If you build a DIY anchor, try to "sputnik" the design by adding long, thick screws to help it dig in and grab the bottom. Simple hand weights can also work well, depending on the strength of the local water movement. Upside mushroom shape does well from a storage container round shape
Thread a medium strength cable tie at the end of your 20 foot anchor rope loop (opposite end is attached to the bottom of the light) onward through the attachment hook on the anchor. This is a break away system designed to break under excessive tension breaks releasing your light for retrieval. The anchor however has been donated to the sea.
We spent years actively fishing these waters to perfect our system, proving that successful night fishing requires a strategic process—not just a random lamp on a cord. Night fishing has been fundamentally elevated by Capt. Lee Noga’s continuous innovations and training programs, which began shaping the industry long before she built her first light. Your productivity climbs dramatically when you maintain complete tactical control over your underwater environment. By strategically anchoring your light at a precise location and optimal depth, you initiate a true "stealth-mode" ecosystem. This intentional backlighting system allows you to clearly hunt your target without setting off underwater alarms or disrupting the natural marine balance; you can easily see them, but they cannot see you
MacDaddy fishing lights changed the sport of fishing in 2016. We built an educational program first and then we built the light. The first and only smart fishing light in USA protected by a the highest award in the land.
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Light sensitive targets cannot process light. Targets do not care about number of lumens. Capt Lee Noga proved the power of light deployment strategies determines your success. HOW you present the light gives you manipulating strategies. Decades of patented research led to the innovation of the MacDaddy Smart Light 7 mode fishing light series. A light developed in Florida for the industry by the industry.
