Was told by a Game Warden today that running your boat at night with the front light bar on is illegal as it would destroy other boaters night vision. Has anyone else heard this?

Never heard that

Never heard that either. I’d ask for the specific law citation.

The ticket cost less than the damage from the stumps I’m going to hit without it.

I have, if the light bar is on 2 things happen. You blind the heck out of on coming boaters, and other boaters can’t see your front bow lights. I don’t know if you’ve ever looked into one of those lights head on. You can’t see nothing

Your duck hunting , you are probably all headed in the same direction.
I have one on my duckboat and my catfish center console. Never had an issue. I'd rather ask for forgiveness
Than ask for permission. Most GW are at the ramp when you return. So I don't see the ticket issue.

Biggest illegal part they will ticket you on is that you can not see your red/green nav lights, which by law, must be visible. Most light bars are mounted down right over the front nav lights on the front deck and you can't see them. That and they are blindingly bright to obscure pretty much everything else.

It depends on where the lights are and how they are mounted. The fishermen on lake Austin got hammered on this a while back. Down at the bottom of this article there is a little info:

https://www.lsonews.com/boat-light-strips-must-meet-uscg-standards/

And here is more info:

http://www.austinbassfishing.com/forum/m...pdate-uscg.html

I can count the GW's I,ve seen on the water on one hand in 10 yrs...They all sit at the ramp at 8 am on...I'd take the ticket just to see one

Wouldn't any kind of spotlight or bright light hurt other boaters night vision?

Yes, the Lake Austin guys got targeted for that as well.

My best fishing and hunting buddy is our local game warden. He says you can only use one as a searchlight but not as a running light. I run mine at night and turn it off if I see anyone coming. My argument is going to be I’m searching for the next intercoastal buoy or marker. I would rather do that then almost run over some things I have almost run over in the dark in the past. If I am running at twilight and can still see good, I just have my navigation lights on and leave the lightbar off.

I bet titanic captain wishes they had a light bar.

When you can tell me the difference between a light bar on a duck boat and these bow fishing rigs glowing like the sun I'll worry about it. Haven't ever heard of a game warden stopping a bow fishing boat because the lights.

I just recently got stopped by the coast guard and was told the same thing. If there is someone within the lighted distance your suppose to turn your light bar off so they can see your nav lights. And you can turn them on after you pass the other boater

I had the ducktoon out this last weekend. Got rolled up on by an airboat stacked 4 deep with Game Wardens. The head honcho GW was really nice. You could tell he has had some years and knows how to talk to people. He was training a couple new boots. They didn't smile at my jokes. That means one of two things. They are new boots or my jokes suck, lol! Overall it was a pleasant experience so far as meeting Game Wardens on the water. So far as the light bar, I am running one and taking the ticket if they give me one.

That makes sense. Turn your high beams off with oncoming traffic.

Agreed. Seems reasonable.

That makes more sense than what the GW told me.

Yes its illegal but when youre driving to your duck hole at 4 AM its definitely worth risking a small fine. Game wardens aren't awake by that time anyway. I would refrain from using it right after sundown when everyone is getting off the lake. Probably would not be so lucky at that time.

They definitely blind other boaters out on the water. See them all the time where I hunt. I have also had the pleasure of one coming at me head on in a fairly narrow cut. They missed their turn and came back the other way. You can't see a d@mn thing looking at them head on.
They are the newest fad I guess.