I bought the Berkley submersible LED light this spring and used it about a dozen times for night crappie fishing off a lake dock. In my experience, it usually takes about 45-90 minutes for the food chain to develop. I sank it about 6 feet, and fished about 10-15 feet. Depth of the light really depends on the clarity of the waters you fish. Stained/murky water -- don't go too deep; gin clear -- go deep. You just want to be sure there is adequate light at the surface to attract bugs and plankton, which starts the chain. The bigger predators like to pick off the baitfish at the bottom of the light sphere (lurking deeper in the dark), so fish below the depth of the light. It's really cool to see shadows darting through the light in the water... lets you know there is good game down there. I had pretty decent success with it this summer. I haven't seen large/concentrated schools of baitfish that would allow you to throw a net for your bait, I'd suggest you BYOB.