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OLD QUESTION
#1
I THINK IT WAS TUBINJOE THAT ASKED ABOUT A FISHES ABILITY TO SEE COLORS . I THINK THIS WILL HELP HIM ( IT WAS AN OLD POST - QUESTION )

Every spring, the tackle counters of local sport shops are filled with attractive displays of the latest lures in a myriad of colors designed to capture the attention of eagler anglers, to say nothing of eager fish. Most tackle boxes are bulging with lures of every hure, and each fishing trip becomes a study of what color bait will entice the fish today. However, certain principles of vision and the behavior of light as it penetrates the water can make lure selection more scientific.

Most fish can see in color. As in people, the retina of a fish's eye contains two types of cells, rods and cones. Cones are used for day vision and are the cells used to see colors. Rods are used for night vision and cannot distinguish colors, although they can judge light intensity. The eyes of most freshwater fish contain both rods and cones, though day feeders tend to have more cones, and night feeders more rods.

In theory, then, day feeders like bass, trout, and salmon are more sensitive to color than night feeders like walleyes. Studies have shown that rainbow trout and Pacific salmon have color vision similar to that of humans. They can distinguish complementary colors and up to 24 spectral hues. Other studies have shown that brown trout are capable of sharply focusing on near and far objects at the same time and that they can clearly see different colors at different distances.

But light behaves differently in water than it does in air. The various colors of light travel at different wavelengths. The longest wavelengths are the reds, followed by oranges, yellows, greens, blues, indigos, and violets. When light travels through water, some of its energy is absorped, and the longest wavelengths are the ones absorbed first. Thus, the warmer colors fade out and gradually appear black as light penetrates the water column. Red light is almost completely absorbed within the first 15-20 feet. Orange penetrates to 30-40 feet, and yellow to 60-70 feet, while green and blue remain visible for as deep as the light penetrates.

The total amount of light also decreases with depth. At 50 feet, a yellow lure will still appear yellow, but will not appear as bright as it did at 20 feet. While red may be visible down to 15 feet in the clear water of open Lake Michigan, it may disappear within six inches of the surface in the turbid Fox River. At depths where it is nearly dark, a white or silver lure would show up better than a blue or green lure against a blue-green background of water. Products that are designed to reflect any light that strikes them, like Prism-lite, also make lures more visible.

Commercial fishermen have experimented with this principle in reverse, using it to make their nets less visible. Nets for use in very deep water have been dyed blue or green so they would blend into the background color of the water. Perch fishermen in southern Green Bay have experimented with dying their nets red, presumably because red fades out first in these shallow turbid waters.

Total light intensity is also important. On a cloudy day, colors will not penetrate as deep as they will on a sunny day. At dusk, as light intensity falls, reds are the first color to go, followed by orange, yellow, green, and blue. As total light intensity decreases, the fish's eye switches to vision with rods, and the fish is no longer able to distinguish colors. After dark, fishermen should choose between a light lure or dark one. At dawn, as light intensity increases and fish switch back to cone vision, the order is reversed, and blues, greens, yellows, oranges, and reds appear. At early dawn, some anglers are successful with a red J-lug near the surface. To fish striking from below, it shows up as a dark lure against the lightening sky. As the day gets lighter, red no longer works well, and anglers must experiment with more visible colors.

Studies on salmon have shown that their feeding behavior depends on whether they are seeing with rods or cones. During the day, salmon use cones to give them information on the hues and shades of moving prey. When prey are first located, they are stalked and eaten head first. From dusk to dark, rod vision takes over. Schools of prey fish break up and salmon assume a position below their prey to see them in contrast against the water surface, watch them move for a few moments, and then snap them up one by one.

Ultimately, the appeal of the lure to the fish is most important. Fish must strike the lure either to eat it or attack it. While fish may locate the general area of the bait by smell or sound, most of the fish in the Great Lakes make their final attack by sight. Fish scents and noisemakers can draw fish to the area of the lure, but before it can strike, the fish must also be able to see it. This is why lure visibility and color are important to successful fishing.
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#2
very interesting. i had no clue that fish's site was so complex. thanks a lot lonehunter. I think maybe this will help me in my choice of lures and lure colors.

I had to scroll up to the top of the post because i forgot who wrote it. I thought maybe it was tubedude because it was such a long post! haha[laugh][laugh][laugh][Wink]
long but very informative. thank you.




joe
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#3

Hi lonehunter

Very nicely written. Kinda short for a book though! ha ha As you know, the guys fishing albacore and deepwater jigging for yellowtail and White Sea Bass have begun using the glow-in-the-depths fluorecent and light retaining finishes on their favorite jigs. Pretty easily done with a jig finish specially done and a flashlight to charge it when needed.

Lots of productive fishing is done at the morning gray so I don't think light penetration for color differenciation is a factor, especially after the 50 or 60 foot mark. At least that's how the guys in San Diego have been talking up the light retaining lures.

JapanRon
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#4
well tubedude kinda makes that impression , a sharp mind , big heart , and stuck in a sturdy frame , lol ! he's our literary giant , so to speak . ( you know i can't visit this forum without having some fun ).[Tongue]

hey ron , watcha implying there , ? don't ya knowed that my mammy dun lernt me that iffin' ya ain't got no good book learning skills ya taint never gonna be no good at writung an syfering and stuff like dat ? i us have ya knowed i been studing up an been fixin ta be a well knowed writer jussen' like ma' pal tubedude ! dun got me a brand new da-gree from one of dem mail oder cata- , catta- , cattar - , uh , magasines . i is now a bonified literary genuis , got me a certificate ( sutible fer hanging on da wall ) that say's so too ! who new dat all them there 5 years at the schoolhouse was a waste o' time . a egumacation can be boughted fer $19.95 in any pasture of study . ( you guy's have fields , we got pastures here ) .

next month i'm gonna save up an become a brain surgen or a double knot spy . which ever gets me pretty girls [cool] .

tee hee hee .[Wink]
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#5
[cool]Hey, my fine friend from the north woods, that was a great article. Thanks for sharing it with our humble forum here. It almost offsets the hit and run shots you are so well known for. Almost.

You really had everyone Confused with the long dissertation though. I almost got credit for another marathon post, when it was not mine at all.

The one major point to be taken from all those words is that sometimes the visibility of the lure is more important than how sexy we think the color is. That once popular toy, the "Color Selector"...with the indicator dial of what colors work best at the level you drop the probe...was based on that principal. When the combination of light intensity and water clarity suggested a certain narrow color range, it was because that was the wavelength of light that was most visible under those conditions.

I have been surprised and humbled many times over the years by thinking I knew exactly what the fish wanted...only to find they hit better on something else that I would have never thought of trying...until some rookie started outfishing me on it.

There are a lot of factors that can affect the fishing success on any given day. Colors have always been a major part of my lure selection. Then, you also have the size and shape of the lure, the depth of presentation, speed of retrieve, special action, etc. Man, it's getting so that it almost takes an onboard computer to catch fish anymore. Problem is, I keep spilling crawdad oil in the keyboard on my float tube. And that big new 21" monitor really messes up my forward casts...not to mention netting fish off that side.

Thanks again, Al. Come on back anytime. Won't be long now until snowbird season begins. Hope they raise the bag and possession limits on them this year.
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#6
Silver will reflect light at deeper depths than nickel finished blades
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