color vs. contrast vs. reflectivity.

[jimmyjoe]

   Although one of these videos uses soft plastic, my focus here is hard lures .... specifically cranks and spoons.

   Not only that, but I'm old and I ramble. Please forgive me.

 

   The most common question I hear when fishing is, "Which color are they hitting?" They look at what I'm catching on, and they throw what they think is the same color.

   It bombs out.

   First reaction is to say it's not really the same color. In a sense, that's correct. It hits on what I THINK color really is. And it's not what we think it is.

   People and fish don't see color the same way; that's been known for a long time. But I think there's more to it than that.

   I think color (as such) is mostly unimportant, other than red and green. https://www.technologicalangler.com/bass-color-vision

   I think the way fish actually acquire a target depends on 1) contrast at a distance and 2) reflectivity close up. No, I don't base this on science, I base it on my experiences on the water. I've fished the Mississippi river for over 35 years, and just recently started fishing lakes within the last few years.

   What a difference!

   Many people think that the choice of color depends on research similar to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAJjdA6b4Ts

   But notice how clear that water is. I don't know about the water where you are, but the water where I am is nothing at all like that. I really doubt that these kinds of test have any bearing on colors for fishing at all. In the first place, the color is captured by a machine (a camera) that doesn't necessarily operate the same as a human eye. After that, we re-visit the idea that fish see differently that we do, much less a camera.

   The river water is much closer to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM37yRDhFmA

   One of the things I take away from this video is that when he says, "That's much more visible!", he's talking about solid colors, not relatively bright but translucent colors. Translucent contrasting colors reflect light less than solid contrasting colors.

   I think contrast has a lot to do with whether a bass hits a lure .... but only in certain phase. Likewise, I think reflectivity is important, but in its own phase.

 

   Awhile back, I asked how far people thought a bass would move, either up or across, to attack a lure. I got some surprising answers; 25 to 35 feet was not unusual. But that distance is only part of the 3 phases a acquiring a fish in your net.

   Phase 1 is awareness. Sound travels through water very efficiently, even at low frequencies that are picked up by the lateral line on a bass. So if I throw a spoon 50 yards to my left, a bass 50 yards to my right will be aware that it entered the water. Aware, but probably not interested. Yes, I know; I MAY GET SCHOOLED ON THIS ONE.

   Fish "hear" by sound (the rattles in rat-l-traps) and water displacement (the action of a 1 ounce Dardevle). So the bass knows that a lure is there, and that it is coming his way. At a certain distance, I think he goes to the next phase: interest.

   When a bass is interested, he's curious about a lure, but not ready to commit. He'll either get closer to the lure (follow) or set up so as the lure gets closer to him. How does he know what to follow? I think he "sees" the lure from far off by contrast when it first enters his visual capability.

   Let's say he follows; he may follow for quite a ways before he commits.

   That "commit" is the strike. That's the short-range evaluation of the lure, and the decision that it's something the bass wants to eat.

   I think that bit about it's something that the bass wants to eat is misunderstood. That's where reflectivity comes in. I DON'T THINK REFLECTIVITY IS A POSITIVE ATTRIBUTE; I THINK IT'S A NEGATIVE ATTRIBUTE. In other words, the wrong "shine" turns the bass off. It turns him away from the lure. At the last second, he sees something that he DOES NOT LIKE. And I think that this might happen several times during the retrieve, we just don't know it.

   So many times, we hear or read about a pro hanging lures from their mirror for a long time, until the color pales out. I don't believe that it's the paling of the color, I believe that as the color fades so does the reflectivity. That's what is important.

   So if you're fishing a brand-new lure that is pale, but real shiny, you're at a disadvantage .... unless you're "ripping". You might get bass staging on your lure as it gets near to them, and they might follow or even charge it. But at the last second, they're most likely to turn away and not smack it.

   So is color totally unimportant? No, not at all. But different colors are, to a fish, different shades of gray. They're just not what WE see. I think the reflectivity is most critical .... especially in sunlit waters and waters that are clearer.

   And the lakes are clearer. I failed with my old river lures when started fishing lakes. I think this explains why.

 

   So tell me ..... am I crazy?         jj

  

  

  

  

[Tennessee Boy]

Nice write up.  I enjoyed reading it.  There’s a lot to digest.  The way I think about bass behavior is they don’t think so much as they respond to triggers.  These triggers can cause then to attack a lure or flee from it.  Their response to the same lure can very at different times and between different fish.  Sometimes a big flashy noisy lure is just what’s needed to get their attention.  Other times,  it takes more finesse to convince them theirs nothing to be scared of.  They way we present the lure make a big difference also.  Choosing what tools we should use to trigger the response we want is what it’s all about.  That’s my theory and it’s just a theory.   I’ve asked many bass to explain their behavior but I’ve never been able to get a straight answer.

[jimmyjoe]

2 hours ago, Tennessee Boy said:

 The way I think about bass behavior is they don’t think so much as they respond to triggers.

 

   True, true. I think there are positive and negative triggers. The positive triggers work in our favor, but the negative triggers make the bass suddenly abandon the strike.

   I could be wrong.     ?     jj

[scaleface]

Color is a complicated subject .   I like to   watch physics videos on Youtube . Even though I'm not smart enough to understand them , I still find them fascinating .One of the things I learned from viewing them is color doesnt exist except for in our brains . Thats hard to comprehend but supposedly true . 

[jimmyjoe]

Just now, scaleface said:

.One of the things I learned from viewing them is color doesnt exist except for in our brains .

 

  That's an excellent way to say why fish don't see color the way we do! Thanks!      jj

[Sphynx]

I think the frequency with which a bass predates upon a certain level of reflective things may have a lot to do with it, fish that eat a lot of minnows that are in clear water and are of the highly reflective/silver/gold variety probably have a learned response that flashes are likely food, fish like those in the deep south where chocolate milk is usually the water color probably have learned to hunt primarily by lateral line, and would not be nearly as receptive to a flashy lure

[jimmyjoe]

10 minutes ago, Sphynx said:

I think the frequency with which a bass predates upon a certain level of reflective things may have a lot to do with it, fish that eat a lot of minnows that are in clear water and are of the highly reflective/silver/gold variety probably have a learned response that flashes are likely food, fish like those in the deep south where chocolate milk is usually the water color probably have learned to hunt primarily by lateral line, and would not be nearly as receptive to a flashy lure

 

   That would explain the one lure that I could not fit in .... the silver-bladed Mepps inline spinner.      jj

[Cgolf]

I have had bass make it stupid complicated in fairly clear water where I can see a white RES in 12-15 fow.

 

I have had them ignore a water red tube on flat sunny conditions and jump all over a smoke red or smoke purple tube.

 

Get a chop on the water or add overcast skies and water red becomes king and they won't touch smoke red or purple. 

 

So light penetration plays a big role on some waters too. Only thing I can figure is after catching some bluegills, they look shiny and silverish in the sun (smoke colors) and greenish (water red) when the sky is overcast.

 

Murky water is so much easier to fish.

[galyonj]

7 hours ago, cgolf said:

I have had bass make it stupid complicated in fairly clear water where I can see a white RES in 12-15 fow.

 

I have had them ignore a water red tube on flat sunny conditions and jump all over a smoke red or smoke purple tube.

 

Get a chop on the water or add overcast skies and water red becomes king and they won't touch smoke red or purple. 

 

So light penetration plays a big role on some waters too. Only thing I can figure is after catching some bluegills, they look shiny and silverish in the sun (smoke colors) and greenish (water red) when the sky is overcast.

 

Murky water is so much easier to fish.

Bass are notoriously uncooperative and, like @Tennessee Boy mentioned, you'll never get a straight answer out of them.

[Steelhead]

What stood out for me was the refraction index of an object at 33% larger underwater. I didn't think it was that high. This will definitely change my calculations when I see bait in the water. 

[WRB]

What I know as a fact about color is we don't know how a fish interprates the color spectrum. 

"Every time we think we know how bass see colors the little green fish proves us wrong" Bill Murphy.

My experience over 60 years of bass fishing is color preference changes annually with bass anglers regionally. Do you remember when coach dog was the predominate crankbait (plug) color? The original Finland lure (Rapala minnow) was only available in silver with black back, high contrast with flash, and possibly caught more fish then all hard lures combined.  Contrast with flash obliviously works.

Today the most popular hard bait is the shallow square bills in Sexy Shad, flash but little contrast.

Bass fishing is littered with popular lures and colors that are forgotten .

Tom