If bass are colorblind , why so many colors?

[Gorgebassman]

I dont think fish are color blind they see some spectrum of color. But I also think that alot of lure colors are for catching fisherman.

[FlyRod]

I long ago figured it all out. Lures are designed to catch fishermen. Whether or not they catch fish is secondary to lure manufacturers. They are blind to all colors except Money Green.

Within those parameters, however, I believe that some of you have pretty much nailed it; Color matters mostly to the extent that a fish can see the lure. Taking that a bit further, there IS, IMHO, such a thing as a fish being able to see a lure too well. That's why, I think, that in clear water, with good light penetration, a less vivid color is the better choice.

My experience has been that in clear water a lure that is subtle in color, let's say  a more translucent worm with a small profile, perhaps a Zoom U-Tail in Watermelon/Black Flake, should be more effective than a thick-bodied worm in, say, solid black. Conversely, in a more turbid water, a thicker profile and a color that provides more visiblilty via either "silhouette" (black?) or a "Hey! Over here!" color (chartreuse?) is more effective.

Whether my assumptions (and that's all they are) are correct or not, the "rule" seems to work for me.

FR

[Keithscatch]

Good points everyone. I know that bass react to some colors better then other colors at given times. We all know that Red is killer in late winter/early spring. But I do think we as fishermen outsmart ourselves to many times with to many color options.

I think it is good to have light colors, medium hue colors and dark colors. Can be pretty simple. No need to have every shade of watermelon or every shade of Junebug or every shade of pumpkin etc. Also, sometimes when we are using a certain color and are having success with it and never change up we are conditioning ourselves that this is the color that catches fish. So in our own mind we think hey this particular color is what to use and we tell our friends to buy worms in this color and size etc. My theory is this, if we were using say watermelon red on that trip and caught a mess of fish what if instead we used Junebug? Or redshad and caught all of those fish? Now we would have the same story just with a different color. I think we would have caught fish on any number of colors that day. There are exceptions I know but for the most part it is true.

So the moral to my theory is to be open to new ideas at all times. Whenever we lock ourselves into believing that this color or this lure or this rod or this boat yada yada yada is the only way to go etc. We really are only hurting and limiting ourselves.

[dink]

Good summary Keith.  You nailed it with that last paragraph about keeping an open mind.  Interesting topic.

dink

[Raul]

Bass are not color blind.

They have rods, cones and rhodopsin, just like humans.

Dogs are color blind, not bass.

Many studies have been done regarding colors and how they look underwater. For more inforation on this subject get Homer Circle's Bass Wisdom and check out chapter 14, What Colors Make Bass Bite?

The more you read and view videos and attend Bass University the more knowledge you will have and the better bass fisherman you will become.

Are you a Veterinary Surgeon ? I am, dogs can see green.

[Captain Cali]

Great thread!

[RollONTwo]

I agree with flechero totally. I think Shades of gray.

[Guest the_muddy_man]

Check this out. I spend most of my fishing time with my friend Ron He likes using natural colored or shades of brown for plastic worms I prefer Greens and Purple We both do alright but for a couple of trips we switched and both our catches went down!!!!!!!! Think its all in the confidence :

As an aside too bad humans werent color blind we all would probablly get along with each other better

[captgene]

Black and White are colors also.

[Guest ouachitabassangler]

Some studies have found up to 28 colors bass react to (an article from a researcher in BASS TIMES recently confirmed that) though most experts agree bass primarily detect red and green, to a lesser extent blue and some ultraviolet. Color sightedness in bass has been confirmed many years. Bass have even been trained to respond to certain colored lines, IOW, they can distinguish between colors of lines. http://digital.library.okstate.edu/OAS/oas_htm_files/v59/p34_40nf.html

How many of us have "experimented" with color in lures as much a Chad and Denny Brauer? "Bass can see very well in low light conditions, and they can see colors. The studies I have seen have indicated that bass can detect light about five times better than we can and can see the yellow, green, and orange color spectrum the best."  http://www.brauerbass.com/articles/2_chad_5senses.htm

Jim

[jomatty]

while i have a number of different colors in my soft plastic arsenal i think that 90% of the time as long as i had green pumpkin and black/blue i would do just fine.  i might also like some white (for rare occasions) and something in between the two like a smoke with black or silver flake.  i adjust the color almost completely based on light and water visibility.  you could probably substiture junebug or some other dark pattern for the black/blue without making too much difference.

i think the contrast is the most important thing.  thats my uninformed (but strong) opinion.

matt

[Guest ouachitabassangler]

That works most of the time here, matching young bass and bluegill colors. Contrast seems to matter most in darkness or dingy water. I was desperate to get on a pattern the other day, fishing ultra clear water, tossing to some 2 pound bass breaking on shad. Nothing worked there either, the usual worms failing me after giving up on deep structure fishing. A guy motored over from a cove on his way home with a limit and tossed me a brown Senko type worm with yellow bands. I hadn't fished a brown worm in years, and didn't own one. But that one worm got a limit before it broke. I now own a variety of earth tones.  

Jim

[RollONTwo]

On the Black and White color issue. I know that in the computer graphics world Black is not a color and White is all colors. I still lean towards shades of gray for fish.

[captgene]

You only see the colors that are reflected from an object, all other colors are absorbed, black absorbs all colors white reflects all colors , so all colors are there. Bass do not see the same as humans. And why is white and black colors on all paint color charts if it is not a color?

[captgene]

And the colors red green blue indigo and violent only refer to the human visible light spectrum , there are many other colors that other animals can see on each side of the spectrum that humans can not see.