Back to the color of lure discussion

[joedog]

Now here's some easy reading that explains what fish see.

Choosing Colors that Catch Fish
Different Fish See Different Colors
In order to see color, a fish needs to have at least two cone cell types in its eyes. Bottom-dwelling fish (i.e. catfish) have only one type of cone cell so they see everything in shades of gray - they can determine an object's brightness, but not its color. Many shallow water surface-fish (i.e. trout, minnows, carp) have four cone cell types, allowing them to see all colors, including the hidden ones in the ultraviolet spectrum. Other fish such as the bluegill and the bass have two cone cell types, limiting their color distinctions to black, browns, greens and reds (and possibly yellows for the bass). Although most of these fish can discriminate between very fine shades of the colors they can see, this ability has no effect on what they select for food - recent tests have shown that, all other things being equal, the shade/tint of the color (bright red vs dark red) doesn't influence a fish's willingness to attack bait.
Unfortunately, there is no chart explaining the color viewing capabilities for each species of fish. With this is mind, it is best to make color selections based on color contrast rather than actual colors. For instance, pick a lure with two colors that would appear differently, regardless of their actual color. Here is an example of how a some fish might see a blue and red lure - notice the color contrast exists in all three views:




Color Filtration in Water
Water filters light. And since all color is actually colored light, water will filter colors. Certain colors cannot be seen below certain depths because light is broken apart when it hits the water and certain wavelengths (colors) are filtered out. The severity of this filter depends on the clarity of the water, wind conditions, time of day and lure depth; dirty water, high winds, deep water, and evening hours mean fewer colors. To understand these effects, we must first understand the relationship between light and water.

The colors of the spectrum (the colors of light) are Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. A mixture of all of these colors produces white. If an angler were to stand in the center of a very deep lake and shine a bright light into it, the colors within the light beam would gradually disappear as it traveled toward the bottom. At 10 feet, red is almost gone, orange is disappearing, and yellow is starting to fade away. At 35 feet, orange is gone, and yellow is quickly disappearing. At 75 feet, yellow looks greenish-blue and the only visible colors are blue, indigo and violet. As we pass 150 feet, blue and indigo are hard to see and violet is disappearing. At a few hundred feet, ultraviolet is the only color left, and it is not visible to the human eye anyway.



Neon colors, however, do not disappear when the spectrum colors do. This is because they "fluoresce", meaning that they glow when hit by ultraviolet light. We have heard reports of brightly visible fluorescent pink and yellow colors at depths of 125 feet and deeper!

Keep in mind, however, that these water color filtration rates assume that the water is crystal clear. Pollutants, sediment, and wind can drastically affect these numbers by rearranging the filtration order and decreasing the overall depths of all colors. Under these circumstances, red-orange seems to be the most visible, assuming that your lure depth is not greater than 20 feet. That said, here are some tips from anglers on how to pick lure color:

Super Clear: White or clear. Use glitter for color. All colors are visible to 10 feet.
Clear Water: Blue is most visible. White is visible. All colors are slightly visible to 10 feet.
Green Water: Green is most visible.
Stained Water: Orange, green, and chartreuse are most visible. Red is slightly visible.
Muddy Water: Red is most visible.

Here are some additional suggestions to help with low light (first light until sunup), medium light (sunup until the sun reaches 20 degrees to the horizon), and high light (from 20 degrees to the opposite horizon) conditions:

Low Light: Blue, purple or black work best. Use with silver flash.
Medium Light: Red and orange work best.
High Light: Brown or gray work best. Use with fluorescent accents.

NOTE: When the light level falls below 0.1 foot candle (clear night, no moon), all colors become just shades of gray and cannot be seen by the fish.

And added this because I think you will enjoy the Complementary Color Scheme section.

Kind of explains why lurers come in so many colors.
Especially after you see what they see.
Now this info came from a site that teaches lure making/ painting, for personal and commercial.

And the Analogous Color Scheme explains why firetiger works so well.
I'm thinking the same applies to 'clown' color scheme.



In addition to primary and secondary colors, there are also other colors known as "intermediate" colors (Figure 3). To create an intermediate color, you mix a primary color with a secondary color. For instance, to make pink, you mix orange and red.


Figure 1Figure 2 Figure 3



Color Schemes
Now that you understand how the colors on a color wheel work, you can use the color wheel to figure out which colors look good together. There are many ways to do this, and many different color scheme approaches.

Monochromatic Color Scheme
In this color scheme, all of the colors on the lure are made by tinting or shading a single color. Here is an example of a monochromatic color scheme on a lure (see image to the right). Notice that the entire lure is painted using versions of green. To create this type of lure finish, all you need is green, black, and white. Using different ratios of white to green or black to green will give you all of the color variations you need for the lure.


Complementary Color Scheme
In this scheme, all of the colors used are opposites on the color wheel. A sample lure painted with complementary colors (purple and yellow) is shown in the image to the right. You'll probably notice that this color scheme tends to stand out more than the monochromatic colored lure. This is typical of lures painted in this fashion - people notice them (and so do fish!). The human eye tends to be drawn to items that contain complementary colors. Keep this mind when you're designing fishing lures to sell to the public; if a monochromatic lure is sitting on the shelf next to a complementary colored lure, the fishermen is more likely to buy the lure with complementary colors (assuming the paint job is good of course!).


Analogous Color Scheme
Last, but not least, we have the analogous color scheme. In this approach to selecting colors, you choose 3 to 5 colors that are adjacent to each other on the color wheel. The most famous analogous color scheme used on fishing lures is the classic "firetiger" pattern consisting of bright green, yellow, and orange. We have heard rumors that lures with this sort of color scheme tend to land more fish. That would make sense because most sportfish cannot see all of the colors in the color wheel. By using this color scheme, chances are you'll include a color that the fish can see and recognize - increasing the chances of attraction.




I may have shared this before, I can't remember.
If I did, sorry for the repeat.