On Mon, 23 Jul 2007 00:29:28 -0000, JOF wrote:

On Jul 22, 1:19 pm, RoLo wrote:
On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 00:37:33 GMT, "Bob Rickard"

wrote:
Most predatory game fish evolved into creatures with a far wider visible
color reception bandwidth than humans could ever conceive. Few people would
argue that the direction of evolution has been directed only by the critical
needs of the species involved.

To humans, color has become vitally important in the selection of a car, a
new dress, or whatever. In predatory fish, however, which must hunt to eat &
survive, color reception is of major importance in detecting prey. It is
therefore absolutely logical that at some times lure color selection is
extremely important in catching those fish. Why? I don't know for sure, nor
do I really care. Simply put; what is... is.

Bob Rickard
Secret Weapon Lures

If fish were in fact able to perceive more colors than humans,
well guess what, that would make it impossible for humans
to choose the right color. After all, we can't even see them right?

In the real world, color is important only inasmuch as it lends
to "visibility" under the current lighting conditions, which are
constantly changing. Once a predatory fish notices the lure,
color has already fulfilled its mission and plays no further role
in triggering a strike.

Talk to a scuba diver about what depth does to colour. For instance,
to the human eye red turns almost black at something like15'. Some
other colours survive to greater depths. How fish eyes react to the
depth/colour thing I'm not certain. A diver can restore some of the
colour by using a flash for photography. I've wondered as I look at
some of the lures offered for sale how the fish will actually see
them. Perhaps the action is at least as importatnt as the colour.

JF


You're right JOF, Red is the first color to lose its identity,
followed in order by Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and lastly Purple.
The problem is, there is no set depth at which a given color
will lose its identity, which varies according to water depth,
water clarity, sky clarity and of course, time-of-day.
Instead of doing the fish's worrying, the angler might do
well just to select a lure with both a dark and light hue so the lure
will be visible under the broadest range of lighting conditions.

In the final analysis, once the predator sees the lure, then more
important matters actually trigger the strike. Matters like Action,
Size, Speed, Shape and last but not least, how close the lure
approaches the predator, that is, assuming a predator is there :-)

Roger