Red light only penetrates about 10 to 15 feet in freshwater and I believe
fewer in salt. That is why it goes black when deep. No color to reflect.
Look at reef fish. They are not colored those bright colors because they
want to be seen- they are those colors because those light waves are not
present at the depths they live. So they go black and are hard to see/blend
with the background. They only look cool when all wavelengths of light are
present- when brought to the surface or in a tank. The bleeding bait, I
would imagine, only works in areas where red light is present or perhaps the
curve of the hook (red or black from depth) mimics a gill slit?
SamB
"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
...
Bob,

I wondered that same thing, but a couple of the local pros I know have
commented on using red hooks on topwaters baits. One has made an agreement
to go out and test head to head on identical baits and lines with me to
compare bronze, chrome, red, and excalbur rotating hooks when we find a good
topwater bite. Thats Dave Willhide, one of your local pro staff. He swears
the red hooks make a huge difference. He also likes the bleeding shad
pattern SWs.

From my own experience, I have caught many bluegill on bare hooks. It seems
I recall that gold salmon egg hooks got more hits than traditional
bronze/black hooks when fished without bait amoung aggressive gills.

Now comes the part where I may be out in left field because it is my own
opinion. I think in clear water where red can be seen it might be more
visible. I wondered about in deep water. I had heard that reds turned
black underwater when you got down deeper or if the water was particularly
stained or muddy. I know that several weeks ago I was fishing a tournament
with Craig Johnson, and he was fishing a deep diving red crankbait in very
stained water. He caught fish all day by cranking and cranking and
cranking. When I asked one of my fishing mentors about it he promptly pulle
d one of his crank baits out of the box and spray painted it black.

Perhaps, the red hooks have a two fold affect. Bleeding Bait (Daichii name)
affect when in clear water, black affect for visibility when in deep or
murky water.

TJ with Daichii has reccomended bleeding bait hooks over other hooks they
make on almost every application I have asked him about. I do like the
affect of fishing one of Gilbert's (Mesa Tackle) waterdogs on a Bleeding
Bait butt dragger hook. It takes a strong hook set even with a 5/O hook.
The way it drops in the water is so fishable though. It can easily be
fished as a slow jerk or swim bait, or dragged across a spawning bed to tick
off a big cow bass. For that last option Ild like a little heavier weight
on that butt dragger to hold it down in the eggs, but it really has a nice
affect.

By the way. A friend of mine weighed in a 7.15 lb LM caught using one of
those waterdogs, and he claims he had one almost twice that size break off
on him using the same bait.

--
Bob La Londe
www.YumaBassMan.com
All about fishing in Yuma, Arizona
Promote Your Fishing Website FOR FREE
"Bob Rickard" wrote in message
m...
I must be really stupid, so will somebody please explain this to me: small
diameter wire hooks draw strikes when colored red, while line of similar
diameter becomes invisible when colored red. My BS alert is screaming! Is it
possible that somebody might be funnin' us?
--
Bob Rickard
www.secretweaponlures.com
--------------------------=x O')))