On Sun, 07 Mar 2004 03:27:10 GMT, "Craig Baugher"
wrote:

Was watching ESPN and saw a spot from Doug on boat color. Never really gave
it a lot of thought, but what he was saying made a lot of sense.

Hi all, what color are fish? Most tend to have a light bottom with
darker sides.

What color is a gator? They feed on fish and have a white bottom with
dark sides and top. That might tell you something.

I do a lot of kayak and canoe fishing and own three boats. The kayak
is all off white but it has a very low profile with little white above
the water line. I have had some very close hookups from this boat.

My canoe is solid dark green and I have had fish swim into the bottom
in dark bottom lakes.

My third boat is a camo gelcoat Gheenoe. It also catches fish.

What is best? I think it has a lot to do with the time of day and
color of the bottom. When I go inshore salt water fishing over sandy
bottoms I would have to give the edge to the white kayak.

In darker bottom lakes it seems the green canoe might have the edge.

One thing I try to avoid is wearing white shirts when I fish. I'm
certain that white above the water line is not good except maybe on a
bright overcast day.

It would be interesting if anybody has done any real research on this.

Later, DC

Doug stated, he reconditioned his aluminum boat and painted it a bright
yellow with black pins to make it look cool. But then he noticed his catch
ratio dropped dramatically. He thought about it, and the only thing that
changed was his boat color. He went and got some more paint and camo'ed his
boat. Afterwards his catch ratio went back to normal.

He went on to explain that fish are attracted to dark colored hulls because
they produce the best shadows, but if the sides of the boat don't blend into
the sky or background, it puts the fish on alert, or at least this is his
theory. He used underwater cameras to emphasize his point.

Ok, it's pretty easy to modify an aluminum boat, but you better know what
you want when ordering a glass boat.

So, I tried to look up the top winningest pro's and then see what color
their boats were. From the very few I could match up, white was the most
common color.

Based on Doug's theory, the best boat would be a black hull, with camo
sides. But have you ever saw a camo colored glass boat. The closest I came
was going to Ranger's website and creating a black hull, duck beige & green
boat. But I think a black bottom, white boat should work well, and then if
you as an angler wore beige, white, power blue clothing, it would only help.

I have to ask, what do you think of Doug's theory. Because the BFL Angler of
the Year in Michigan drives a Red Metal Flake boat (hull, sides, top, and
carpeting. Everything is red)?

--
Dale Colemam