does color matter after about 30 feet

[flipthatjig]

i heard from a friend a while back that he read something in bassmaster that say after about 30 feet or so there is very little light down that deep. all they see is a dark thing movin around. color doesnt matter too much..is that right???

[crawdaddy]

I have scuba dived to over 100ft and most colors, especially bright ones are very visible. Especially up close.

[CharlieS.]

Its true,although I dont remember the actual depth that each color vanishes,think its deeper,but I would be guessing... used to scuba dive a bunch of years ago.. . Kind of throws those red hook stories away huh? Wait..maybe if red disappears the fish cant see the hook at all,which may be helpful lol.. But what makes me think is,,,we all are seeing with human eyes. Maybe fish and etc see differently . Dogs hear better, ducks catch movement from before getting into range...Charlie

[Lance]

I have scuba dived to over 100ft and most colors, especially bright ones are very visible. Especially up close.

Personaly 120ft, and I have to back what crawdaddy said, What I dont get is if Red is supposed to be seen by bass than why has Power Pro come out with red line Arnt we parinoid about line being seen by the fishes??? Things that make you go hmmmm

L

[Marc]

Until bass start talking, we won't really know for sure...but since their eyesight underwater is excellent, and they can distinguish tiny differences between shades of gray, I suspect that color can very much make a difference at times, and my fishing experience has supported that contention.

In 1980 when I first learned how to doodle worms on a hump in Casitas at 60 feet deep, I was using a Bud's Worm (I bet nobody remembers them except Bob Taylor) in brown, and my partner was using the same exact rig, line, etc. but with a Bud's black/grape version. He was catching fish after fish, and I was hauling water until I switched to black/grape and he switched to brown on a bet, and the situation reversed.

Just because a "red" lure won't look red at 30 feet deep (or at 15 feet for that matter), doesn't mean it won't be more productive than another color at that moment in time. The shade it appears may be just what the bass are looking for at that time.

Of course there are times when color makes no difference and anything will work, or nothing will...

[Steve]

zactly.

[Jim Conlow Sr.]

Yes I agree
But one thing I think we need to think about is that if you are matching the hatch then what ever the color the hatch is, is the color we should be using. obviously when you catch a spotted bass drop shotting at 70 or a hundresd feetand he comes up spitting out silver colored bait fish it seems to me that he must have seen them at that depth and we should try as close as we can to match that color

[TWinger]

When I dove, I found the color changes to be generally around 30-35 foot pending the water clearity. Color does not disappear, but changes. What might be red at the surface will change to browns, grey and blacks in different shades pending the shade it started at. Once I was diving at 60 foot in the Monterey area, by a step wall, many may know the shelf in Monterey. I found the most beautifull graded shades of pink on a rock. When I saw it I decided to surface with it as my wife would never believe there could be soooooooo many shades of pink of all things in the open ocean. I carried that rock aound most of the dive and felt it's weight as I drug it around. Then when I surfaced, the pretty rock and it's many colors of Pink, were now, many shades of gray, just gray, no color at all. Because it was a boat dive, and I could return right away to the water, thinking it had dried out causing this change, when I placed it in the water at the surface, it was gray. Not until I began to take it back to depth did I see it change back through many color changes until it was again shades of pink. Because some time had lapsed and the day light or sun light or what ever had begun to change, it only required that I take it back to 45 feet to get to the same color of pink. It was long ago. but that is when I decided to invest in the old color selector. Someone had done the research and made it easy for us. I have used the color selector in the pool. I dropped it down while standing on the edge and read the color best in the band. Then dropped it into the water. a little color change while standing on the pool deck, but left it in the water and went down to look at it. When at the bottom, not much change in color but some. The clear pool water and the lack of depth did not change it much. Lots of studies about color and changes in water depth, clearity etc on the net. I have become a believer. We try different baits and colors all the time, then when we find one at one lake during the certain times it always works there. So we remember that and mark a color top a lake. But there is a reason for it. Take the one that is really amazing to me the Morning Dawn. With what I found that day at the dive makes me wonder about it all the time. It seems to work on most all our clear water lakes, just like the witches tea or as it once was called witches tit. The final thing I can tell you is that colors such as flourencent orange, yellow, etc will not change color. They always remain the same at all depths. That is why dive equipment is mostly these colors. It does not change so it is less likely a shark would think you are food. Bright colors seem to send them off. As far as line goes, the diameter seems to be more of a difference then color, I see that line no matter what color in clear water causes a shadow. So you may not see the line but you can see the shadow. It makes me wonder when they say you can't see the line, that is true but you can see the shadow which is like seeing the line. I thinks it can in clear conditions still spook the fish. I remember when there were clothes lines. Now you know how old I must be, But when we had clothes lines you hung clothes on, as a kid these were really bad when playing tag etc, you could get clothes lined if you ran into one. I remember being to short most of the time but when running and you saw the shadow of one of these, you were so worried about them you would deck, flinch or what ever until you realized it to be no threat. This instinct must be in fish and animals also. Just food for thought.

[TWinger]

When I dove, I found the color changes to be generally around 30-35 foot pending the water clearity. Color does not disappear, but changes. What might be red at the surface will change to browns, grey and blacks in different shades pending the shade it started at. Once I was diving at 60 foot in the Monterey area, by a step wall, many may know the shelf in Monterey. I found the most beautifull graded shades of pink on a rock. When I saw it I decided to surface with it as my wife would never believe there could be soooooooo many shades of pink of all things in the open ocean. I carried that rock aound most of the dive and felt it's weight as I drug it around. Then when I surfaced, the pretty rock and it's many colors of Pink, were now, many shades of gray, just gray, no color at all. Because it was a boat dive, and I could return right away to the water, thinking it had dried out causing this change, when I placed it in the water at the surface, it was gray. Not until I began to take it back to depth did I see it change back through many color changes until it was again shades of pink. Because some time had lapsed and the day light or sun light or what ever had begun to change, it only required that I take it back to 45 feet to get to the same color of pink. It was long ago. but that is when I decided to invest in the old color selector. Someone had done the research and made it easy for us. I have used the color selector in the pool. I dropped it down while standing on the edge and read the color best in the band. Then dropped it into the water. a little color change while standing on the pool deck, but left it in the water and went down to look at it. When at the bottom, not much change in color but some. The clear pool water and the lack of depth did not change it much. Lots of studies about color and changes in water depth, clearity etc on the net. I have become a believer. We try different baits and colors all the time, then when we find one at one lake during the certain times it always works there. So we remember that and mark a color top a lake. But there is a reason for it. Take the one that is really amazing to me the Morning Dawn. With what I found that day at the dive makes me wonder about it all the time. It seems to work on most all our clear water lakes, just like the witches tea or as it once was called witches tit. The final thing I can tell you is that colors such as flourencent orange, yellow, etc will not change color. They always remain the same at all depths. That is why dive equipment is mostly these colors. It does not change so it is less likely a shark would think you are food. Bright colors seem to send them off. As far as line goes, the diameter seems to be more of a difference then color, I see that line no matter what color in clear water causes a shadow. So you may not see the line but you can see the shadow. It makes me wonder when they say you can't see the line, that is true but you can see the shadow which is like seeing the line. I thinks it can in clear conditions still spook the fish. I remember when there were clothes lines. Now you know how old I must be, But when we had clothes lines you hung clothes on, as a kid these were really bad when playing tag etc, you could get clothes lined if you ran into one. I remember being to short most of the time but when running and you saw the shadow of one of these, you were so worried about them you would deck, flinch or what ever until you realized it to be no threat. This instinct must be in fish and animals also. Just food for thought.

[Waterdog]

I think there is some things that have been talked 'around', BUT not about .

First let's look at the color thing. There has been a long debate over, do bass see color or shade. Personnaly it have read enough studies by various icthyologists(sp?) and fisheries biologists to come to the conclusion that bass see shades rather than color. I did some testing myself some years ago. As some of you know I've been pouring plastics for many years. So one day I decided to make some worms in several colors and various SHADES of those colors. Now remember they may have been the same COLOR but different SHADES (or density of that color, if you will). The testing I did was on various waters, including the Delta. After testing was done, I concluded that bass DID NOT see COLOR, they saw SHADE. Testing was done in clear water (I could see the bottom in 20 ft. of water according to the depth finder I was looking at) to various levels of turbidity down to about 6".
I could on about this but time and space won't allow.

Next a bass's eyesight, even at depth and in dirty water. Remember the bass in a predator and has several assets at hand. One of his greatest is his FEEL. Some say from the lateral line, some say that and other portions of his body as well. I think (personal opinion now) that a bass will use his lateral line to FEEL (changes in water pressure around him) with as well as his hearing, taste, pressure differences(oh! that's a good one all by itself) and possibly some internal things we don't even know about yet. Remember that the rods in a bass's eyes are very different than our. What we SEE(the colors and shades) he may see differently (Again that's why the COLOR of a worm OUT of water may be very different than how it appears IN the water, depending on color of the water).
Again, No time or space. If anyone to talk about this feel free to contact me.

Anyway that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Thanks for the time guys. Have a good one.

Jim

[JT-Madera]

Maybe this is dumb, but if fish can't see different colors then why are most fish different colors, not shades??? Why do bluegills have blue flecks on them? There are bluecats, brown cats and brown/blue cats ( catfish )... Why do different types of trout have different colors???? why oh why are there all those colors in nature and they say the fish are colorblind..

just my .02

JT-Madera...