The color "Red"

[Silvertip]

I was thumbing through my Northland fishing tackle catalog and noticed that both Cajun Red and another brand of red monofilament line described the color red as disappearing in the water so as not to spook the fish. On the facing page were a couple dozen lures, most of which had one shade of red or another on them and most of them also had red hooks. So the thought for the day is if fish can't see red line, why is it just about every lure has red on it and red hooks are provided? I have used red and white tube jigs successfully for crappies for years so they must be able to see red. It apparently isn't the white that they care about because switching to another color and white doesn't work when red and white does. Anyone have any thoughts on this phenomenon?

 

[FLATHEAD]

Re: The color "Red"

Funny you should bring this up. A friend and I were out on the water today and we got to talking about this very subject. It is true that red is the first color in the spectrum to disappear under water. What ever that means.

Our thoughts were that there are tons of lures with red on them. The fish are supposed to see this red. We then had the thought that maybe the fish are also eyeing up the red hooks. If they can see the red on the lures that means they can see those hooks. HMMMM. I wonder how many hog bass turn away from a bait when they eye up those bright red hooks?? Especially on a day like today when the bite was slow and the fish wanted the bait slow and easy taking a good look before inhaling. But then again they can see silver hooks just as easy?? It's all a crap shoot.

Personally I dont take much stock in the red line stuff. Just use a fluro leader. Red hooks?? I dont buy em.

 

[JB]

Re: The color "Red"

Red does turn gray, but only under 15-20' of water. I noticed this when SCUBAing in the pacific back in the 50s.

Maybe if you are deep trolling or deep jigging red line wouldn't be as visible, but I don't think it would disappear, just turn gray.

For invisible line I would go with Flourocarbon.

I don't think fish really give a flip about lure color but I am really sure that fishermen do.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: The color "Red"

Just as I thought! There is truth to the adage that lures catch more fisherpeople than fish. Guess I'll keep using what works and not worry too much about what color it is. I've used Cajun Red in the past but can honestly say it was not the most successful line that ever graced a reel.

 

[rolmops]

Re: The color "Red"

The In-fisherman, magazine in its March edition,did an article about red.
They checked red in clear,stained and murky water and at different depths.
They used cameras that would see exactly the way a bass sees and they came up with clear results.
You can see red line as a very visible black in deeper clear water.It is visible in stained water as well.In murky water it is invisible.
Red hooks stand out as black under water.and disappear as the water gets deeper
Red lures are very visible in shallow water but as they go deeper they become invisible.In controlled bass strike tests red did not score very high,In fact the lure color that was hit most,was silver sided and black topped like real fish.
Me thinks that red is a red herring.
Do get an In fisherman magazine from March.It is an eye opener.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: The color "Red"

One of my favorite fishing haunts contains an abundance of crappie, walleye, musky, pike and other stuff that swims. My standard crappie jig is a white jig head with black and red eyes, a white/red tube jig and tip that with a minnow. Now this water is cedar stained so it is beyond murky. On certain days, it is not even necessary to use a minnow as the jig works well alone. During a good bite I've changed tubes to several different colors just to see if something works better and the red/white generally turns out to be the best. We typically fish in 15 - 20 feet of water so visibility at that depth has to be next to zero on even a sunny day. So I do feel red is visible but how that color is actually interpreted by the fish is the real unknown. At greater depths it is my feeling that color is not really color but different shades of gray and the pattern and presentation is what triggers the bite. But then what do I know. I'm as much a sucker for a new lure as the next person.