Colors seen by fish

I was having a conversation with Hook the other morning about what the walleye see down below. I asked him about the color red? Hook claims that the color red, can not be seen by fish below the depth of 14 fow…….
Question: is there any literature that would support this. I have done a search with little luck!!!

help…..

I hope you bet him a beer that he was wrong…

Somebody had a post on here a while ago with a similar question. It was about which colors fish can see. Someone said there was an In Fisherman article about it. Hopefully someone else remembers a little more about the post.

The answer is complicated. Where he got the 14 foot level may have been because the red wave length of light cannot penetrate into the water as deeply as other wavelengths of light – it is the first to ‘disappear’ – meaning that fish might see it as black once the red is gone. So the answer may be that yes they can see something red but it may appear black – rather than red once a certain depth is reached.

There have been experiments to show what colors are most easily seen by certain fish and they all have different colors they see better than others. Walleyes see orange and green the best – what are your favorite colors for eye fishing? (Foghorn Leghorn would say – “that’s a hint boy – don’t you know a hint when you read one?”)

Chuckles

There was a In-Fisherman story within the last 3 or 4 issues that went into great detail. I will look around and see if I can find the exact issue. As Chuckles stated red is the first color to disappear, so as much as I do not want to say Hooks is right, sort of .

Ron

Here is some info I had on hand………

This color study is only in reference to the elusive walleye, from the “Hunting and Fishing Library” done by an independent labatory using optical probes in the cones of fish.

As to colors not being able to been seen after the depth of 14 ft would be absolute incorrect. Pending water clarity would be the largest determining factor. Many times, the conditions we see as fishermen see only relates to the surface and does not relay to us the conditions of the water just a mere 3 -4 feet underneath what we would consider turbid conditions. Water is able to stratify and more than visible conditions can be meet under the top layer, pending other occurrences, such as current, wind, vegetation.

As to colors, the walleye is able to view the colors lt orange, yellow, and deep orange, in order the best. Tones of lt green and red are the next colors viewed best, with darker shades of the greens, blues, and reds most difficult. Of course, the colors they can view best does not always determine which color lure produces,

There are days on the water fire tiger or other flourescents produce very well, but I have never seen any baitfish with this color arrangement, even though I fish the Mississippi. Often the colors which seem to be the least productive can many days be the most. Take for example a great day of fishing semi-turbid water trolling deep blue and black rapalas in 20 – 25 ft of water was the key to a very successful day. The conditions did not favor for this color to produce, but it did and very well.

This information cannot be used literally but can be a very productive tool to store in our arsenal for certain situations when they arise, but if anyone out there knows of a magic lure that always catches walleyes, let me know and I will buy 2 of every color

-Richard

Hmmmm,I`m wondering if bobber and hooks are spending too much time staring at their vexilars

i believe the article you are thinking of is titled “what walleyes see” It was quite a while ago, but it was an interesting article.

Quote:

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Foghorn Leghorn

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Man I miss that. I might have to wake up ealry on Saturday……. “Thats a joke Son”

I found this chart looking for more info on this subject. This chart is for water clarity of 2-3 feet.

[image][/image]

Ron

Ron that is a cool chart.
Now I understand why my favorite all time worm color choice has always been dark blue with some kind of a purple firetail.

Hi bobber, My nane is Matt I am doing a science project for school on what walleye see. Lake of the Woods results were 10 on gold lures 8 on pink 7 on purple and 2 on chartruse. 21 to 24 ft depth None on red none on orange. I got the flu so my dad couldent take me to Millacs this weekend., so I might go there next weekend, where should we fish? and what colors work better? Matt