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I never go by rules in fishing. Try the obvious. If that doesn't produce, try someone opposite. Then refine as the bite gets better or worse. You have to give them what they want. Not what you want to give them. And never forget, fishing success depends on only two major controls - depth and speed. Everything else is secondary.
Awhile back I asked if any Considered white as a dark color ? Got the usual light in light , dark in dark , Been that way forever . Was fishing a not so clear ,actually muddy creek on Enid due to rain . Came across an old friend that ask me what I was using . Anybody that has ever fished with me knows that in Dirty water on Enid there is only one bait for me . PURPLE/CHARTREUSE ! I had a few and I ask what he was using and he said "white ". Since he had twice as many as I did I could not get it off my mind . When I asked him if he did not consider white as a light color, he replied only if it's transparent . The question now after seeing the "Richard Gene " video is why red/white rather than black /chartreuse, solid black ect, better ? Is the red/white more contrasting than Black /chartreuse ? I use red/white, and blue/white, in clear water . Looking to learn something here . Since it was ripping cold where he was and I do not fish in cold weather much how much does that come into play ? He did say the fish were 8 ft' deep but did not say how deep the water was actually.Quote:
Originally Posted by wolfhnd
I would say red/white is likely no more contrasting than black/chartreuse .... in very dirty water. However, the chartreuse IS more transparent than white, all other things being equal.Quote:
Originally Posted by eagle 1
If color was the only trigger for a fish to hit your bait, then a cube shaped piece of plastic with those colors would be the only thing needed to catch fish. The shape, size, and action (or lack of) also comes into play. I've seen it too many times when a "stinger shad" shaped bait wasn't getting bit, but a boot tail or tube bait of the same colors would get smashed ... and vice versa.
So comparing Chartreuse to white , white is a dark color .Quote:
Originally Posted by CrappiePappy
Tricky question. White isn't what I'd call a "dark" color, but it's not transparent .... so in dark conditions it would show up as a dark silhouette against a lighter background. The amount of light that reaches it would determine how much reflection it gave off, under those conditions.Quote:
Originally Posted by eagle 1
When you ask a search engine : what color is white at depth ? Here's a couple of notable facts -
"White objects will appear bluish or gray underwater, and the darkness of that blue/gray appearance increases rapidly with depth. Red objects will begin to look dark brown or even black within a few meters of the surface."
"The longest wavelengths, with the lowest energy, are absorbed first. Red is the first to be absorbed, followed by orange & yellow. The colors disappear underwater in the same order as they appear in the color spectrum. Even water at 5ft depth will have a noticeable loss of red."
Now, those quotes may be referring to human eye concepts of color, and certain fish can see & distinguish many different shades of base colors, so they may not be 100% accurate where fish eye concepts of color are concerned. :dono
In this video, Richard Gene says, Black/Chartreuse is the best color for muddy water.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9AFMS3P8QA&t=303s
There is a video on u-tube,( for the life of me I can’t find it again ) ,but this fellow takes several containers of water,each with a different degree of clarity,and test different colors and color combos.I don’t claim to know what a fish can see compared to a human,but it is very interesting to see just how different colors appear/ disappear in the various water clarities.
Would it be this video?
https://youtu.be/zL1G-VJmV3o
Not an expert here at all but just to make a comment based on experience. I don't know why this happens but I know it does. May start the day with a blue/white combo jig or red /white combo jig and the fish just can't leave it alone. Hit almost every cast. Then all of a sudden the bite just stops. Change colors to say a char/white, red/char, solid white or solid char and the bite picks right back up. I have always thought this has a lot to do with the angle of the sun and light penetration into the water. The lakes I fished in Arkansas was always a stained color and never real clear. It just seems the light penetration is the key and of course that has a lot to do with cloud cover, sun angle, and water color. Combo colors seem to work in almost all conditions but crappie do change their preference throughout the morning or afternoon. Just my experience.
Yeah, I've had that same experience. But, I've also wondered if it's not just the fish ALL wanting something a little different. Like when you drag a half dozen different colors thru a school of Crappie ... and most all of them get hit. I've also seen times when my partner and I are using totally different color combos, yet we're catching fish from the same school.Quote:
Originally Posted by arkie55
I also wonder about that scenario you describe, about catching them on one color combo & then they quit hitting it, but the bite starts back up when a different color combo is introduced. "Maybe" you caught all the fish that were keying in on that color, and the remaining fish weren't "turned on" by that color ... but, when a different color was introduced, some of the remaining fish were interested in that color and bit it. :scratchhead