CJ WATER TEMPS AND FISHING THREAD!

[INTIMIDATOR]

THE LIGHT/COLOR EQUATION
The color of a lure is the result of the color of light it reflects. As this light penetrates the water column in wavelengths, colors begin to be absorbed as the depth increases. Red produces the longest wavelengths, followed in order by orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Those colors with the longest wavelength are absorbed first, meaning the hue fades and gradually appears black much quicker than all other colors. Warm colors are first to go, while cool colors hold on to their hue longest.

Shiny lures such as silver and gold are less effective when cloud cover rolls in, and can become almost invisible without the sun shining, even in clear water. The reason for this is that they reflect the grayness that is surrounding them, instead of the bright rays of the sun. Tossing dark colors during periods such as this will often work best, giving your lure the greatest contrast and silhouette.

Keep in mind that as the sun sets, those colors possessing the longest wavelengths—starting with red—will disappear the quickest. Once the sun rises, blue and green are the first colors a fish will see, with red being last.

Largemouth bass see colors very well to a depth of approximately five feet when water clarity is good. Since the majority of their prey reside in shallow water, duplicating or “matching the hatch” of the predominant baitfish (generally shades of silver, white, or perch) can be advantageous. Once that same depth of water becomes stained, and vision is restricted, a switch to brighter hues—chartreuse, red, orange—will often put the odds in your favor. Although all colors are absorbed quickly in this circumstance, orange and red will still be most visible when underwater. Chartreuse is a close second. If the water turns the color of chocolate milk, stick to dark colors.

THE CRITERIA FOR CONTRAST
The ability for a fish to see a lure has a lot to do with background color. If fishing a green-colored lure in thick vegetation, or in algae-stained water, although it may appear natural, a fish may struggle to spot it. More often than not, we actually camouflage our baits without knowing it.

A key in these situations is to choose a lure that contrasts against the background you are fishing. Two-toned lures are an excellent choice when faced with this dilemma. Bass are functionally most sensitive to colors in the ranges of red-orange and yellow-green. However, that is not to say that “colors” like black and white, or colors like blue that are perceived as grey are ineffective, since sometimes these colors contrast better against the prevailing background than do colors to which the bass is more sensitive. For instance, in a reddish muddy river, although the dominant available color is red and bass are most sensitive to red-orange, a lure with a brownish red crawdad pattern would be difficult for the bass to see. Black lures, on the other hand, would contrast much better and be more easily detected.

PREDATOR/PREY CORRELATION
Walleye feeding on perch or smallmouth bass on crayfish are tuned in to the nuances of that specific prey, and rely on the recognition of body shape/profile and color to hunt each morsel down. “One way fish use color vision is in recognizing specific visual patterns. As a fish grows, it gradually accumulates distinct mental images of objects that are important to its survival. Color, or rather color patterns, play a big role in fashioning those mental images, helping to separate one image from another. That is huge when it comes to discerning one prey species from another or avoiding specific predators, since the appropriate behavioral response is highly dependent on what the prey or predator is. For example, in cases when fish are feeding with more reserve and are being more selective, the fish may be hunting for a particular favorite prey, meaning that it is searching for a particular visual pattern. In these cases, it is important to play the old game of “matching the hatch,” to essentially give the fish what it is looking for.

Brown is a color that routinely works well for smallmouth bass. Although it may not appear true to its color once far down below, it will still match the same colorations of a crayfish found at those depths. (Remember: any two items that look the same above water will resemble each other down below.) This is where shade comes in to play. The same can be said for largemouth bass feeding on smelt. Tossing a white/silver lure will replicate the sheen of this baitfish precisely, and activate the recognition switch first through the eyes of the bass, then ultimately in the brain. Spend some time in the shallows seeking out the resident baitfish, or check for regurgitated minnows or craws when bringing a fish to the surface. This will give you invaluable insight into a good starting color to toss.

Working clear water is also a time to experiment with natural colors, and as mentioned earlier, those that contrast the background surroundings. Clear water allows a fish to inspect a bait more closely, and as opposed to murky water and reactionary strikes, the more time a fish can give your lure the once over is the more reason to make it appear as lifelike as possible.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just adding some other info about Bass eyesight!

Bass Eyesight
Good Enough to See Prey, Lures, Lines, Bait and You!

Arguably, bass eyesight is its most important sense as a bass feeds primarily by sight, especially in clear water.
It can see in all directions because their eyes are set slightly forward and on the sides of its head giving each eye virtually a 180-degree visual field arc of vision on each side of its body.
There are, however, blind spots. It cannot see directly behind or below itself. Items in this "dead zone" will go unnoticed. Bass are weary of attack from the rear so often back into cover as a precautionary posture.

Lateral Monocular Vision of Bass

The lens of a bass' eye extends beyond the plane of the pupil giving the bass an exceptionally wide lateral field of view. Vision to its sides is monocular (sees with one eye) and farsighted providing at most a viewing distance no more than 50 feet in clear water.
The visual acuity laterally of a bass' eyesight, the ability to distinguish fine details in images, is quite sharp, though depth perception is inferior to that in its frontal vision. The peripheral ability inherent in bass eyesight to focus on distant objects to its sides contributes to it being one of our top freshwater predators.

Frontal Binocular Vision of Bass

Bass have binocular (two-eyed, three dimensional) vision directly above and to the front of its head. This is where the two lateral fields of view overlap and where there is better depth perception. At rest it can focus forward at only roughly 5-12 inches. This binocular vision is what the bass uses to study its prey after locating it laterally then moving closer in a frontal assault before eating or attacking it. This decision is made in a matter of seconds!
Never doubt that they can see farther, 30 to 40 feet, by changing position or focus. They are also quite capable of seeing the angler above the water’s surface. Have you ever had a bass grab a bait or lure you cast just as it hit the water? It saw it coming!
Maintain a low profile, muted colored clothing and stealth when approaching an area where you expect to find bass. You can easily spook them.

Motion Detection, The Basis of Bass Vision

A bass is a visual hunter. Bass eyesight, its vision, is motion based. Motion is an indication of life which could be food. Objects that do not move are ignored as they see them as non-living things. Motion, as with most all predators, grabs its attention and is interpreted by its brain as food.
When motion is detected a bass can determine "all at the same time", the location, size, color, shape, size, flash and action of the object and do so at a substantial distance.

Size. As for size, a feeding bass, especially with age, experience and learned behavior, will be quite selective. They will seek to get the biggest reward for the least exertion of energy but experience will deter them from prey, real or artificial, that poses a threat of injury or which may be beyond its ability to handle in a struggle.

Shape. What about shape? Bass eyesight is wired to see specific shapes as food, specifically objects that are long and slender like prey fish. They evaluate shapes relative to how they fit this instinctual wiring. That may explain why they so readily attack plastic worms, though worms are not aquatic creatures and a bass might never see one in its natural habitat.

Color plays a much smaller part in catching bass than most of us think. That's not to say bass can't see colors or that they don't, on any given day, have preferences. They see best medium green and red shades and to a much lesser extent blue and purple. When these colors fall in the darker end of their shades a bass sees merely a dark object.

Color fades to dark as the available light diminishes in deeper water so play little part in catching bass. The preceding link takes you to a good explanation of color and water depth. But color in top water or shallow water lures, where there is a greater amount of light, is more important when fished in daylight.

Action relates to motion detection. Bass don't react to stationary objects as possible food. They are able to track rapidly moving objects without blurring. They tend to be excited by erratic movement rather than sustained motion as well as variations in speed. Starting and stopping, especially starts, draw strikes.

So, we'll accept this established premise and not go fan casting into the scientific concepts of visible spectrum, light scattering and absorption, wavelengths of light or the rod and cone cells of the retina of a bass' eyes. We'll limit this discussion to the basic truth that the amount of light present determines the shade and intensity of any color, in or out of water.

What matters to we bass anglers is simply this. Studies have established that bass color vision is strongest in medium to light reds, red-orange and yellow-greens. As for blues and purples it's quite weak.

When fishing, remember, the deeper the water or less clear the water, the less light and color there will be.

Let's just do a little fishing line color comparison and noodle over which fishing line color might be the least visible to bass and why. But first, let's briefly nail down what color is.


What Is Color?

When light hits objects, some of the wavelengths are absorbed and some are reflected (scattered), depending on the materials in the object. The reflected wavelengths, colors if you will, are what we receive through our eyes and process by our brain. No two people, or other creatures including fish, see colors the same way because of the different make up of the brains.

There are seven "wavelength" groups of color. They are those shown in the color chart Mr. SmallJaw is looking at above and correspond to those found in nature's rainbow. Each one, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet, has a different wavelength (some short some long) which determines the rapidity with which they fade or transform as light diminishes and particulate in the medium through which the light is passing increases.

For We Bass Fishermen It's Really Quite Simple
Now there are those who will lay out in intricate detail how one determines the light at specific depths by using a Seechi disk and a mathematical computation. From this you determine the best fishing line color that is the most or least visible at any depth. While this does indeed work, it's time consuming and cumbersome. I'd rather spend that time casting.

Simply put, all we bass anglers need to know is..... lots of light, lots of color; little light, little color.

For example, the rate colors transform from bright to gray or black as water deepens and available light diminishes. Note which colors fade out the quickest when water is "clear", "stained" or "muddy", and use it as your rule of thumb yardstick, for determining the best fishing line color, or worst for that matter, to use.