Hi, I'm Greg Vinall
Most lure fishermen have strong views about lure color
But most popular lure color theories are just hooey!
In fact, fish would have to break the laws of nature
To even see the lure colors that lots of guys use!
Fishermen become so convinced about some colors
That they fish them more often and with greater confidence
So it's only natural they catch more fish with them!
Lure companies want you to believe in lure colors
So they can sell you more lures!
As a lure maker I spend a lot of time
Thinking about how to catch fish on lures
Including what lure colors are most effective.
So in this series of videos I'll give you
A very simple version of the science
Behind how fish see lure colors
And we'll cut through some of the garbage about lure color
This information should be useful not only
To my fellow lure makers, but also to anyone
Who is choosing a lure to buy next
Or choosing a lure from their tackle box for a specific purpose
Objects can look different underwater
Than they do in air
And thats because water changes the way that light behaves
And that in turn changes how object like lures are seen
Lets start with a very simple concept
Let's look at how the intensity of light changes
The way we see color
I would like for you to imagine that this box
Is a tank of very pure water and we are about
To drop the two lures in the picture into it
So we are holding the lures at the water surface
Where they are getting 100% of the sunlight from above
The colors that you see here are 100 percent intense.
Now, light that coming to the water from above
Does two things when it strikes the water surface
Some gets reflected away,
And some light penetrates into the water
The light that penetrates the water
also gets absorbed, so the deeper you go into the water
the less light gets down there
As we immerse the lures in the water the amount of light
gets reduced surprisingly quickly
In fact, 25% of the light is reflected or absorbed
by a depth of just 1 centimertre, or half an inch!
by the time the lure reaches a depth of just
one metre, or 3 feet,
more than half of the light at the surface has been lost
In fact, only 45% of the light at the surface
actually penetrates down to this depth
So you'll see a significant reduction
In the brightness of the lure colors by this depth
If you'd like to do a home demonstration of what this means
Try replacing an 80 watt light globe in your lounge room
With a 40 watt light globe and see
How that changes the intensity of colors that you can see
And this happens at just 1 meter, or 3 feet
Below the water surface
By a depth of 10 meters (33 feet)
78 percent of the light that was available at the surface
Has been lost
Leaving only 22% of the light to illuminate the lure
Many home made and commercial fishing lures
Will dive to depths of greater than 10m
So you can see how water depth affects the way fish see lure color
Lure color simply becomes less important the deeper you go
To illustrate this point better
lets put these lures on the screen at the same time
so you can do a direct comparison
Here is the scary thing that I haven't told you yet
Until now, we've been talking about what happens in
in ultra-clean water, on a dead calm day
with the sun directly overhead
Unless you regularly fish a long way offshore
in tropical marine waters at midday in perfect weather
you're probably never going to experience
this kind of light penetration
Under any other circumstances a whole range of factors
will reduce the penetration of light in the water
So for freshwater fishing and near-shore coastal environments
Things are very different
In these areas a whole range of factors
Affect light penetration.
Such as plankton growth, which can significantly
Reduce the depth to which light penetrates
Turbidity from dirty water, suspended silt or bubbles
Can reduce the penetration of light
Dark colored water caused by vegetation
And of course the angle of the sun and the amount
Waves and ripples on the water surface can affect light penetration
It goes without saying that if you are fishing
under overhanging bridges, lilles or vegetation
That will also reduce the amount of light that reaches your lures
And yet, everyone who fishes regularly for bass and other species
Knows that fish normally lurk in dark and shady places
And bite best at the low light periods around dawn and dusk!
In part 2 of this video series we are going to look at
How specific colors are affected by this phenomenon
But for now the important message is quite simple
The visibility of all lure colors is affected by water depth
So you need a larger selection of lure colors
For shallow, clear water applications in the middle of the day
Than you will need for deep water applications in dirty water at dusk
I hope that you take the time to watch the second video in this series
When we'll start to explore what colors work best for deepwater fishing