Taking the time to see things differently leads to new horizons in catching fish.
I've asked folks to tilt their heads to the right to see the Ever Ready Rabbit in the full moon. Likewise, I’ve asked them to look at double rainbows to see that the second rainbow's colors are reversed. The following is an exercise to see what optical illusions, and things we don’t see immediately can do to and for us. If we get our minds on the track of questioning what we think we know, even bringing two or more concepts together in a new way, it will either cement what you know, or tweak it to a better understanding.
Do we need a way which will show us how our lures look in different types of water (clear, brown stain, green stain, etc.), or any other bright or low light situation? A good imagination works wonders. A little groundwork is in order.
Low Light Definition:
Low light means early and late in the day. It means the seasonal angle of the Sun and moon. It means cloudy. It means heavy shadow from any source above or below the water’s surface. It means floating material in the water column. It means a good chop on the water’s surface. It means faster moving water. It means night or even a full moon with clouds. It means heavy humidity. It means yellow/orange/red sun or moon – darkened by atmospheric conditions, or even pollution. It means deep enough anytime where light dissipates and we c an be flexible enough to see it to be “the same as” any of the above situations.
Remember, you can have one or more of the above conditions at the same time. Be versatile enough to recognize, maybe even anticipate same, react appropriately, and your catch will increase dramatically.
Without software, light filters, or camera lens filters, or even different colored/Polaroid sun glasses can help in both the color and the shades of grey world. No, they are not perfect but they will give us an idea of what a lure looks like in a particular circumstance at or near the surface. The effect of low light, debris in the water column, and various other action - reaction effects can be seen, or imagined outright.
Rods and cones aside. Color? I think everyone can agree that animals with sight can see shades of grey. Shades of grey converted to "contrast" and the amount of light getting through to our bait presentation is a big part of what we are after. We don’t know if fish have the same contrasting ability as we do. We do know as light diminishes there is contrast between fading colors, turning to shades of darker and darker grey black.
Not too long ago I reviewed a well published experiment with low light and reaction time. The finale was the less light that gets through to an object of desire, the longer the reaction time to capture same with your hand; a perception/reaction phenomena. That info in turn converts to fish at low levels of light, and how a longer, fatter bait, one with greater contrast with parts of itself and its surroundings, would be easier to see and capture.
This adventure wouldn’t be complete without an explanation of how light weakens in water.
The spectrum of light in the atmosphere has the following wavelengths.
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Spectral Colors
Chromatic Dispersion:
When light propagates from one medium into another it changes: causing light to refract at the boundary. A portion of light refracts (bounces back) into the atmosphere from whence it came.
When entering thicker , more redundant , more particles in that medium such as water, light does not reach as far.
Collectively by depth, and suspended throughout the stratum, green algae or any other particles in the water act as a second barrier, or boundary, thereby scattering/refracting light again just as it does at the surface. Deeper clear water creates a thickness unto itself by virtue of its greater density.
Even warm water to cold, by merit of varying viscosity, acts as another boundary creating some refraction again.
Once a mediums weight from depth, or numbers of particles in the medium reach a specific and collective density, and because those minute particles are not a solid, not all light reaches the same point of subsurface refraction at the same time; light undergoes a hyperbolic curve back to its source. To find out how far light does go beneath the surface we need to take a measurement.
Out on the lake on your spot, or trolling path, take a “Secchi Reading” first. Take a sinking white lure and drop it over the side. Lower the lure into the water until it disappears from view. Measure the distance to the lure, multiply by three*. That measurement will tell us how deep the water is before our lure loses a good chunk of if not all light. Then the result can be roughly divided by the wavelengths, and percentages of light at various depths.
Example: Say our lure disappears at 17 feet. Multiplied by 3* means a good chunk of light, if not all of it is gone at 51 feet. Using the Spectral Chart and some math we know the following for this situation.
The Unabbreviated Math: “740” – “380” = 360 points, or 100% of nanometer wave lengths within the spectral color range. “740” – “625” , or 115 represents that percentage of the whole relative to the red wavelength. That percentage (115 divided by 360) of the whole is .319444, or 32%. 32% of 51 feet is 16 feet (rounded). Merely, follow the same process with the other color wavelengths shown.
- Red disappears/ loses its color/turns to a shade of grey at 16** feet. Grey shade 68 %/32% split of black
- Orange disappears/loses its color/turns to a shade of grey at 21** feet. Grey shade 58%/42% split of black
- Yellow disappears/loses its color/turns to a shade of grey at 25** feet. Grey shade 51%/49% split of black
- Green disappears/loses its color/turns to a shade of grey at 32** feet. Grey shade 38%/62% split of black
- Cyan (blue-green) disappears/loses its color/turns to a shade of grey at 35** feet. Grey shade 32%/ 68% split of black
- Blue disappears/loses its color/turns to a shade of grey at 43** feet. Grey shade 14%/86% split of black
- Violet (Purple) disappears/loses its color /turns to a shade of grey - black at 51 feet. 100% of black
The Abbreviated Math:
Where SD = Secchi disk reading and you have already "done the math" in the formula; SD x 3 x (740-625)/(740-380) = depth at which red color is "lost". Repeat by wavelength difference for other colors.
Red = SD x 0.96
Orange = SD x 1.26
Yellow = SD x 1.47
Green = SD x 1.86
Blue-Green = SD x 2.04
Blue = SD x 2.58
Purple = SD x 3.0
For this example, If our depth finder picks up our targeted fish at 37 feet, we know something in green /cyan/blue/violet/black combination(s) is going to be visible as color at that depth (visible to humans at least). But the corresponding split to “shades of grey” from those or any color will be most likely visible. Those colors, and the universal non- colors of white, black, as well as silver, gold and possibly adding something from the lighter upper level converted grey shades would be optimum. For this example only, I would start “my” lure color choice somewhere in the area of Black/Purple/Blue and mix it with Chartreuse/Yellow/Orange, and know for sure the fish can see it in all its glory, in all its contrast, most of the time. Contrasting again – with water color, bottom color, cover color, we are keying in on the best of all circumstances. If your fish show up at a different level, and/or in different diminishing light set-ups, make adjustments accordingly.
* We multiply by three to get the full effect of diminishing light from our point of view above the surface. Light travels down the line to the disappearing object. Light has to travel back up the line to tell us where it disappears from our view. Then, because we are looking down into darkness we don’t have the same vantage point as fish looking up into the light. Adding 1/3rd more to the measurement gives us the fishes estimated point of view. When a fish looks upward, that view is one of sharp contrast with backlighting. If the fish looks down it sees far less or virtually nothing against the darkness of depth.
* * Numbers have been rounded.
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Contrast:
Using your depth/fish finder, after you determine where the fish are in the water column, and select a primary color that naturally stands out there according to the secchi reading, the following would be a high percentage bet.
Cross breed that found primary color with what you actually see the color of the water to be.
Example(s):
• If the secchi reading says your primary color should be purple, and the color of the water is blue/green, adjust your secondary color(s) in the direction away from both the primary color and the color of the water. That movement would be to lighter greens and toward yellow. A splash of black in this case would be in the opposite direction from first indicated, but it’s also darker than purple and adds even more contrast at the other end of the spectrum.
• If the secchi reading suggested primary color is green and the water you see is blue, move your secondary color selection toward darker blues, with a splash of lighter greens, chartreuse, and yellow.
• If the secchi reading primary color says orange, and the color of the water as you see it is milky yellow/brown, move your secondary color choice toward red and yellow. Again, a splash of light green or blue will add even more subtle contrast.
Overall:
In heavily stained water use straight line greatest contrast such as – red/green, blue/yellow, purple/chartreuse. You can use black for the dark color or white for the contrast. Mix in flash liberally. Anatomical detail doesn't matter.
In clear water use right angled color wheel contrast – green/blue , chartreuse/blue, purple/orange. Less flash than stained water. Anatomical detail matters.
In pristine clear water just go to the first or second neighboring lighter color for contrast. Least of all flash here (maybe none at all). Anatomical detail matters even more.
The more stained the water the more contrast, less detail.
Less stain, less contrast, more detail.
Because of our earlier visit with reaction time in dim light, in stained or muddy water more bait length, girth, sound, flash, movement in place, and so on, adds to the pot.
The final component is adding something subtly different to have our bait stand out as more attractive. Concentrate on vulnerability here. The vast majority of predators specifically target victims by body language: injured swimming, passive behavior, predisposition; possibly with catching prey of their own, and other lack of awareness. They choose their victims by selecting those least able to protect themselves.
Irregular movement, jittering in place, but otherwise elevated movement, high attractant baits, noisy vortex baits, jointed , wide wobbly, spinner, curly tail. baits do the job in stained, or muddy water. Soft plastic presentations are on the other end of this scale for clear water.
As you can see, It's not just color. All the other things of presentation come into play. Chief of which is vulnerability and direction of approach. If in fact there are a swarm of bait and a swarm of predators attacking them, anything directional goes on both those points. But, I would try to zero in on the edges of the pack for best results. Remember, there are six edges to that pack (think from the outside looking inside the box in this case. We have to find which edge works best. I would try to find the direction in which the pack is moving and start with the tailing edge first. Not always easy to do, but once you take the time to master the approach, it usually pays off. If you have a fairly good picture screen fish/depth finder you can see this happening. The bait ball furthest away from the predators is more loosely grouped. The part of the bait ball being attacked is tighter together.
Indeed, taking the time to see things differently leads to new horizons in catching fish.
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