Birchy,
True enough, water does absorb light rays differentially. The actual appearance of the object depends upon the wavelengths being reflected. Deep red reflects the longest wavelengths and will be gone by about 1 meter down. By 2 meters down there’s basically no red light left. Even if a natural worm were red, it would appear gray to black at depth. Fluorescent colors, are a different matter. They retain their colors because they absorb light and re-emit it (fluoresce) at their specific color wavelength. Anglers fishing deep often use fluorescent colors to make the flies more attractive or noticeable.
Captrob,
I am a scientist (I have a Ph.D. in Biology). Yes, all but the deep-ocean fish do see in color. This allows them to differentiate prey against background space light. The differential absorption of light waves by water changes the color of the lures to various shades of gray as the depth increases. Fluorescent colors and shiny, metallic colors often do well at depth because they either retain their colors or reflect all colors.
Dune,
There’s a book titled, “What Fish See” by Dr. Colin Kageyyama (1999) that nicely discusses vision, light absorption by water, and so on. Colin holds a Doctor of Optometry degree and clearly understands color and its effects on fishing.
Tooloman,
Yes, the best approach is to match what you see, generally speaking. But sometimes fluorescent colors or differing shades of the natural’s color actually catch more fish. Perhaps they’re easier to see, perhaps they more closely match the natural at a particular depth. And so on.
Gary Borger
