At What Depth

[Twocoda]

A few years ago we were fishing the Salmon Spectacular in Owen Sound and there was a guy that bought an underwater colour camera to run off his downriggers to see when a fish were hunting his bait. There was another guy that laughed at him and said he wasted his money on the purchase of a colour capable unit. After about a half hour of heated discussion these two guys actually duked it out because the guy ( with the B/W camera )called the other guy an idiot for wasting his money....yes there was alcohol involved...

 

My question is if anyone knows...at what depths do certain colours of the spectrum turn to grey due to available light ? It makes me wonder if i really need to own as many lures of the same brand and size but different colours/patterns fishing in the depths that i fish. Ive always wanted to find out first hand by taking up scuba diving but as i say ...this incident was years ago and still to this date i havent scuba dived to find out.

 

Anyone know?

[Fisherman]

Best I can remember is that certain colours loose their "colour" as depth increases and by the time you are down 70-80 feet, it's all the same.

[Muskieman]

Light is absorbed by water according

to wavelength with the longer wave radiation (red) absorbed first. Maximum

transmission is for short wavelengths of light (blue). This is the case

for radiation in the VISIBLE range. The peak in transmission for water is

in the blue wavelengths. Beyond blue, even shorter wavelengths such as

ultraviolet, absorption increases again.

 

This absorption accounts for the disappearance of color from lures because

the color of light must be present to be reflected back to your eyes and be

seen. In other words, a red lure will appear black in deep water because

no red light is present to reflect off the lure.

 

Please note however, that this is the case for clear water, such as the

open ocean and pristine lakes. In nearshore waters, that contain high

amounts of colored suspended material, the colors that reach the deepest

will probably be green and yellow. This is only because more blue light is

absorbed at shallower depths, not because green and yellow reach greater

depths.

 

 

 

RFS

[splashhopper]

There was a thread on this board, with colour graphs, last year about colour spectrums and what the fish could actually see.

 

Not sure if it detailed depths, but it did identify the colours the fish saw first.

 

Try a search on the board for it.

[kickingfrog]

Keep in mind that if you are trying to match the hatch that any bait fish would also experience this "loss of colour" as well.

 

If you are trying to go for something that "stands out" then the contrast in colour of your lure would be important. Black/ silver (also natural) plugs and purple/ silver spoons.

[JohnF]

Divers are forever trying to quantify this progressive loss of colour (i.e. depth at which it occurs) but it's more about water clarity and distance from subject than actual depth. In average visibility fresh water it's been my personal experience that the red colour starts to disappear as shallow as 15' but that's just a generalization. If the swimmer (or camera) carries a light source that "rule" changes depending on how close the light source and the viewer are to the subject.

 

The important thing is that red and orange are the first colours to be rendered ineffective at depth, while yellows and light greens (like chartreuse) remain visible the longest.

 

JF

[Twocoda]

Thanks for the input guys ...ive always patterned myself to the formula of bright days bright lures..dark days dark lures with good success ...there are exceptions to the times though ...some nights total darkness on the lake and black is all that works....then times in the same situation white is all that works...maybe colour isnt as important as action of a lure

Edited September 25, 2009 by Twocoda

[craigdritchie]

I remember reading something about the effect of water depth on lure colour in In-Fisherman a long, long time ago. They found someone who actually did some research on this and published a chart showing the depth that various colours "disappeared." Red was the first to go, at about 10 or 15 feet, followed by orange (maybe 20 feet?) and yellow (30?). Green hung on longer (think it lasted to about 50 or 60 feet) and blue was the colour that held out the deepest, at nearly 80 feet. Beyond that, everything apparently looked black. To JohnF's point, the text that accompanied the chart qualified it all as being dependent on ultra-clear water, the sun dead overhead, no algae, and a bunch of other factors.

 

These findings were all using regular painted finishes, so no word on how fluorescent or phosphorescent finishes might compare. They didn't go into metallics either, so there was no sense on how chrome or gold plated lures might appear at different depths. It would be interesting to find out.

[Twocoda]

Best I can remember is that certain colours loose their "colour" as depth increases and by the time you are down 70-80 feet, it's all the same.

 

 

That is actually what the guy with the black and white camera stated...and the other guy disagreed ( probably cuz he was proud of his new toy at the time)

 

Why does a physical education teacher need a whistle when he works at a deaf school...cuz he can afford the bells and whistles i guess

[kickingfrog]

That is actually what the guy with the black and white camera stated...and the other guy disagreed ( probably cuz he was proud of his new toy at the time)

 

Why does a physical education teacher need a whistle when he works at a deaf school...cuz he can afford the bells and whistles i guess

 

I may sound a bit like a colour under water camera salesmen here (which I am not) but I think you could still make an argument for the colour camera to see the contrast between colours as you go down.

[Twocoda]

I may sound a bit like a colour under water camera salesmen here (which I am not) but I think you could still make an argument for the colour camera to see the contrast between colours as you go down.

 

good point ! i usually fish higher then most other boats due to my belief that fish can see up and not down ....and i know for a fact they will come after something 15 feet above them ....which is why i wonder at which depth ...colours become the same..

 

this must be an american spell check ....it keeps telling me im spelling "colour" wrong

Edited September 25, 2009 by Twocoda