Lure colours?

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Peaches
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Re: Lure colours?

Post by Peaches » Wed Sep 18, 2013 5:57 am

I have a bit of a schizo view on lure colours. On the one hand, I believe there is an element of lure selection in general where the angler will catch more fish on a lure they feel confident of, whether that be colour, action etc. and that this will also be the lure that actually spends more time in the water.

On the other hand, I have fished the same spot regularly with bomber lures and caught fish on the gold colour until, one weekend, zip. Changed to a green bomber and it's back on again.

This was Barra fishing in the Howard River just out of Darwin.

Go figure!!

ango
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Re: Lure colours?

Post by ango » Wed Oct 01, 2014 8:39 pm

I have wondered about this, if your lure has "natural" colours that mimic those of the bait fish, then your lure would be harder for the predatory fish to see because the bait have evolved their colouration for maximum camouflage, so perhaps un-natural colours that are more visible will be better, but maybe not because after all they will appear "un natural", can of worms for sure.
Cheers
Ango.

sloth
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Lure colours?

Post by sloth » Wed Oct 01, 2014 9:27 pm

Keep in mind as well sight may not be the primary sense they're using to locate the lure :)

Generally colour is about third on my list of priority after size/shape and action.

As pointed out different species have different visual capabilities. Bream for example are blue-green dichromats so anything red appears as black to them, irrespective of depth/distance to the lure (horizontal distance in the water causes a colour shift just as much as vertical).

General rule of thumb is dark/contrasting lures for dirty water, naturals for standard conditions and light/clear for clear water. I've also seen this expressed as "match the colour of the lure to the water".

Fish are pretty well evolved predators so I wouldn't worry too much about naturals being "too camouflaged". The action of the lure picked up through the lateral line is probably enough to say "I'm injured/easy prey"

Fluorescent colours stand out in water so I also do carry what I call my "crazy" lures which are generally chartreuse .... Got quite a few bream on them when nothing else has worked - no idea why they'd hit something that looks totally unlike their natural forage. Sometimes I think that it just irritates them to the point you get a reaction strike or they are just curious .... They've seen this bright green thing sink to the bottom and just sit there ... So they go to check it out and lacking hands the only thing they can do is mouth it. I've also hooked plenty under the chin with blades - I have no doubt they are just checking it out and get a faceful of blade when I lift it off the bottom.

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Rod Bender
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Re: Lure colours?

Post by Rod Bender » Wed Oct 01, 2014 9:50 pm

One of my favorite colors for trout is 'firetiger'! One would think it looks like nothing you would find in the rivers but a google search turns up some interesting finds! Not identical but similar.
cheers
Jim
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TackleNut
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Re: Lure colours?

Post by TackleNut » Wed Oct 01, 2014 10:15 pm

Wooly
that's deep stuff.
Hey I shouldn't be happy with that,
as I have a few hundred lures & a thousand + pack of plastics here I have to sell, you got to stop telling people about this stuff, its killing my lure sale :doh1:

cheers
Nick

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Re: Lure colours?

Post by TackleNut » Wed Oct 01, 2014 10:21 pm

Rod Bender wrote:One of my favorite colors for trout is 'firetiger'! One would think it looks like nothing you would find in the rivers but a google search turns up some interesting finds! Not identical but similar.
cheers
Jim
Jim,
its used to be my go to colour when sweet water fishing, I would love to say I still use it.
But right now not using anything but hopefully soon
As soon as I hit he water again, that is again right up there with a rainbow trout minnow.
Between the 2 of them, if I am not catching fish, then there must not be any fish in that water right then, that's the way I see it.
If I am not catching, then I just blame the fish for not turning up...wouldn't be me doing something wrong :?:
Naah impossible :love:

cheers
Nick

barra mick
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Re: Lure colours?

Post by barra mick » Wed Oct 01, 2014 11:28 pm

Imo..In the vic lakes like dart , hume and eldion you need to match the colour to what the fish are eating.

If you dont do this then you will spend the fishing trip trolling around aimlessly and end up with 3 fish for the weekend and go home saying how bad the fishing was
you gotta hav a crack even if yr just pissin in the wind

sloth
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Re: Lure colours?

Post by sloth » Thu Oct 02, 2014 6:44 am

Rod Bender wrote:One of my favorite colors for trout is 'firetiger'! One would think it looks like nothing you would find in the rivers but a google search turns up some interesting finds! Not identical but similar.
cheers
Jim
Maybe you never see them because they all get eaten ;)

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Marty.A
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Re: Lure colours?

Post by Marty.A » Thu May 05, 2016 7:16 pm

Found these vids on You Tube in regards to how lure colours change at different depth's I found them very interesting so I thought I would share them.
They are only a few minutes each and 4 vids in total. The guy in the vids is a Australian scientist and lure maker.

https://youtu.be/tpQTh_tnJ6c Part 1

https://youtu.be/TTi5nJqEzvo Part 2

https://youtu.be/QTqyVX3oZk0 Part 3

https://youtu.be/p5P6UMGiT7o Part 4

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Sinsemilla
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Re: Lure colours?

Post by Sinsemilla » Thu May 05, 2016 7:46 pm

I found this a while back when i was contemplating colours on deep diving lures..
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