Matching gear to water colour- weather conditions

[fish brain]

I always struggle with this as I can never remember the rules. I usually stick to the tried and true gear in my tackle box, and do ok. But there are times when I am sure my success rate would go up if I had a better understanding of matching the water colour or light conditions.
So what do you guys do?

 

[kingblazer84]

dark on dark days and bright on light days for matching gear to light conditions as for water conditions, ive found running darker color flashers w/ bright lures in clear conditions work really well, and the opposite for darker water.

and also the old adage of "if dont glow it dont go!" comes to mind as well!

 

[Whole in the Water]

I go with UV or darker colors on overcast/dark days, glow when deep (over 80 ft.), bright on bright days.

https://coastalanglermag.com/choosing-lure-colors/
https://www.saltwatersportsman.com/blogs/short-strikes/color-your-world/

 

[paguy]

I think the color matching to water and weather conditions was a lot more important back when everything was chrome or brass. Now with all the UV and glow and fancy paint jobs it is a lot less important. But dark lures do show better in dark water and glow when fishing deep is usually the ticket.

 

[fish brain]

dark on dark days and bright on light days for matching gear to light conditions as for water conditions, ive found running darker color flashers w/ bright lures in clear conditions work really well, and the opposite for darker water.

and also the old adage of "if dont glow it dont go!" comes to mind as well!

Is colour important when it comes to glow? It seems to me that all they see of a glow lure is the glow

 

[fish brain]

Where does white come in? Only on bright days? I fish lures with white a lot

 

[paguy]

White is the last color to disappear at depth.

 

[fish brain]

Does anyone know what depth fish stop seeing UV?

 

[Brett83]

About 65 feet I've been told UV disappeared. I took a fishing course in August and at 300 feet of water the guy was using black glow. It was quite the performance he got us four nice springs in a couple hours. Fishing at 300 feet deep.

 

[ab1752]

Barf I hate fishing that deep but I know its often happening way down there when its not way up top.

I basically fish in 3 types of water; the spring sludge around the lower mainland, the clear waters of the mid to Northern Straits and then back into the 6" visibility of our local waters. I will use more uv style lures and flashers up north simply because I can see them a bit better so my baseless logic is so can fish.

Down here its all about the flash so I go for whatever is the shinier for brine, flashers and lures. Its beyond me how springs smash a ****** looking white jughead in these waters but it happens to work on our boat so good to go.

Thats my science and I'm sticking to it until I forget over the winter and start with a clean slate next spring all over again

 

[Whole in the Water]

UV light can penetrate very deep in both salt and fresh water depending on levels of turbidity between 10m at the poles, 80m in tropical water and up to 800m in other areas.

https://manoa.hawaii.edu/exploringourfluidearth/physical/ocean-depths/light-ocean
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/light_travel.html

All visible colors turn black at various depths with some differences between fresh and saltwater and turbidity levels
For example:

https://www.fatguppyfishing.com/single-post/2016/1/7/Selecting-Lure-Colors-for-Successful-Fishing#:~:text=So the warmer colors (red,deep as the light penetrates.

Sources say fish can see UV light up to 700M deep.
https://www.fishing.net.nz/fishing-advice/general-articles/do-fish-see-uv/#:~:text=At 150m, there is hardly,700m deep in ideal conditions.

 

[Dogbreath]

Its beyond me how springs smash a ****** looking white jughead in these waters but it happens to work on our boat so good to go.

LOL they do look underwhelming and I had a member here openly scowl when I put one down on his boat-I outfished him 8-1 on Spring Salmon (lotsa shakers) at Thrasher that day.

 

[prodjsaig]

Green blue black. Green is a very important color and seems to work extremely well. Chatreuse or green flasher kill it. Where as black can mimic a herring and is good down deeper in glow. Purple spatter hootchies are my go to when the fishing in slow. White work around thrasher.

 

[ericl]

Everything matters, some things matter more. IMO green is best, but there are many shades of greens, and within the choice of Hoochies there are clear bright one's & milky off-white one's.

I have a book by Jack Gaunt, inventor of the Hot Spot flasher. According to Jack, clear/bright for clear water, faded/off-white for murky water.

 

[SpringVelocity]

In this smoke I would be running purple/gold combos myself.... This late in season that what the fish look like.

 

[wavetamer]

haha seem to work at any depth or lite condition