Color fatigue
tundrawalker00
Posted 12/14/2022 7:53 AM (#1016506)
Subject: Color fatigue




Posts: 504


Location: Ludington, MI
Has anyone experienced that muskies turn off of popular colors on high pressure lakes?
Like gold/walleye/sucker on weed lakes or blues on cisco lakes? (Or white on LSC/GB?)
What colors do you avoid and under what conditions?
(Apologies for adding to color-discussion fatigue)
chuckski
Posted 12/14/2022 9:52 AM (#1016508 - in reply to #1016506)
Subject: Re: Color fatigue




Posts: 1397


Location: Brighton CO.
Color is about forth on my list after depth, size, speed. I've seen it on one lake but for the most part when it comes to colors I keep it quiet what's working. As far as lures I fish with a lot of old ones that are off the market.
Solitario Lupo
Posted 12/14/2022 10:56 AM (#1016510 - in reply to #1016506)
Subject: Re: Color fatigue





Location: PA Angler
I’ve notice that these patterns all work well at different times in the year. If one isn’t working then I go to my next one. I’ll stick to a trout pattern all year if there’s trout in the waters with them.
North of 8
Posted 12/14/2022 12:00 PM (#1016512 - in reply to #1016510)
Subject: Re: Color fatigue




Steve W. has posted some interesting information about color, maybe he will comment. Could the difference be attributed to difference in clarity, actual color of the water? Maybe when water is clear the color is effective but when stained, not so much?
sworrall
Posted 12/15/2022 10:37 AM (#1016530 - in reply to #1016506)
Subject: Re: Color fatigue





Posts: 32886


Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin
Light and water don't get along, so the colors you see in the air are dramatically reduced as the lure heads down the water column. I worry about contrast more than anything else, dark lure against a light background and the opposite.
Solitario Lupo
Posted 12/15/2022 11:41 AM (#1016532 - in reply to #1016506)
Subject: Re: Color fatigue





Location: PA Angler
I do believe in the light spectrum in the waters myself. There are vids and charts of how far a color can go before it’s not seen or changes. Just like I only use red in very shallow waters. As for as muddy and stained water I found dark colors to work the best and in bright clear days something with bright colors.
IAJustin
Posted 12/15/2022 12:10 PM (#1016536 - in reply to #1016532)
Subject: Re: Color fatigue




Posts: 2015


Just us a Color-C-Lector it never lies!
OH Musky
Posted 12/15/2022 5:43 PM (#1016547 - in reply to #1016536)
Subject: Re: Color fatigue




Posts: 386


Location: SW Ohio
IAJustin - 12/15/2022 1:10 PM

Just us a Color-C-Lector it never lies!


Ha! I used one of those back in the 80's fishing S. FLA.

The fish in our lake never seemed to like the standard perch or fire tiger colors until this year. Almost got rid of all my perch or FT lures. this year, especially later in the year, were what got me the most fish.
chuckski
Posted 12/15/2022 6:41 PM (#1016548 - in reply to #1016506)
Subject: Re: Color fatigue




Posts: 1397


Location: Brighton CO.
I think we all seen where in lake A silver works then go to lake B to the naked eye the water looks the same color and has the same forage base and they (the fish) will not touch silver for example. And color changes as our lure sink. Red is red in shallow water and drop it down 20 feet and it turns to black. Blue is blue in shallow water and drop it down 20-25 feet and it's still blue.
Blue retains it's color the best in deep water. Like Steve said contrast is the way to go, We all catch fish on barred lures perch or no perch.
bturg
Posted 12/15/2022 8:18 PM (#1016551 - in reply to #1016506)
Subject: RE: Color fatigue




Posts: 716


tundrawalker00 - 12/14/2022 7:53 AM

Has anyone experienced that muskies turn off of popular colors on high pressure lakes?
Like gold/walleye/sucker on weed lakes or blues on cisco lakes? (Or white on LSC/GB?)
What colors do you avoid and under what conditions?
(Apologies for adding to color-discussion fatigue)


This pandora's box gets opened every year about now. To your question: waters ability to refract color is going to change with the seasons. Diff colors may get "hot" as a result. A different year with different temps/water levels/algae blooms etc can change that...so a baits effectiveness could go up or down. Responding to other statements... I do think pressured fish have a tendency to respond better to hotter colors than unpressured fish.

Color matters. sometimes more than others but some days it REALLY matters.