OT - fishing question..... is red a good color?

wabi · Post by **wabi** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 9:27 pm

I was reading the ads for red hooks the other day and the claim the red triggers strikes because it looks like the bait is bleeding.....

Plus the Bleeding Bait red finish triggers a natural feeding instinct in fish.

But tonight I was shopping for line and found this quote.........

Amazingly, most fish can see in color, even distinguish complementary colors and up to 24 spectral hues with many species possessing color vision similar to that of man. But Phantom Red gives fish a false perception of reality and its appearance becomes a mere apparition. So whether you’re fishing it in the green tinged waters of the Pacific or blue ocean waters of the Caribbean, you’ll see red, but the fish will see nothing.... And what they can’t see will catch them!

Seems to me the claims are contradictory.

sumner4991 · Post by **sumner4991** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 9:32 pm

I don't know wabi . . .however, we were fishing in the Gulf with those red headed hooks w/gulp bait and we caught sea bass, sea trout, redfish, flounder, and a couple of other types of fish. Of course, they may have just been chasing tail, who knows.

mikej · Post by **mikej** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 10:43 pm

i'm no expert on them but i tried them this year and have caught more lake trout then any year before nice sized ones too. i would recomend trying them and i will continue using them just an opinion

dick195252 · Post by **dick195252** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 11:35 pm

They work really well here in Ft.Lauderdale for Snapper Fishing

TYE · Post by **TYE** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 5:09 am

I'm with you Wabi.

I've heard that lots of people use red braided line because it is invisible to fish, but then people say that red hooks, or red blades on spinnerbaits, spoons, etc catch more fish.

groundpounder · Post by **groundpounder** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 5:48 am

Its all about the advertising and making "their" product different and better, so to speak. Not saying in reality it isn't, but as to the why? Say the color red for the hooks makes the hook invisible. Then your bait looks like bait other than that bait with that shiny gold aberdine hanging out of the side of it! Thus making the red get more strikes because they can't see it, not because it looks like blood. Not saying this is true but just another way they "could" market it. On the flip side with the line, that could be that "blood trail" coming from your bait as an attractant towards the bait. Its all in the advertising. Do we really know how fish see? Same for deer. For years we heard that deer were color blind. Know we hear that they can see some colors just not day glow orange! Do we really know this for sure?

mikej · Post by **mikej** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 7:10 am

you're absolutely right groundpounder i was just stating my experiance with them and who knows why they work but they seem to for me, we will never know for sure which is true and which is false about either statement. like you said its all marketing as well as possibily even the area where a person lives. for example c'mere deer lots of great advertising marketed really well on the outdoor channel i've spoke with hunters from the U.S they say it works great i tried it last fall it didn't work at all for me not one deer or track near it its all in the area i guess that was the only guess i had as to why i had no luck with it

mike

bait pile willie · Post by **bait pile willie** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:54 am

remember years ago they were selling a colour meter, you put a probe in the water and it told you the colour of lure the fish could see best at that particular time.

sumner4991 · Post by **sumner4991** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 9:31 am

If fish are hungry, they will snap at about anything that moves. I was at a spring head in Florida and watched a 5 foot water snake swim across the pond. Fish were snapping at it's tail as it swam. Good thing the snake wasn't hungry.

By the way, it wasn't a red snake.

Country · Post by **Country** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 9:42 am

I don't know if red is good or not but keep in mind that red is the first color to disappear in water or light. You can judge this yourself by lowering different colors into the water and looking to see when they disappear and at what depth.

bait pile willie · Post by **bait pile willie** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 1:26 pm

one of the best lures of all time the red and white daredevil.most fisherman could throw away 3/4 of the stuff in their tackle box and still ctch as many fish.all these lures in a tackle shop are there just to catch the fisherman.

pdislow · Post by **pdislow** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 7:21 pm

wabi i fished with a friend using red line and i was just using my old standby lline. on that day we both caught plenty of speckeled trout and red fish (puppy drum in s.e. n.c. ) good luck either way!

sevenmmstalker · Post by **sevenmmstalker** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:37 pm

I am a diver, and reds and pinks lose their color at around 30 ft. Yellow last to 100 ft I believe. From what I remember people with red BC's or skins turn a grey (neutral) color.
I use red hooks but only red lines when bottom fishing deeper water.
When the fish are hitting, it doesn't seem to matter.

ehntr · Post by **ehntr** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 10:30 pm

bait pile willie wrote:one of the best lures of all time the red and white daredevil.most fisherman could throw away 3/4 of the stuff in their tackle box and still ctch as many fish.all these lures in a tackle shop are there just to catch the fisherman.

X2

wabi · Post by **wabi** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 11:11 pm

I've tried the red hooks and they don't seem to really make any difference. Haven't tried red line, and since I'm well stocked with green & clear lines I probably won't for quite some time.
Lately I've been trying different hook styles for channel cats in our local lake, and Eagle Claw Kahle hooks are easily the winner over short shank live bait (these were the red hooks) and circle hooks.
I've had my son involved in catching small channel cats to stock a friend's pond, and we finally quit after we put 50 in the pond. The Kahle hook in size 1 with the barb crushed down had a better than 50% catch to bite ratio, and didn't damage the fish in most cases. An occasional hookup deep in the mouth, but we never lost a fish that we transported to the pond. Most of these fish were just under 1# in weight, but a few were up to 4#.
I guess the fishing is about over, though. I mentioned I needed to string & shoot the Phoenix soon, and my son commented that I'd better get ready - he's ready for some fresh tenderloins!