SCIENTISTS REVEAL HOT COLORS FOR TUNA LURES!!!

[jurelometer]

I don't see how line shyness is color related.  Probably not even about whether or not the fish sees the line.  But don't want to drive us too far off topic here.  We did talk about this subject in another thread.  I'll look for the link.

 -J

[Ron Jones]

I don't remember if I mentioned it before, salmonids cones and rods actually move to higher priority depending on the day/night cycle. This is why morning (especially) and evening are prime times to nail salmon.
The Man

[jurelometer]

Thanks!

There are species whose rod cells move outward between dusk and dawn, giving up some acuity and color vision (cone cell vision taking a back seat) in order to gain some sensitivity.  It is a slow process, so it is based on time of day and not a response to current light conditions.  Don't know how common this is and I haven't seen a reference stating that salmon do this.  I would appreciate a link if you have one.

-J

[Ron Jones]

Let me dig it up,
It was a journal article behind a paywall. I'll download the PDF if I can find it again.
The Man

[Ron Jones]

Here's a link to a webpage. I'll look for the article tonight.

[Benni3]

Grey-scales and contrast is that what makes a lure better,,,,

[jurelometer]

I think that I have gone as deep as I want to go here into color vision in fish.  So here is my wrap up.

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How to turn what we know now into into actionable information?  Here is one example:  On the latest SOA trip, PJ reported that the Mustad Rip Roller in red was the hot bluefin jig.  I am presuming at night.

Skipping to just the color aspect of the lure. we know that a bluefin is not going to pick up red as anything other than black, and it is already all black down there at night...

But there does appear to be glow in the dark dots on this jig.  Knowing that laternfish are a common prey item for bluefin, and laternfish use rows of bio-luminescent dots for counter-illumination as camouflage, there is an argument that (a) those dots will actually be something visible (even when not fully charged), and (b) there is a plausible reason why they might be an attractant to bluefin.

If I was on this trip and was convinced that this lure was actually doing better than others,  for the color part of the selection, I would be choosing a similar jig with glow dots over one that was simply red.  I would still care more about the other aspects of the jig.

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I hope that you folk found this thread useful.  I learned some new stuff myself, and sharpened my conclusions by sharing what I have learned.  I know that some folks wanted to spread out into related topics, but I think it helped to stick to the narrower topic of color vision.  My thanks to those that helped stay the course.

I had intended to start another thread or two on what I found in the scientific literature on some of the other key aspects of fish vision.  But I think that I will take a break for awhile.  Cat herding can get exhausting, and some of the cats here just like being cats.

-J