purple

SSPey · 07-03-2001, 05:24 PM

When the topic of colors comes up for steelheading on this BB, the color purple is rarely mentioned - yet us fly flingers swear by it! What gives? I'm thinking that pink and purple are shades of one other more basic color, and that color is the stripe of other steelies and rainbows!

Snagly · 07-03-2001, 07:31 PM

I've noticed, too, that if you're at a bar full of steelheaders and you ask the fly guys to show you what they're using, their boxes are full of purples, oranges and blacks (plus a few others: I'm generalizing). If you go to the corner and wake up the drift fishers (who have mostly passed out by then as they're drinking boilermakers and not sherry), they'll show you mostly pink, red, flo yellow, and orange Corkies, Spin-n-glos, etc. Yet everyone's catching fish in the same places.

According to Dr. Colin Kagamaya's book "What Fish Really See", unless you are fishing very clear water purple = black. Of course, black is a great steelhead fly color for certain light/ water conditions, but in this case purple ISN'T another shade of pink.

The Doc states that pink is the #1 color for steelhead that have been in the river for a while because the steelheads' eyes become less sensitive to blues/ greeens/ purples the longer they are out of the salt. As spawning approaches and the fish begin to color up, the steelhead become more sensitive to detecting pink (that stripe you mentioned).

Net, net I fish a lot of pink in my yarn and fly mixes unless I'm fishing chrome bright fish (then blues and purples), or I need contrast (purple or black eggsucking leech with a pink globug for a headlight).

BTW, I don't think "What Fish Really See" is particularly clear or well-written. I had to re-read it and take notes to figure out exactly what the author was trying to say and then boil it down to color selection guidance in fresh and saltwater. Having said that, it's a worthwhile read.

First Bite · 07-03-2001, 09:30 PM

floatnfish
Do you use the Purple Perile(sp?) a lot? Do you find that purple works better in certain light conditions such as early morning or late afternoon? Intersting comment Snagly about purple being almost black in most water conditions. I have some purple feathers that I tie with black and sometimes it's hard to tell them apart when they're in the water. Purple and pink has been known to take several steelhead and it's a favorite color combination of at least one steelheader I know. There is too many color combinations to try and not enough time.
Mark

www.firstcastjigs.com

smilesforu · 07-03-2001, 10:12 PM

Purple not made up of a pink component...hmm

lets see blue and red make up purple

Now which color makes up pink....white and red. Red is the common component between the two and will show up differently in different water. The missing component white reflects all the color wave lengths, where black absorbs the wave lengths.

To make something colored for example a purple feather absorbs all the other light wavelengths except the blue and red and reflects those back.

Now if you take blue water(sunglasses effect) the deeper you go the only color wave lengths allowed to pass are the blue.
The sunglass effect on lures depends on the water clarity and the mineral content of the water. Different waters filter different colors out of the spectrum. If you go to your local sunglass rack pick up a set and head over to the fishing aisle and see if you can figure out what lure colors are the ones you want to use for maximum contrast.

Ok enough physics 101...need more englis clases.. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

Tight Lines

[ 07-03-2001: Message edited by: smilesforu ]

Snagly · 07-03-2001, 10:36 PM

Alright Marty! That's it!! I'm sick and tired of these personal attacks!!! Purple is NOT Pink! Purple is BLACK!!!

[Sorry, wrong thread -- the one I was looking for disappeared. Besides, I didn't write the book. So go look up old Colin and give him a bashing.]

OK, now the reason for this post. One of the very, very interesting points in Dr. K's book (illustrated in several photos) is that few of the materials labeled as "fluorescent" are in fact fluoro. So while you're wearing your blue sunglasses in the fishing tackle aisle, bring along your black light (the one you use for the plants in your closet). Buy up all the feathers, yarn, chenille and beads that glow brightly. Why? Because wavelengths shorter (longer? Hey, I'm not a physicist) than those of the natural color also "light up" a true fluorescent color. That means fishermen using fluoro colors on the business end will have more visible offerings. (In the summer this may be a bad thing, but in winter and spring it has to be a winner.)

PS Since you brought up physics, you know that the three primary colors in air are different from the three primary colors in light. Hmmm . . . . [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

Fishin Magician · 07-03-2001, 11:39 PM

Whatever........pink and purple jigs are one of my favorite low clear water patterns. I don't know why, I always just assumed that they were less intrusive to the fish. I didn't know there was a science to it [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img] . Oh well as long as I keep catching fish on them I'll keep them in my vest. [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img] Stay Cool~~~~~~~~~~~~~JB

smilesforu · 07-04-2001, 12:04 AM

Lmao snagly nothing personal (you are actually correct) ... where is that Colin dude. I agree with the flouro stuff showing up better. There was a recent article in a STS that showed the flouro down under....I think. I use my bug light and it shows off the bright stuff. Not much stuff available in the fly shop that has the flouro in it so realistically purple is black very fast in the water column and the pink will show up longer because of its white component. Fish must attack a purple (black) siloutte presentation instead of a color.

One of the common misconceptions..(from personal observations) is what colors show up best under which conditions. Usually people don't include the flouro colors into their thinking and incorrectly choose the wrong color for different situations. Flouro red shows up better than blue non flouro.

BTW I use the sunglass analogy because I fish several streams that vary greatly in water clarity and composition and different colors are best suited for each type. The river will also change how much light it will filter out as it drops into shape.

Sorry for rambling, its just nobody ever asks about colors....I couldn't help myself [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

SandyRiverFisher · 07-04-2001, 08:20 AM

Im a drift fisherman and I use purple corkies and yarn often, and not just for chrome bright fish. I grew up on the Salmon River, an upper tributary of the Sandy. There we would fish for summers from April until it closed in December. Throughout that time the color purple was a top producer. We also used a lot of red, but not too much pink. We mostly used pink for winter fish. In choosing my colors up there I took more of a spinner fishermans approach. In off color water, or in low light I used brighter colors, in clear water or in sunny water I used darker colors. The whole idea was to use the brightest color you could without spooking fish. If you tossed a pink corkie into a run in the middle of the day up there you could see fish darting everywhere to get away from it, but if you threw purple instead the fish would stay in the holding water and you would often get hit.

In my opinion, any attempt to uderstand exactly what a fish sees is only going to produce speculation. The same goes for trying to apply the concept of water depth filtering out surtain colors. Who can say without a doubt exactly how the fish percieve their world? The fact of the matter is that some colors work good for some people, but not for others. Find what works for you and experiment. I highly recommend purple. The drift fishermen should take some lessons from the fly guys. All in all though, it is far more important to know where the fish are in the river, or even in a particular drift. If you can become an expert on fish location, the task of choosing colors becomes a mere formality in catching fish.

Fishin Magician · 07-04-2001, 08:25 AM

SRF~~I agree with you........Good reply. I use purple corkies when driftfishing for natives and they hammer it~~~~~John [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

smilesforu · 07-04-2001, 12:04 PM

SRF I agree with the use what won't spook the fish theory. I also find that fresh fish don't spook as easily as fish that have been in the river a while. I frequently use obnoxious colors in gin clear water for fresh fish. If I am after fish that have seen lots of gear I tone it down to pastels. Then for the spooky batch I go to trout colors/tactics.
Fish location is a very important part of the sucess, but if they can't see it they can't bite it.
Water speed also plays into which size of lure and bait is best.

I see guys chucking purple in water with 1 ft clarity....not the best choice in my opinion. Most of the colors disappearing in depth articles are done in clear blue water.
The same effect as 40 ft of clear water can be made in 1 ft of colored water.

Color choice is very important in my opinion. The rivers here on the peninsula vary in color from 6 inches in glacier color, crystal clear, or tea colored.

On a dropping river fresh fish are also fish that haven't been able to see due to water clarity. This doesn't normally happen during the summer so the darker more subdued colors tend to work best for fish that have been in the system. Provided I am not fishing the glacial streams.

One final note, the better your lure shows up the bigger your strike radius for attacting fish, provided you don't spook them.

There are a lot of adjustments that can be made in your fishing color and presentations based on the water color, speed and type of fish. The better understanding you have of the adjustments you make/why, the better youre sucess will be.