Interesting topic and question. In my experience I have bought the latest which all shops purport to be the best lures in existence, at least 4-5 times a year. But I have also fished with my families old fishing gear, and other than the way the lure works, anything that catches a fish's eye, will catch a fish, should they feel aggressive.

Everyone will have their preferences, but if you ask them what they used a year ago, or 20 years ago, you will get 1-20 different answers. The color has little significance, the flash and the way the lure moves in the water is really all that counts in my fishing experience, so go with your best presentation lures and stick with what has worked. After all, a salmon isn't keeping up with the latest name or color. Their brains are ancient-wired. It's all amygdala; fight or flight

 

You targeting Chinook or Silvers? Most all the TV shows they're using white/silver Hot Spot dodgers for Chinook. They work here too. Sometimes you'll see other colors but....

 

Take some flash or tape. Make your own on the boat.

 

I read an article years ago about what happens to colors at various depths due to the lessening light penetration in the water. If I remember right reds turn to gray-ish first. Blue retains its color the deepest before turning gray-ish. Of course you have all the glow stuff to choose from now. Didn't all the old time salmon commercial trollers have basically white to choose from.

I've read in the fly fish realm of fishing a lot of the flies that are available are made to catch the fisher.

 

Besides from the obvious thing you mentioned - different colors look different a certain depths - the VAST majority of fishing gear out there is designed to catch fishermen...

 

Different colors. Catch fisherman action catches fish.

 

My Dad said the same thing when i was a kid. When he and i would do father son bass fishing tournaments i had all the whacky cool new things. He fished yellow/green, black, white and was always in the top ten. He always fished the same 4 lures. Texas rigged worm/jig/spinner bait and a stick bait. Never was out of the top ten.

 

It is interesting to me that several people have said that colors are irrelevant. That has not been my experience. I've had days in Alaska where the fish wouldn't touch an Ace Hi Fly with yellow eyes but they would absolutely murder the red eyed glow version. I've had days where the Shortbus Sweet Abby was killing it and I couldn't buy a bite on a Shortbus Skinny Dipper right next to it, everything being rigged identically (and vice versa). They would have had the same action, same everything except the colors of the flasher.

While I absolutely agree that action is critical, I think there has to be some component of color as well. My best guess is a color that either stands out to cause cohos to come in for curiosity and stay for dessert, or a color that mimics feed in some way to draw them to the after dinner mint with the hooks in it. I think of those two scenarios, curiosity is probably the most likely.

And I'm specifically talking about coho fishing.

And I'm going to be really depressed if the consensus here is that colors are to attract fishermen. I should also clarify, that clearly sometimes color does not matter to ravenous coho. I'm thinking more about the times when it does matter and what I can do to maximize success with color selection, or if manufacturers have "done the work for me" to produce patterns that are more likely to be successful. I am very perplexed if color doesn't matter.

 

I'm still not convinced color matters, PARTICULARLY when talking about flashers/360s. Seems like many of the best guides are running nothing but mirror chrome these days.

It's the flash and the thump created with each rotation that the fish can see and, more importantly, sense/feel in their lateral line which draws them in. Think salmon darting around under water chasing bait fish - that's what you're trying to mimic.

 

Many different variations of chrome is all I use anymore when I realized that some days colors didn’t seem to work as well but chrome always worked as well as anything.

 

I have some colored plastics but will always reach for the 30-40 year old chrome dodgers or just go with a naked herring.
When you think about if colors matter then please explain Quickfish, those are all about every color under the rainbow from what I've seen.

 

While this didn't happen in Alaska or the salt for that matter, I think the action is more important than color. We were trolling 360s and spinners on the Columbia for chinook with a hundred of my closest friends. Early fish in the box and then nothing for us or anyone around us. Dumped the 360s and switched over to slingblades and 2 more fish in the box in 15 minutes with the same spinners. Results may vary.

 

Some one mentioned a chart. I’d guess it depends on the depth and what you want them to see…

 

My buddy fishes for Kings out of Homer. I fish for Chinook here, or used to. We both fish mostly the same gear and both do pretty well. As to flasher color, I definitely prefer dark green! I've never been sure what Chinook prefer, but if I fish a dark green flasher long enough, it usually works.

 

Basic Nickle/Chrome turns gray also. Ordinary white shows up better at depth. That's why spinner blades with white on them catch fish so well.

When ocean Chinook fishing, I use purple on the flasher so (in theory) it looks like a feeding Chinook. Whatever the reason, purple works.

 

Most commercial boats use all one color, all season. First kings, then silvers. Different gear. But they catch a bunch of kings on the silver gear! The biggest factor is action. Most boats don't troll fast enough.

 

Color frequencies that fish see are different than we humans see. Plus different people see colors differently. Some of us are color-blind to various frequencies. And we’re all a bit different. What you see of pink may be a bit different than me. I don’t know but that’s probably true of fish.

But there are other factors to complicate things. Color may not be the key trigger at any time and condition. Add fluorescents, noise, action, scent, turbidity, fishing depth and the mood of the fish to the equation.

I would think about other things at any time and not get hung up on color.

 

And add temperature and other atmospheric conditions.

 

I always found it interesting when orange turns dark very early at depth but greens/purple/blues are seen much deeper yet when I fish a orange worm at 600’ it out fishes any of those other colors. I have To think deep water fish can see more then we think.

 

Liquid: That's because black at any depth catches fish. It's one of if not the most visible color.

 

But if they are all black why does one color out fish the others.

 

You're paying attention... Ha ha. Because at the depth those colors do show, they might have an effect. Usually that's fairly close to the surface or fairly clear water. In the ocean, Silvers can be very sensitive to subtle color changes.

 

That's actually what I'm getting at. Have flasher manufacturers taken that into consideration when they are designing flashers? Is the UV hype just for fishermen? Do fish respond to UV? I feel like I need to do some scientific experiments on all of this if there haven't been any done.

Also, for those who are saying it's all about action, which I agree plays at least a part in the presentation, do you rig your flashers in a particular way to enhance that action? It seems like the action coho are looking for on any particular day can be a little different in the same way, I see it, as color preferences can change day to day or hour to hour as the sun comes up.

 

Another thing about flash. I think contrasting colors make a difference. A flasher all the same color may not have the same effect as one with two colors, one on each side. The one color I trust to be on both sides is Kelly Green. When ocean fishing for Chinook, I want a flasher that goes on and off, shiny on one side, dark on the other. I think dodgers are good at turning on and off because they are flat sided and only reflect light toward the fish when a flat side is pointed at the fish. I'm talking about attracting fish from a distance., get 'em to come over and take a look.

 

It sounds to me like you have a flasher theory that I would like to hear.

 

Color = contrast at depth = does it ( the flasher ) mimic the large dark back / top of a feeding King WHILE simultaneously mimicking the thump of the tail….. stimulate the bite…
Red…….
w some green……

 

Do you believe that holds true for coho as well? What are the coho looking for in a flasher?

 

 

My two favorite flashers are right above each other off your right shoulder. Both the Hotspot UV blade with Silver or Green Crystal Flash and the Gibbs Kelly, Chartreuse, UV and the solid UV back..............Killers in the ocean for both 'Springs' and Coho. I'm bilingual, I speak Canadian too . jc Tuna Maru
View attachment 1007770

 

I need one of each for my collection. I have issues

 

Something about UV. It really doesn't penetrate water worth a hoot. I don't know just how well fish see UV or how strong it needs to be to remain visible if they can. But, a UV finish on lures and flashers does increase their reflective ability in visible light which penetrates water somewhat better. Depends on clarity. The gear I use for ocean Chinook is not UV and it doesn't seem to matter. Have never felt the need to spice things up. I really don't think a flasher need to flash all that much to be effective.

The dodger in the photo is larger than it needs to be. So is the hoochie. The hoochie has been trimmed around an inch and still on the big side. The small hoochies work as well, just use a slightly smaller blade. Hook size, 5/0 Sickle Siwash, remains the same. Sweeten with herring chunk.

 

Good eye Jcarufo.