The color "Red"

[Bonefish]

I find a lot of “red” on shelves of tackle shops these days, and I find it interesting that maybe someone has delivered us a “red herring” or at best a “disambiguation”, if you get my point. There are even red sinkers, blades, line…you name it. Does the color “red” cause a fish to react to a lure because it looks like an injured prey? Research indicates a fish can detect red by vision, but the research has yet to show fish are attracted to it. Maybe it is because a fish’s brain doesn’t have the capacity to make a connection from “red” to weakness or vulnerability. I think the truth lies in the fact that a fish attacks what easily fills their gullet and avoids what brings pain or objects with not benefit.

[stripernut1]

your comments will undoubtedly have some people seeing........"RED"

[toomanycasts]

I won't use red hooks. I think they look silly.

[eddie_m]

I read an article, I think in In-Fisherman magazine a number of years ago, where they discussed the use of red hooks. They showed how bass learn not to eat lures that they have been hooked on previously (in a big fish tank test facility). Plastic worms were the only baits that bass struggled to "learn". asically, they speculated that it's a way to make the lure look slightly different in case the bass are trained by previous hook sets. The lures that look slightly different may be enough to make the bass still bite. If that's true, anything a little different might work: dye, markers, stickers, skirts, etc.

[MagikSmallie]

I think it's funny they market red hooks because it appears as a wounded bait fish while at the same time they will market red line because it "disappears" under water faster than any other color....personally I think both issues of the "red" color are nothing more than a marketing ploy to catch more fisherMEN! Does color matter in bait selection? yes, to a degree. But I don't think it necessarily has to be a specific color as opposed to shades of colors, eg. Natural vs dark or bright colors. Water Clarity also plays a factor the clearer the water obviously the more color a fish will recognize. The best advice is to match the hatch when it comes to color. Use natural colors in clear water and bolder more audacious colors in stained-muddy water. Don't get too caught up in the "red" scheme.

[stripernut1]

I think it's funny they market red hooks because it appears as a wounded bait fish while at the same time they will market red line because it "disappears" under water faster than any other color....personally I think both issues of the "red" color are nothing more than a marketing ploy to catch more fisherMEN! Does color matter in bait selection? yes, to a degree. But I don't think it necessarily has to be a specific color as opposed to shades of colors, eg. Natural vs dark or bright colors. Water Clarity also plays a factor the clearer the water obviously the more color a fish will recognize. The best advice is to match the hatch when it comes to color. Use natural colors in clear water and bolder more audacious colors in stained-muddy water. Don't get too caught up in the "red" scheme.

X2 !

[toomanycasts]

I think it's funny they market red hooks because it appears as a wounded bait fish while at the same time they will market red line because it "disappears" under water faster than any other color....personally I think both issues of the "red" color are nothing more than a marketing ploy to catch more fisherMEN! Does color matter in bait selection? yes, to a degree. But I don't think it necessarily has to be a specific color as opposed to shades of colors, eg. Natural vs dark or bright colors. Water Clarity also plays a factor the clearer the water obviously the more color a fish will recognize. The best advice is to match the hatch when it comes to color. Use natural colors in clear water and bolder more audacious colors in stained-muddy water. Don't get too caught up in the "red" scheme.

Truer words have never been spoken

[crappiepappy]

I think it's funny they market red hooks because it appears as a wounded bait fish while at the same time they will market red line because it "disappears" under water faster than any other color....personally I think both issues of the "red" color are nothing more than a marketing ploy to catch more fisherMEN! Does color matter in bait selection? yes, to a degree. But I don't think it necessarily has to be a specific color as opposed to shades of colors, eg. Natural vs dark or bright colors. Water Clarity also plays a factor the clearer the water obviously the more color a fish will recognize. The best advice is to match the hatch when it comes to color. Use natural colors in clear water and bolder more audacious colors in stained-muddy water. Don't get too caught up in the "red" scheme.

As I understand it .... red hooks/baits are solid, and are therefore reflective --- whereas red line is translucent, and does not reflect as strongly. But, overall it still IS market ploy hype to sell these things.
And, actually .... both (red) line & baits will "disappear" with depth ... sort of. Once they've reached a depth beyond good light penetration, they will appear black (lack of reflected light) and blend with the dark background.

I'm reminded of a TV show that I saw, many decades ago, where they were showing a frame with several different brands of clear/blu mono strung across it. A diver took the frame underwater, in a very clear lake (Fla. ??), and the idea was to show that the show's sponsor's brand was "invisible", compared to the other lines. Problem was (to me, anyway) that I could easily see ALL the lines, regardless of brand. I figured that, since I could easily see all the lines, and knowing that fish (Bass, in this case) can see much better underwater, it didn't make much difference what brand of line you used ... they'd be able to see it, even in water much less clear than what was being shown. I was also reminded, from memory of the first "line" I used to fish with, that fish would still strike the lure/bait ... even though the "line" was a solid black strand of nylon !! And, today, and for the last several decades, I've used hi-vis yellow &/or green lines ... and still catch fish on them, be it in daylight or under a "black light" at night, even in fairly clear waters. I don't believe the hyped idea that line color "spooks" fish. I believe that they're more interested in what is on the END of that line !! And that's not to mention the fact that there are miles of broken line, of various colors, hanging from or wrapped around a vast majority of the underwater cover/obstacles in our waters ... so, it's not like the fish haven't seen these lines, likely on a daily basis, and "learned" that they don't represent a threat (if, in fact, they really ARE capable of "learning" ... outside of a forced situation, in an aquarium environment).

just sayin !!

... pappy

[peter]

I have always heard that red is invisible to fish in the water below a certain light level / depth. Seems to be true because when I put a red hook underwater after a certain distance it disappears. If a tree falls in the forest and you're not there does it make a sound....?


You think my logic is OK or I should go back to the drawing board?

Hehaw.

Confession--I use red hooks. After you catch some fish on them they turn gold. You have to believe in something, man! I also put a piece of rubber band on the hook to keep alewives from getting double hooked. Is that rubber band a deal killer for some fish more so than a caliwamped double hooked awife? I have only been doing it this year and I think the rubber band is necessary. Problem is if you think about it the only way you will know if a double hooked awife is a deal killer "for some fish" is if you double hook them all when baiting your hooks. You can pull double hooked bait out of the water when checking bait but if a fish has taken the bait no way to really tell if if it was double hooked before or after the strike if a double hooked bait is left dangling. I suppose they don't live long double hooked...so good bait in the water longer seems like a no brainer.

I like the rubber bands but I usually preface everything about fishing with the words "my current theory is".

Any thoughts?

Guess I could walk by those guide boats at Jamestown that have been hammering the stripers for the last two months and see if they use the rubber on their hooks. I bet they don't.

Ah..fishin, ain't it great!

Just saw where crappiepappy poster here just a few minutes ago looking at the thread review under the edit window. Gonna read that again.

PS. Those umbrella rigs with the jigs hooked to a big ole thick piece of wire seems to work.

[stripernut1]

peter, i'll save you a walk.....the pontoon boat has red diachi 3/0 circle hooks w/o rubber band, the red customweld has red diachi 3/0 circle hooks WITH rubber band, and the black customweld has black owner 3/0 mutu light circle hooks no rubber band.

i will say this about a red hoook, for some reason they break. i have never had a black owner hook, a black gamakatsu hook, or a black eagle claw hook break. i have had every brand of red hook ive ever tried break , some more than others. if i like a lure and it has red hooks i immediately replace the red hooks with black hooks, if it is a treble hook i replace it with a VMC sparkpoint 4x strong hook.

i agree with you, it seems like all hooks no matter what color "dissappear" the deeper they get....i lose sight of them anyway

[sweetwater]

It's always struck me as odd that companies will paint their lures with bright colors and glitter then use red hooks on them that are not supposed to be visible.

[peter]

peter, i'll save you a walk.....the pontoon boat has red diachi 3/0 circle hooks w/o rubber band, the red customweld has red diachi 3/0 circle hooks WITH rubber band, and the black customweld has black owner 3/0 mutu light circle hooks no rubber band.

i will say this about a red hoook, for some reason they break. i have never had a black owner hook, a black gamakatsu hook, or a black eagle claw hook break. i have had every brand of red hook ive ever tried break , some more than others. if i like a lure and it has red hooks i immediately replace the red hooks with black hooks, if it is a treble hook i replace it with a VMC sparkpoint 4x strong hook.

i agree with you, it seems like all hooks no matter what color "dissappear" the deeper they get....i lose sight of them anyway

Well stripernut1 was kind enough not to mention the guides by name. They are his friends. They are the Morgan Guide Service Boats and Hillbilly Guide. It's pretty easy to count the number of people on a boat and notice what time they go back to the dock and run advanced mathematics to determine how many fish they caught how fast. It's been a lot of fish fast for the last two months when I see them. Very nice folks too.