Something to think about guys. When fish are hatched they have to eat something smaller than themselves. The food they search out and eat are microscopic is size. These tiny microscopic organisms are so small that you can't see them without the air of a compound microscope. Now if the young crappie or young bass can see these microscopic zooplanktons that are not only small but have clear bodies without a lot of color to them then that tells me that the fish's eyes are pretty sensitive.

Young crappie feed almost exclusively on these small zooplankton until they grow big enough to start eating small minnow.

I have kept crappie in my aquarium at home for the last two years. And during the summer I got to the local lakes and net small minnows from the shoreline. These minnows are really fish fry. They are only about 1/4 inch long. The crappie in my aquarium have no problem what so ever seeing and catching these small minnow.

While I don't know just exactly how the fish's eye works I have read a little bit about this in my science books. I think that the fish's brain is bigger in the area of the brain that deals with smells. But there are lobs of the fish's brain that are strictly devoted to sight as well.

And this quarters issue of Crappie World Magazine has an article about how crappie can see colors as well. We all should know by know that some colors work best. Chartreuse works great in stained to muddy water. While natural colors of green and earthworm color work best in clear water.

I also know a little about Microscopy as that's part of my business. I am worked in Laboratory where we routinely used microscopes. I have been using the microscope all throughout my schooling. I have been using the microscope for to study bacteria and also to study crystal structures.

In my studies dealing with the identification of asbestos fibers I learned a great deal about refractive index of materials.

I learned that if you put a drop of liquid that has a much higher or much lower RI than the mineral fibers under study the fibers show up much easier under the polarizing microscope. That means that they have more contract and you can see them better. If the fiber under study is put in a liquid that has nearly the same Refractive Index as the fiber then the fiber virtually disappears under the microscope.

What's all this have to do with fishing? Well fishing line is made out of plastic. And plastic fibers or fishing lines also have a Refractive Index. The closer the fishing line Refractive Index is to the water in the lake the harder it will be for the fish to see the line.

Now the line's diameter also have an effect on the fish's ability to see the line. Not only that but the diameter effects how deep the lures run when fishing with crank baits. We know that thinner lines will help the crank bait dive deeper. There is less friction between the fishing line and the water with smaller diameter lines.

I was surprised to learn that Berkley Fire line Crystal was not a mono line. According to what everyone is saying in this thread it's a braided line? I don't like braided lines for one reason. They don't break easily and when I try to free a hook from the brush pile I can easily cut my fingers on the braided lines. I am so use to mono's stretching and breaking easily that I forgot that the braided lines don't do that. I hate getting line cuts on my fingers and then having to clean fish or dip my hands in the dirty minnow bucket water. I got a finger cut infected once and it took three weeks to get that under control. Some nasty bacteria grow in the dirty water. And even good neosporin ointment won't kill some bacteria. Now I keep some liquid band aid in my tackle box and some antibiotic soap and antiseptic solutions with me while fishing. That helps. Someone told me to wear disposable gloves while cleaning the fish which I may try some day.

But getting back to what the fish can see or not. I think that the fish can see even tiny objects in the water. I think that they can see better than we give them credit for.

How small of an object can we as Humans see with our eyes? We can see small grains of sand easily. We can't see the tiny zooplankton found in the water but the fish sure can.

Moose1am