Lures, like the fish they accurately represent normally have a dark side on top and a lighter belly. This is of-course an evolutionary benefit. Dark so the Sea birds and fish above cant see them and a whiter under belly so any predator looking up doesn't silhouette as well against the sky.
Look at Pollack, Coalfish Pouting, herring- even Mackerel and Wrasse - Light underneath, dark on top. - Lure manufacturers go to great lengths to make these lures the same as the fish they represent. So, yes you can match the hatch but i want to offer an alternative -
THE UPSIDE DOWN FISH- what do you think would be the stupid fishes fate ?- It wouldn't last as long in Evoloution by natural selection if it was to have a dark under belly and a light top . A kind of idiot fish that would never survive in the gene pool!
Its dark belly could be easily seen against the sky or Bright moonlight above. A hunting Bass would see its outline more easily.
Lure manufactures go to great pains to replicate a fish , some of the detail on Hard lures like my Favourie Megabass Zonk are amazing. Yes they look exactly like a bait fish (at least when it comes to catching anglers)
However they are designed to hide from the predatory fish.
My suggestion is to ensure the lure is easy to see. Im starting to see some results when the lure is fished upside down. I haven't tried this on hard lures but soft lures can be rigged this way.
Could a sharpie marking the underside of a lure make a difference to our catch rates ?
What did you see in the picture above ?
That bar really is the same colour. So what does this actually mean? well to me it suggests colour choice in lures is dependent on the back ground. The background is the sea colour. Im asking myself questions like does white stand out in cloudier sea and would a black bellied fish contrast well under the bright moonlight at night.
What is the best lure to stand out in different water conditions.
Looking back at my catch records ill let you in to a little secret..
"Red Lures are the most successful colour in shallow bright and clear water conditions"
Using the theory above perhaps red contrasts best when the water is clear in this bright sunlight.
Im no scientist and my knowledge of what fish see underwater is limited. Looking at a number of studies on what fish see, there are still many unanswered questions. I just thought id try and share how i,m thinking through them.
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