In winter when the water is cold and often clear, the fish will be found in the deeper areas of a body of water seeking comfort in the depth as they suspend. It is the depth at which fish are located that has a great effect on the selection of lure color that anglers use. Whether you fish for walleye, bass or perch through the ice or in open water, the natural affect that water and depth has on light energy will affect the color of lure that you choose. In this post let us review why color selection is an important factor to catching fish in deep water in any season. 　

How do fish see?
　
 A fish’s eyes see in water, and our eyes see in the air. But there is an uncanny comparison between how a bass and many other fish see color and how the human eye sees colors. Cones in our eyes see colors and rods see things in shades of gray. Scientist and biologist have concluded that bass and other fish see colors much as a human sees colors. This theory is thought to be true for the reason that bass eyes have cones very similar to the cones in human eyes. One difference is the absence of a pupil in the bass eye. This is the part of our eye that dilates or gets bigger when a light is dimmed acting like a shutter of a camera.

  This would explain why bass and other fish are light shy. They are structure orientated for more reasons than just ambush and shelter; they prefer the low light of the shaded areas. Bass and other fish are most active in the periods of low light such as morning, evening and over cast days.  Even though they prefer low light, they also have good vision in darkness and can see as far as fifteen feet in extremely stained and muddy water that a human would not have any visibility.

   A bass’ eye having no pupil, will adjusts to light and brightness by repositioning rods. In bright light cones are used with a majority of the rods of the bass eye being hidden behind the cones. As light dims more rods are positioned for sight. In dark conditions cones are of less use and the bass sees mostly with rods. To simplify this, cones see colors; rods see shades of gray. In dim light a bass sees in black and white. And a bass's eye has more rods than the human eye and they function better. Thus it sees in dim light much better than a human can.　　　　　　　　　　
What about color choice? 　　 

 If you have you ever noticed that the color of a lure seems to change in water and seems to change even more at different times of the day. This illusion is because of light reacting with water. To understand how fish such as bass actually see the colors that we choose in lures, we must understand that the color choice is paramount in the success of an angler’s creel. At different times of day, or in "different light" the color a fish sees makes it react.　
　　 　


Studying a prism will help us to see white light change into different colors beginning with red and then through the spectrum to purple.　　　　 　　

   
 When we see a rainbow in the sky it is a similar illusion, we see light absorbed and or bent by water vapor in the air. A body of water however has an effect on light as well. The water absorbs light and turns it into heat, or converts light energy into heat energy. In this process some colors are absorbed much more than other colors. When we look at a lure in natural sunlight, we see all of the color waves. This is not possible once the color "wavelengths" enter water. The water actually absorbs the light. Reds are absorbed as heat before other colors while blues are absorbed last.　　　　 　　

 When we watch programs on television, the absorption of light is what makes the water appear to be so blue. In water that is pure or perfectly clear water all red colors are absorbed and converted into heat energy before the light reaches 17 feet in depth. After red is absorbed, then all variations of the color orange are then absorbed. Orange slowly fades into a dull yellow as an orange colored lure is fished deep. Yellows are filtered out after orange. And then the shades of green are the next to be absorbed. After this depth only blue light will remain. Once the blue shades are absorbed, then there is no light.　

  As blue light is absorbed lures appears in various shades of dark blue to indigo, violet and then finally black. A white lure out of the water still is white in the water, but it gradually reflects light and appears to be green then blue as it goes deeper. A red lure will appear bright red on the surface but cranked deeper it gradually turns black. This is because the absence of red light in deeper water. Understanding this has made some lure companies very successful with the multi colored lures from citrus shad to the "sexy shad" color that has became so popular. 
 
 For this reason professional anglers us lures with an array of colors when fishing deep. This provides coverage as sunlight moves as well at different depths.　

 
 When fishing in 20 feet of water or deeper, brightly colored lures perform well. The reason for brightness over just one specific color is that it will reflect the smallest amount of light in the darkness of deep water.　　　　　 　　

 Fishing a  jig, spoon or other lure 15- and 18-feet when fish are holding at 20 feet, will determine if the fish are looking upward in a feeding pattern, or if you will need to fish deeper allowing the lures to search off the bottom bumping structure. A crankbait diving deeper than the depth the bass are holding will present frantic baitfish bumping into the structure with small thumping sounds as it hits solid objects, and as a crankbait strikes the lake bottom the lure will create clouds of silt, gravel or sand to billow up in the water (like a fleeing crayfish). This noise and the vibration will attract fish and provoke a reaction strike. Lures that rattle and knock may also help in deep, cloudy or dark water.
  
Happy Fishing!