There are various misconceptions about whether or not fish can or can’t see colors and I have don some serious reading on this to really find out what the answer is. Well many sport fisherman think fish can’t see colors at all which is not the case, many fish can actually distinguish between various colors. They obviously will not be able to pinpoint down on exact colors as this is where I think we give fish species too much credit when it comes to thinking.
Fish can distinguish between color shades, patterns, brightness, sharpness, flashes and pretty much anything else associated with how various colors appear in the water. Sure they don’t know what green, blue, silver and black are BUT they will associate these colors with the various feed in the body of water in which they live. Example of a bright day they will zone in on flashes of blades on baits, brightness of skirts squirming around of a spinner bait, metallic flake flashes within the hard body of a crank bait. On the flip side they will also see the natural looking appearances on overcast days, like the peal white belly of a swimming frog, darker belly of a toad, black dark skirt on a flipping jig.
In many cases I don’t think we should give fish too much credit when it comes to thinking, they mainly react on instincts, water pressure changes, feeding time and defending small fry in nesting areas. It is however important to have various colors selections available to you and in similar patterns/baits. Example a shallow diver blue and silver crank bait has been working during and outing and suddenly stops working, try the same baits in a different color or size which can usually result in a few more strikes before that style of bait stops working for a period of time that day.
Yes fish can be investigative and potentially spit a bait out of shy away from it, but that is the nature of fishing with artificial baits, it’s very challenging but definitely fun putting it all together.
The AMFisH guy…