Spinnerbait Design

[joeD]

You're assuming,of course, that a fish can see and differentiate color. What if they're color blind, or see in black in white, or fuzzy images? I think you get in trouble projecting human qualities in animals. I don't even know what my 14 year old daughter thinks, and she's a related human (I wonder sometimes), let alone a fish. I quit bothering with whys and wherefore's. If a lure seems to work consistently, I'll use it and be content.

[eric1978]

You're assuming,of course, that a fish can see and differentiate color. What if they're color blind, or see in black in white, or fuzzy images? I think you get in trouble projecting human qualities in animals. I don't even know what my 14 year old daughter thinks, and she's a related human (I wonder sometimes), let alone a fish. I quit bothering with whys and wherefore's. If a lure seems to work consistently, I'll use it and be content.

True. Very true, sir. 14 year old girls are much less predictable animals than fish, that's for sure.

I thought they figured out that fish could see colors, though....albeit a little differently since it's underwater and colors' visibilities change down there. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, but I figure if they couldn't see colors, some scientist would have figured it out and we'd all just be throwing lures from white to black and shades of gray in between. I just always assumed they could.

Your point about projecting human qualities is well taken, though, and I agree with you completely. You wouldn't think it would be so difficult to think like an animal that has a brain the size of a pea.

[Gavin]

Bass & Trout definetly do see in color...Their eyes contain both rod cells for low light vision and cone cells for color perception...I dont think their color vision is as good as ours though. Cheers.

[Wayne SW/MO]

That's not a new design, like Al said, its the old Shannon Twin Spin.

[Al Agnew]

I started out a few weeks ago to write an article on the properties of color underwater, but haven't completed it yet. Suffice it to say that there are a lot of variables, but underwater colors don't look the same as they do above water. Fish do see color, for sure, as Gavin said, but they don't see it the way we do above the water.

Eric, I've often thought about trying a sky blue color on my twin spin. It probably would work. But actually, white works better to blend into a blue sky than sky blue. I've taken the time to go underwater and look up at both white and chartreuse lures against the water surface and the sky above. White works because since the fish are viewing it from underneath, they are looking at the shadowed portion of it. So they aren't seeing white, but a light gray, with light bouncing off the water column itself and hitting that underside with blueish and greenish colors, so they are actually seeing a blueish greenish gray that blends into the sky very well. There is a reason why mid-water swimming fish have white bellies. If the lure was sky blue, since the fish would be looking up at the shadowed underside of it, it would actually appear darker than the sky.

I think chartreuse works so well, as you pointed out, because the fish are seeing it against sunlight filtering through leaves, which is pretty close to the same color. But there is also the fact that chartreuse or fluorescent yellow is an "artificially" brightened color, and actually appears as bright even in the shadowed underside as the above water landscape.

[eric1978]

Interesting stuff, Al. I look forward to reading that article when you finish it. Will you be posting it on the forum?

My knowledge of colors is as vast as what you learn in 7th grade art class, so aside from primary, secondary, complimentary, etc, basically none. I guess it would be tough to find a better source of analysis on colors than an artist.

To be quite honest, I'm somewhat color blind, which makes evaluation of certain colors a bit challenging, and therefore something I tend not to do. I sometimes have trouble distinguishing whites and pinks and grays, and also where lines are drawn between yellows and greens and greens and blues.

I once bought a pink shirt that I thought was gray, which my friends thought was just hilarious. So my buddy bought another shirt to poke fun at me, and it says "I Love Color," but all I see is a bunch of dots. Aside from that, though, I have 20/20 vision. Go figure.

[Gavin]

Al, are you refering to UV Brighteners in the Chartruese Dye? Many died materials contain them, and there is some debate about how fish see them. Materials dyed with Picric Acid are in vogue with some fly tyers, aparrently because of the way they think that fish view the UV specrum. Dont know if it makes a difference or not...I just use what I like.

Anyway, I got busy at the bench last night and made a few twin spins out of some skirtless buzz bait and spinner heads...What do you think?

[eric1978]

Gavin, those look good. I really like the chartreuse one with the white head. What did you use for the trailer on that one?

[Al Agnew]

Gavin, yep, the UV brighteners...don't know if the fish perceive them differently than us, but underwater, the brightened colors keep their hues a lot deeper than non-brightened colors. While pink (like red) turns gray underwater at depths of less than 6 feet because the water molecules absorb the red wavelengths, artificially brightened (fluorescent) pink still looks pink in 12-15 feet of clear water.

Great tying job on those. I like the one with hammered chrome blades the best because it's more compact...I'd shorten the wire in front of the head considerably on the others. And you gotta add the wire "leader" to make them less likely to tangle. And I'd use smaller blades...I don't know the size blades I use without looking at the catalog, but mine are a bit less than 3/4 inch long. And I'm still pretty convinced that a curly tail grub--or maybe a piece of chamois cut into a curly tail shape--will work better than your tied-in trailers. But I could be wrong and yours might work as well or better than mine. At any rate, I'm sure they'll catch fish.

[Guest]

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