Fishing Breakthrough or Industry Gimmick?

“We have longterm data sets from our field tests of crankbaits and rattlebaits. While some colors produced better at certain times, there was no clear preference for any color, including red. On a trip, one color might outproduce another by a ratio of 3:2, based on 100 strikes—60 on one color and 40 on another. But that ratio might be reversed the next time out.

“On the recommendation of Barry Day, former Field Services Director at Berkley, we also tested lures painted a different color on each side, which we labeled ‘schizo’ baits. One might have a firetiger pattern on one side and shad on the other. Curiously, these oddballs tended to attract bites intermediate between the two basic colors. So, if a firetiger Frenzy Rattl’r got 60 strikes to 40 strikes on shad color, a schizo version would be around 50, not as good as the preferred bait, but better than the less productive one.”

Bandit Lures seems to be the only company to offer such an option, as their “Mistake” color has black bars on each side, but with chartreuse on one and red on the other. It’s been a top seller since it was first offered, and I’ve found it deadly for largemouth and smallmouth bass, and walleyes, too, especially the 200 size.

Red Line

When Cajun Red Lightning first hit the market, the company claimed it would disappear underwater. Many anglers were quick to try the line for its hot new color and the possibility of a visual advantage, as well as its acknowledged qualities such as knot strength and abrasion-resistance.

Critics pointed out flaws in that argument, but red lines have been a hit nonetheless. “It’s true that in clear water red wavelengths are filtered out shallower than those for other colors,” Jones says. “And blue wavelengths penetrate deepest. That’s why blue prevails in underwater photos from the ocean.

“But the filtering of those wavelengths doesn’t equate to disappearance. With increasing depth in clear water, red objects become grayish, then eventually black, which is the absence of light. Against underwater backgrounds containing other colors of the spectrum, such as greenish vegetation or the blue of open water, a dark image contrasts and may be highly visible. That’s because it appears as a black portion on the retina, contrasting with other ambient wavelengths.”

As we concluded our discussion of line color, I couldn’t help wondering why anglers wishing to hide their line wouldn’t consider fluorocarbon as a first choice. Since initial offerings five or so years ago, we’ve seen an evolution in fluorocarbon products, yielding lines that are easier to tie, more abrasion-resistant, and more supple than early editions.

The primary advantage of this blend of carbon, hydrogen, and fluoride, called polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF for short), lies in its similarity to water in refractive index, a measure of the way light passes through a medium. Water is about 1.33, while monofilaments range from about 1.53 to 1.62 and high-quality fluoros are about 1.42. The lower the index, the closer to water and theoretically the less visible underwater.

When Pure Fishing was working on its initial fluorocarbon product, Berkley Vanish, Dr. Jones conducted a study to test this theory. “In a large aquarium containing largemouth bass, we hung arrays of fishing lines from surface to bottom,” he explains. “A sensor attached to the apparatus recorded contacts with the lines as bass swam around the tank. The basis of this test was the assumption that bass would try to avoid bumping into objects underwater, a tendency we have observed when conducting other research.

“Bass bumped into the 10-pound-test fluorocarbon line considerably more frequently than 10-pound mono, suggesting they couldn’t see it nearly as well. We’ve considered expanding this experiment to compare lines of different colors and diameters, waters of different tints, and by comparing different formulations of fluorocarbon. That remains for future research.”