Do Billfish See Color??

[Lobo Marine Products]

This has been an endless topic of discussion between marine biologists and fishermen, with the former more likely to be right, IMO. As a fisherman and lure maker and author of instructional books on fishing, I have always been fascinated and interested in the subject. And asked about my "favorite colors" many, many times. I've read every scientific paper that I could find on this subject for decades now and have experimented with color on a near daily basis down south and I write about what I have learned there, from the research papers and diving extensively in my books.

As you can see, those scientific papers can be daunting reads (thanks for the ones posted, Ultralite) and I have found that most fishermen simply do not want to wade through them. Thus a lot of color myths not supported by solid science abound.

I found the swordfish and bigeye stuff especially interesting and the unique physical capabilities of each are described and discussed (in every day English) in the books that I have written about them. That includes the fact that swordfish have the highest known content of mitochondria (spell...and no, it's not an STD) in their eyes and brains. It creates the heat that allows swords to operate and hunt in the depths, where their bodies do cool down and they have to come up to warm them on the surface or just below it.

I have never read about bigeye tuna sharing that mitochondria thing with the swords, except that the adults react the very same way, dive to over four thousand feet at times and rise close to the surface - generally with the dsc (deep scattering layer) during tide changes to warm their body mass and have similar oils in their flesh that helps withstand the huge pressures down deep and that makes the bigeyes the number two tuna in value to the sashimi buyers. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they share the same or similar mitochondria concentrations and that they perform the same functions for them as the swords.

Unlike swordfish, the bigeyes don't seem to need to expose themselves to direct sunlight to warm up, but that in essence is the only difference between these two fish that are pretty rare catches; mainly, I think, because fishermen tend to apply the same rules to them as surface species. I have caught them both, right down to commercial rod and reel, and if I hadn't fished them by their very different rules, I know that my fellow pinhookers and charterboat captains and I would never have caught anywhere near as many of both species. No brag, just the facts...and proof that if you want to say, attract deer, put our corn and apples, not hamburger, if you know what I mean.

A last point on swords. If you have fished for daytime fish extensively, or you know a stick boat guy who has, you know that they are basically blind when they first come up. Their huge, sensitive eyes take some time to adjust to the sunlight and so they instinctively swim in a tight circle in order to keep that deadly sword of theirs ready at all times for their biggest enemy, the mako shark. This is a great time to snag them by casting into the middle of the circle, locking up and letting the sword's sword or irretractable fins pick up the leader and allowing a big, extra kirbed hook to nail them.

I know how to do that, but don't like to: not so much because of sporting issues, but because snagged swords fight too long and the hook usually pulls, sooner or later. Our standard drill was to stand off and watch the fish until he came out of his circle, then keep following and watching them (they univerally swim up-current) and only baiting them after they quit swimming erratically and go straight, indicating to me at least that their vision was on and they could see the bait we then presented them with.

Jeez, I'm on a roll here and have probably put everybody to sleep. Sorry about that.

As far as lure color is concerned, many times I have posted what I believe to my core - although just like the effects of tide changes and such, I don't know the "why" - that I not only prefer black and dark or and white lures, I rig every single one of my personal ones upside down, with the light color on the top and the dark one on the bottom. I do this to make them stand out, so gamefish will see and target them for destruction, which is the predator's role in the sea, just as it is on land - "he who stands out dies". All black lures would be fine with me, but even as a lure manufacturer with many long term friends in the tackle industry, I can't find all-black ones. Fish would love them, but fishermen wouldn't, so they don't get made. Completely understandable.

And I don't fish with them much anymore, but when I did, I painted the bellies of all of my Marauder and Yo Zuri type swimming plugs black and I believe that they caught better that way. There are some subtle rigging tricks that we use on our hollow squid spreaderbars and Spiders that enhance the "color look" presented by the teasers as they are trolled that I also believe gets more bites. That, I don't talk about.

For the most part I have been considered a COB (Crazy Old *******) by those who I have given my color thoughts to, but there have been those who have adopted them and think that they have made a big difference in their catches. Whatever floats your boat.

I dunno. I might be wrong. And back when I did a lot of diving and taping of various lures being dragged over me, I saw that color just didn't matter until you were right on a lure, like at the last second, when there was no turning back for a striking fish. But admittedly, even though I was in the fish's element, I was seeing what I was seeing through human, not fish eyes. Could be a difference, I dunno for sure.

We humans do do too much assuming that what we see fish doing is the same as what we or they would be doing in air. There is a huge difference in the element they are operating in and ours. Just one of those things has to do with why marlin really have bills and what they are really doing back there when they are "window washing" lure after lure in the spread. Another subject for another time, perhaps.

Wallbanger of a subject and please add me to the list of those who you send copies of your report to. I for one will eat it up!

Some swory drawings and shots. "Duel" is from the novel, Grim Ripper. I do not sell the Cabo Tiger lures, or any standard lures for that matter.

Well thank you for this insight, i will utalize this in my paper and cite it! it is intresting thought how bill fish have adapted the eye for color vision by means of heating their eyes and CNS!


Maybe it explains why Green is such a good color also!

[Roddy Hays]

I can't offer anything more on a scientific basis, but it might be a decent idea to talk to Peter Pakula as well. He's very up to date on billfish physiology and gets access to a fair amount of data from sources that never appear elsewhere. Try dropping him a line at pakula@bigpond.net.au Tell him I sent you to ease the intrusion !

I agree with Fred about colour from a practical viewpoint. Black is good and I'd run four black lures too. Indeed, when targeting big-eyes in the east Atlantic, a lot of the commercial boats there have either only white or black lures on board, and the number one productive colour for most anglers there is black with something. It's also a very big colour for many other fish too, and I suspect this is solely a contrast issue which relates directly to the way in which most fish interpret colour.

Another important issue is not related to colour, but to "shine". I suspect there are some aspects of piscatorial sight that relate directly to "shine" and the way the brain interprets it. When a fish is off-balance and easy to eat it will invariably "shine", and "shine" also influences behavioral patterns in baitfish during both evasion and spawning - I think there are some receptors in the eyeballs of both predators and baitfish that enable instinctive reaction to this and along with black I suspect "shine" is the second major important aspect of a fish's eyesight. Nothing scientific from my part, just a hunch.

The perfect lure is probably one with a black belly, black black, and two sides of "shine". One that subtly rolls as it trolls, flashing those shiny sides would possibly attract more than its fair share of bites. But that's for another thread.

[Patudo]

Lobo - if you've done your research properly, which you seem to have done, you will have come across the Fritsches research, which is the latest scientific research I can find published and has been referred to in a number of sport fishing publications although the original research article is the most informative. There will almost certainly be more findings as scientific research progresses. This is a very interesting area of study.

From the fisherman point of view obviously every fisherman has his favourite lure colours based on a mix of on the water experience, instinct/intuition and to some extent, info from other fishermen and the fishing media. Fishermen seldom if ever choose their lure colours purely based on what colours scientific research has found fish see.

I agree that flash ought to play a significant part in how a fish detects and responds to a lure. Lures like spinners and spoons are designed with the express intention of sending out flash and the value of flash has been recognized in all sorts of other lures from as small as flies to as large as witchdoctor teasers. It is nothing short of fascinating, to me anyway, that artisanal Hawaiian fishers using pearl shell spoons found that shells with quite subtly different types of sheen could be more productive at different times of day, possibly because of sun angle. Obviously this is all anecdotal info, but these guys were very astute observers of the behaviour of fish and other marine creatures, so their observations are probably worth something. It is interesting to note that these guys who fished at a time when gamefish were far more abundant than today, fishing for such a common pelagic species as skipjack tuna, nonetheless paid as much (or more) attention to details of this kind as a modern troller might.

[doncod]

have been told by a commercial fisherman here in nz that all you need for tuna is a black lure as well. the flash aspect seems to make sense esp with fish like mahimahi who are colour blind, and therefore action in the water would seem to make sense as well.

[Captain Fred Archer]

Black and it's "camouflaged" compatriot colors, what I call "the black and's" sure has/have been good to me over the years. There is no doubt that we fishermen love beautiful looking, colorful lures (ask anybody in the lure business about that one), but do they mean anything to the fish? I for one think not. But as you can see from the "upside down" skirting of the Cabo Tiger that I posted before and am again here because I have a sneaking suspicion that some might have missed the fact that it is upside down, or how I look at things, right side up, there is flash on the sides, although it was inadvertent, I admit.

The flash theory is interesting. Check out that that Cabo Tiger again...that's a flashy skirt as far as the sides are concerned and maybe that's one of the reasons that this combo gets slammed so often, I dunno. But to tell you the truth, I still prefer all-black, regardless of species.

Website htt:www.FredArchersWorldofFishing.com