Basstrike Fishing Blog

Fish's Vision And How To Selects The Lure Color

You may be very surprised when you know that fish can distinguish brightness and color for the first time. Especially certain kinds of shallow water fish such as largermouth bass has a good color resolution ability. But others such as walleye have poor color resolutions. In addition, the water also blurs the object color in it. As the depth of the water increases, red firstly disappears, followed by yellow and the last is blue. Anglers should pay attention to the color in choosing the bait. Usually blue and green are relatively appropriate. How far fish can see on earth? Fish can see 30 meters away in the crystal clear water and generally can see 3-6 meters away. The plane and the three dimension ranges the fish can see have been marked in the following two charts.

The following chart has marked the ranges the fish can see on the shore. For some particularly cautious fish such as trout, remember to stand the range of 10°, otherwise it is hard to catch it. In fact, it is not so difficult, and the fish cannot see the objects of the shore clearly as long as the water is not too clear. When the water is really clear, just stand off the shore with a certain distance.

The following rules of fishing lures color are suitable for the general situations:

• White and creamy yellow for daytime.
• Pink for cloudy days.
• Black for darkness.
• Transparent color for clear water, flash and bright colors for muddy water.
• Dark color for deep water and light color for shallow water.
• Light green for summer and brown for autumn.
• This rule applies to the color selection of all baits.

Fish's Sensation, Hearing And Smell

It is very important to be real fishermen to understand the senses of the fish. The following is a general concept. And you still need to understand the characteristics of each type of fish to really master this knowledge. E.g.: trout's vision is particularly developed, the hearing of bigmouth bass is better, and the smell of catfish is very outstanding.

The Feeling Of The Fish
The feeling of fish mainly relies on the lateral line of the fish. The lateral line is where the fish's nervous system is concentrated. The fish understands the water temperature through the lateral line. And more importantly, the fish can feel the vibration, flow speed and direction through the lateral line, thus to determine the size of food or attackers. The lateral line is very important to the fish in the turbid waters.

The Hearing Of The Fish
Fish has the auditory sense. The fish has an inner ear, with the function to listen to the sound and keep the balance. Not all the fish's hearing is very developed, just a part of the fish, such as largemouth bass. So when fishing largemouth bass, be sure to pay attention to the sound, and shut down the motor when you take the boat.

The Smell Of Fish
The fish have a high degree of sensitive smell. The fish has a nose. Some fish, such as salmon, can smell the smell of water hundreds of miles away. The smell of fish also helps them to distinguish food and attackers. See the chapter on the vision of fish to check the fish’s visual sense.

Where To Find The Fish

You may consider the following places when fishing on lakes by boating.

• Reed Cattails – most of them live in the water depth from 1-4 feet, especially when the straggly grass floats in the water; the largemouth bass is often hidden at the bottom.
• You can also try fishing at the still water bay near the estuary, and there may be an unexpected harvest.
• Coontail Beds- Crappie, as well as big mouth bass and walleye will haunt nearby in the blossoming season.
• River Bends (in the deep water of the estuary) – where largemouth bass and Walleye will haunt in the summer seasons.
• Lily Ponds –lotus tends to grow in water depth of two to five feet of the inner bay of the lake, and largemouth bass like to hide under the lotus leaves in the hot summer days.
• Rafts, Floats - largemouth bass like to forage at the bottom of the floating floor in the morning or there’s no one swimming.
• Docks - largemouth bass likes to hide under the wooden docks in the hot summer days.
• Milfoil – it’s a good choice to fish along the grass.
• Shade – it’s also very important to choose to fish in the shadows (backlit).
• Gabbage Weeds - in the summer, walleye like to hide in the grass, and big mouth bass also like to chase and eat small fish here after the autumn.
• Stumps, Logs – in the depth of shallow water near the shore, there will always the fallen tree trunk and top sinking in the water, the largemouth bass also like to hide here. Be careful not to lose your beloved baits!
• Rocks - piles of rubbles in the depth of seven or eight feet or more will be the place for largemouth bass and walleye to forage.
• Fish can also be found in water depth of one to two feet near the shore with plants and mud.(Be careful of beaching!)

Fish Distribution In Autumn

In the early autumn
The air begins to get cold. Water temperatures of the upper and middle layers drop. Many psychrophilic fish are beginning to float up.

In the mid-autumn
The cold upper waters begins to sink. The water layers are overturned again. In addition, the autumn wind mixes up the hot and cold water. So the temperature of the lake soon becomes uniform. And the fish are evenly distributed in all the water layers.

In the late autumn
The upper layer of waters are too cold and the fish are concentrated in the lower layer of waters.

Fish Temperature Preferences

• Lake Trout 10°C
• Brook Trout 12°C
• Salmon 13°C
• Rainbow Trout 13°C
• Brown Trout 16°C
• Muskellunge 19°C
• Yellow Perch 20°C
• Walleye 21°C
• Northern Pike 21°C
• Crappie 22°C
• Smallmouth Bass 21°C
• Largemouth Bass 23°C
• White Bass 24°C
• Bluegill 24°C
• Catfish 25°C