Barra and colors.

[DEANO68]

what are your thoughts on this one....

are barra color blind..?.

do they only see shades of colors.?

does the old saying "colors are for fisherman not fish" ring true.?

in my limited experience , my findings are that when using plastics (mainly hollowbellies)..that most of the intrest has come on white / pearl..
being close to the color of many bait fish so i have confidence in using them..

do barra acctually see the chaurtouse tail and think theres one of them bloody chartouse bonys ,that suckers mine and nail it....??

when using hardbodies, i like a very shinny silver or gold, you see the flash of a boney or fleeting gar,and these very reflective lures have the same bright flash... is it this flash that the fish looks for..?? or notices better than say an elton john or other multi colored lure that looks nothin like anything that is swimmin round the dam..?..

i know vibration plays a big part, but what are your thoughs on colors..??
over to you...

deano...

[darylive]

I think the contrast maybe more the issue than the colour. i.e. the lighter colour easier to see sometimes or the darker for the silhouette value. Perhaps the slight variation catches the eye i.e. chartreuse tail? Be mindful the chartreuse dip also has a garlic sent so maybe smells good once they are attracted to it ?

[NAGG]

From my understanding -many fish can see colour ( they pick up the same 7 colour spectrum as us - + in addition are able to see the ultraviolet wavelength) This is why many tropical fish are brightly coloured. either to attract or as a defencive mechanism
......... fluorescent colours appear differently under blue (UV) light ( we see them as bright yellow , orange etc normally ....... put chartreuse under UV & it intensifies dramatically ... Maybe this is what attracts the attention of barra who would see that intensification naturally . But this would only happen in daytime

There was a great documentary on this subject which showed a fishes changing mood when the UV light was filtered.

Chris

[robersl]

we picked a few fish up on the weekend and dropped a few but most were on the dark colours like the colour of the lake water(green shade) but with hint of bright colour (ie;red) on the nose or tail of the plastic

shane

[Jeremy87]

As Chris suggested it would be unlikely that barra are colour blind. Most fish that have had there spectoral sensitivity studied have been found to have colour vision. For barra not to would be an exception. I just did a scan through the scientific literature and couldn't find anything written about barra vision. However it is unlikely that they can see UV wavelengths. Most fish that can see UV are normally short lived and vividly coloured. The theory is that long lived predatory fish do not see UV wavelengths because it is damaging to their eyesight over the long term. Small fish however are normally short lived and it is thought that the evolution of UV patterning and vision is so they can possess vivid signals without increasing their visibility to predators.

My attitude towards colour is that yes it can make a difference, but vision is only one sense that fish use to find and capture prey. Therefore it is foolish to think that lure colour alone will dictate whether a fish will or will not hit a lure. Once you have taken all other influencing factors into consideration then you can start worrying about whether the colour is right or not. Especially when considering that in the vast majority of circumstances the fish probably never sees what is is eating, instead relying on olfaction and mechanoreception (touch and lateral line) to detect and attack its prey. When you account for loss of light of different wavelengths depending on turbidity and depth most of the time what the fish actually sees is a greyish brown. Unless you are fishing during the daytime, in clear water at shallow depths (relative to water clarity) i find it unlikely that lure colour has a noticable effect on strike/capture rate. Coincidently if you look through my tackle collection you will probably find that most of my lures are relativley close in appearance to a specific critter that the target species is likely to be eating. My mentality being if colour is important then the fish are most likley to be eating something that appears natural to them.

[Tropicaltrout]

I think a barra is a reactor they either feel the vibration of the lure or a flash of the lure or shadow, and the bite it wether they are testing it or are plain hungry... So in saying that colours are more contrast may be the green in more of a grey and yet they see it as a shadow as most of the bait fish tails do have darker tails.... The gold or silver falshy lures send of just that a flash like any bait fish as its flanks hit light... IMHO I got no idea what they see but interesting what ever the case

Nath

[dirkpittau]

An interesting point for all on colour. A few years back there was a study done in the Mary River system (NT). Of all the fish (barra) caught 7% were blind, all were in perfect condition. This in Croc infested water. When I asked the professor about colour he suggested that colour still played a part but more on the reflection / reaction basis. So sensing vibration and action are extremely important.

[rc@hinze]

Rod Harrisons book, Barra, has some good info on this. To quote' "Barra have an adaptive eye that has superb photomechanical qualities" ...'Barra vision has a colour capability in clear water"...." where to much suspended matter exists,it reverts to a highly developed monochromatic capability" ......" It would appear odd in deed that an eye as complex.....as the barramundi would be merely monochromatic - only grey scale capable"....." it would appear that barramundi can see some reds, greens, blue yellows and purples". (pages31-32).

I personally am always amazed at how certain colours seem to attract attention. We all have "our lucky colour ". My most successful hardbody is a purple and pink combination. I cant imagine that they see any colour at night and I am sure that its more the sonic signal that is the stimulant over the colour. There is not much bait that looks like the colours of the lures on the walls of a tackle shops! If you asked the question of what is each of our favorite colour lure, there would be many varied responses. - Richard

[Obi _ Wan]

I'm not sure here so i will have to do some research and come back with more input.

One thing for sure is that the barra have red eyes, something that has some people affectionately calling them Pink Eyed Leaping Bass.
This of course leads me to the fact that they are in facy nocturnal, now i don't know what that does to colour as i can't see colour in the dark with out a light, i know that the barra would sense any movement in the water plus also any noise and perhaps on a moonlite night some flashes from the shiny lures, but colour? or maybe a scent?

Over the years i have caught barra on many many different lure colours and i could not say one colour was better than another.

From my days of chasing bass on the surface late afternoon and into the night i always had a far better result with dark coloured lures. The full answer to this was bought to me about 12 years ago, i had bought my wife a ticket for a ride in a hot air balloon. Before they took off from headquarters they would release a black hellium filled balloon, in the darkness, it was truely unbelieveable just how long you could see that balloon, it only disappeared when it reached our horizon which was 1/2 a klm away. This then showed the pilot where to go to launch and get the ballooon drifting in the right direction.
So, the silhouette, vibrations, rattles, scent? and action i'm guessing would be the main attractant.

I have had barra fishermen, icons in the barra world, who have been fishing for them for years, some of them have forgotten more about barra than we will ever know say that colour is not an issue others say, stick to the gold colours, others say the bleeding mullet is the go.

So what does this tell you?? all colours will work at times, possibilly depending on the fishes mood, the conditions at the time.

There you go, my humble opinion, i don't think there is one colour better than another.

Cheers,
John.

[Whitto]

It's an unknown quantity for me.......Articles have been written about it and studies on the Physiology of the eye suggest they can see color.......I guess if that is not the case they would see various levels of Grey.

Personally I believe their senses come into play such as detecting Vibration and Movement.

I have caught Barra on all colors.....One lure that has been consistent has been the Gold B52. Interesting topic Deano Im very impressed.

[NAGG]

I think they call it a reflective eye John - Jewies have the same.

so ...... where does the whole colour thing fit into the greater scheme of things .

How i see it - Vibration would be way and over all else - just watch a fishes reaction when something lands on the water - there is a almost reflex reaction ( much too fast for it to be eyesight) ....... As mentioned in JMs first DVD barra have a highly developed lateral line.

A barras reflective eye ...... while I dont think could see any great distance , specially in sediment laden water - It is probably sensitive to pick up flash / reflection .

Colour ...... Maybe / maybe not - certainly can be the catalyst for some passionate discussion - -- I dont discount it because I've seen several examples of when a lure is used - with no reaction ....... till a change in colour . Other examples are two anglers fishing side by side (same lure).... one is getting interest & fish while the other is not - once the colour is changed results were improved considerably.

As for actual colours - Gold is a personal favourite (confidence colour) ..... I certainly carry more gold barra lures/ plastics than any other ....... hell I even put gold pigment into transparent plastics .

Cheers

Chris

[Dicko]

All the theories on colour tend to go out the window when you keep getting fish on a ratty, tatty, beat up old favourite lure with most of the paint flaked off.


I still tend to follow the olympic dream and "Go for Gold" on most occasions.

[DEANO68]

WOW...some fantastic replys there guys, and some great info on how / what a barra can and cant see, yes vibration is a big factor , and its great to find different fishoes preferances /go to colors ..thanks for your input...feel free to add anything else, , as my go to hard body, i like the very reflective flash of the ecogear barra special..and so do the fish..prob is they keep throwin back at me.. .

deano...

[landbasedtossa]

I borrowed a fairly old book about lures many years ago from the library, which detailed tests done on lure visibility at depth and in murky conditions. The last colour able to be seen was purple.
Lou Teitzel of Lucinda Lure fame swears by his purple lures.
I did a half day charter on the Norman River a few years ago in filthy water. Our guide told us we should use gold bombers ( which I happen to love btw ) because of the dirty water. I instead went for a timber lure ( made by Pipeline George in Townsville ) in purple of course. Trolled up a barra within 50 metres of the ramp and outfished two bombers 5 to 1 by charters end.
Hope that helps.

[vet]

Let's not kid ourselves, everyone who fishes for barra believes that colour plays a role otherwise our tackle boxes would all be full of plain white lures unpainted. I'm yet to open someone's tackle box and see just one colour of lure represented, so that proves that everyone deep down, even if they won't admit it, believes that colour makes a difference.
Barra have evolved and flourished in dirty,muddy turbid tidal rivers for thousands of years, they like to hunt at night so they have adapted to hunt in very poor visibility. For this they have developed lateral line sensors, smell etc to very high levels otherwise they would starve, so what makes you think they wouldn't have developed eyesight to the same extent. ie if one barra can see better than his brothers than he gets food easier and avoids being killed easier and so he breeds more barra with the same characteristics and so on and so on. A barras vision may be 100 times better than our own, just go and see if you can outspot an eagle.

I have spent thousands of hours trolling multiple lures at a time and there aren't many nights where 1 particular colour doesn't do better than all other colours. Gold and silver lures are what I call fall back colours ie they will always catch some fish but rarely are they the best colour of the night. so if you are casting a gold or silver lure is a good choice because you can only cast 1 lure at a time and it is likely to draw a response whereas if you cast a purple lure with pink spots you might draw a blank. specific colours seem to work for a certain time before barra wise up to them and stop eating that colour and then a new colour will work best. also how bright the light is at night will determine which colour will perform the best.

my best advise is; ignore colour and your catch rate will be average.
cheers scott.