Do Fish See in Color Fish do indeed perceive color. Every fly fisher knows that or ought to know that. Like humans, the retina of a fish have rods and cones. Cones are used in the day and rods at night. Color vision evolved to help fish identify potential food. In the environment of the fish, the background will either be the bottom, the water itself, or if looking up for food it could be the sky. The bottom is normally tannish olive to green. When looking across the water, the background appears pale silver blue. But if the water is off color due to algae or high water one must take that into consideration as well. Skylight becomes more important at dusk and dawn when it contains more reds. Thus for opportunistically feeding game fish, flies with bright or contrasting colors and/or a lot of flash will make them stand out against the above mentioned backgrounds. The Mickey Finn, tied with yellow and red, and a silver body is one of the most effective attractor patterns. As for dry fly attractors , the Royal Wulff is still hard to beat, with its red and peacock body and white wings. Black flies, because of their strong silhouette also are easy for fish to spot. Let's not forget patterns that contain strands of flashabou or other tinsel that reflect light when stripped or while drifting through the current are easy for fish to spot.

Fishing for Cutthroat Trout Experienced fishermen know all about the cutthroat trout. That is because it is a huge gaming fish and it is difficult to catch. Why, then do so many fisherman go cutthroat trout fishing? These fish can be big and they offer a great flavor no matter if you plan to smoke, fry, or bake it. Cutthroat trout are some of the best fish to be caught. The cutthroat trout is also known by other names including coastal cutthroat, Yellowstone cutthroat, Clark's trout, salmo clarki, lake trout, and other names. The fish has two forms that seem hard to separate. These two forms are the coastal cutthroat and the westslope or Yellowstone cutthroat. Cutthroat trout are about 12- 15 inches long and weigh anywhere from two pounds on up to 17 pounds. Quite a difference! The color of these fish is amazing.

Do Fish See in Color The fly fisherman also must remember that color behaves differently in water that it does when seen in the air. Water is denser, and the colors are diffused quicker. Cloudy days where there is less overall light will offer less visibility, and colors will disappear quicker in the depths of the water. And the clarity of water obviously greatly effects this as well. This is important in fly selection because certain colors travel farther in low light than others. Red is the first color to disappear, usually at about 15 feet in clear water, followed by orange and then yellow. Blues and greens are visible to the fish as long as there is light. Yet silver and white will be brighter. So while the Mickey Finn is obviously a great choice as an attractor fly, it would not be as good a choice in murky water or if fished deep. A better attractor might be a white Woolly Bugger or White Marabou Muddler.

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