I know it's been covered, more of an off season thread, but I am really burnt out after last weeks effort and not sure how many more times I'm going out this year. I know what I have read, but from personal experience I am not yet sold on the dark at night, light during day mantra. First of all, I am doing less and less day fishing anyways and B) my 2 best fish have come on light colored plugs on very dark nights. It makes sense that in calm water the fish could "see" a dark plug above them better at night but I wonder if it makes much difference in the white water. Thoughts, experiences? :gu:

I have never subscribed to the dark night/dark plug, light night/light plug mentality! There are those nights when all they will hit is dark plugs but I find I get more action on some of my lighter colored plugs on the darkest of nights and no action on the dark plugs on the same night? My Bunker is my go to color any night and it takes alot of fish! Though on a dark night I always have that one dark plug in my bag!:uhuh:

I don't catch many plug fish(just got into plugging thia year), but I find they will hit just about any color at any time, I think from my experience it depends more on presentation and a little bit of being in thr right place at the right time

Fish are colorblind. We just have the need to have more colors and spend more money........makes us look better to other humans who are not colorblind....(speaking about the masses)

I was always under the impression that Stripers see shades of Grey because of the Rods in their eyes... this may be true at night but during the day He implies they have ADAPTED to see or recognize these colors. Maybe why Yellow is such and effective color during the day.

This little except is from an article written by a guy smarter than me,,,


This graph shows early results from Horodysky's fish-vision experiments. The width of the black bar shows the visual range for each fish species; bar thickness indicates peak response to specific colors. Click image for larger version.

Horodysky's preliminary results provide basic insight into how Bay fishes see the world. The results show that some species, like striped bass, are adapted to see large, swiftly moving prey in daylight. Others, like weakfish, are adapted to see small, sluggish prey at night.

He is also comparing the types of prey that fishes are adapted to see with the prey items that are actually in their stomachs— with some surprising results that could hold important implications for fisheries management in coastal waters.

Horodysky's research shows that striped bass are most sensitive during daylight hours to a wide range of colors from blue to red, with a peak at chartreuse. They have a "flicker fusion frequency" (essentially the "shutter speed" of an eye) of around 50, relatively fast for a fish, which allows them to track large, quick-moving prey like menhaden.

My experience has been that color can make a difference (more so by day than night), although a white plug has a decent chance of working anytime. Just to confuse matters, I think I recall reading some advice from Danny Pichney advising the use of dark plugs on bright sunny days. At night, if given a choice of white or black, I'd take yellow.

My belief is also that fish see shades of grey, light vs. dark or the contrast of a dark color next to a light color as in the contrasting color changes on the plugs. They add motion when the plug is moving.....the more colors to contrast the more action or motion....less colors such as one color...less motion/action.

The dark/light theory is about the contrast against the sky that fish see when looking up at a plug. It makes some sense if you think about what they'd be looking at from the water.

Also, someone posted a link to a study here a while back that claimed that bass did not differentiate between specific colors, except for chartreuse. I can't figure that out, but I remember reading it.

In my limited personal experience, I've found that yellow and white/pearl seem to work well both night and day with topwaters and sub-surface swimmers. But, I've also done really well with black darters at night.

I don't think it matters. Last week I was catching alot of bass on a lime green and white needlefish on a very, very dark night for example. They wouldn't touch a black or black and blue one in the same make and weight. Go figure!

I take white, black and yellow wherever I go. Certain nights will be different than others. I usually start off with black and after awhile switch to yellow. Lastly, white.

I like yellow alot too, both day and night.

black, white and something bright

There's no color I won't use at night, but there are colors I leave in the bag during the day, such as black, deep red, purple.

Two nights ago, moon had already set, dark as anything, fish passed up every color but white, and they put a hurtin' on that. Some good ones at that. It goes night to night.

I like natural colors be it day, or night

Yellow over white was the key last night, and the moon was still pretty bright..

best fisherman I know fishes only white,,, period. I personally fish colors ... Canal has been yellow ...