How important is the color and detail on the top of a surface plug?

[EricM]

Dare I bring up the subject of fluorescent, phosphorescent, ultra violet, and bioluminescent considerations?

Bring it on- I looked at the kageyama book and, from what I can understand so far, he is saying that "true" fluorescent paints reflect more than one color of the spectrum underwater- much more so than ordinary paints, which would give your lure a much better chance of being seen and tracked visually... although he is primarily a steelheader, and I hear that steelhead are wild about fluorescent colors. Anyhoo...

Also, I read somewhere else that polarized light is critical, specifically how an object in the water reflects polarized light...as for bioluminescent and phosphorescent, well, haven't gotten that far into it yet...but willing to go down that road. Why not, its still January...lots of time left in the winter...