Fly color

[afishinado]

Interesting article about fly color for bass and trout >

https://www.flyfisherman.com/editorial/does-fly-color-matter/365180

 

[DaveKile]

A good article.

For me and I'm gonna generalize, but it's shape, size, drift and color last. Especially when it relates to dry fly fishing. Then the time of day, clarity of the water, speed of the riffle, time of year are all factors.

Basically I'm rolling the dice every time I go fly fishing.

 

[ColdBore]

dkile wrote:

Basically I'm rolling the dice every time I go fly fishing.

:-D

Yep, if it's not this, then it's probably that. Of course it could be that other thing too. Or none of them. Or maybe all of them.

Heck, I'm just gonna tie something on the end of the line here and see what happens!

 

[tomgamber]

dkile wrote:
A good article.

For me and I'm gonna generalize, but it's shape, size, drift and color last.

I'll agree with that. If just use presentation instead of drift to cover more ground. And luck, you can always use luck.

 

[REDNECK_FLYFISHER]

Being colorblind I used to think I would not be able to fly fish because of it. I was told when I was younger that color really mattered . I am glad I didn't listen to these people and tried any way. Color may matter but I worry about size and presentation.

 

[MKern]

Saw a speaker once who said that everything is a shade of grey against a back light. He tied all dry flies in either light, medium, or dark grey and stated that his hook-up ratio didn't change from traditional patterns.

Kinda makes sense. Hold anything up to a light or the sun and it all appears grey.

Not saying a fish's eye sees the same as ours does though.

 

[ColdBore]

I have to agree that lots of times guys put too much emphasis on the wrong things, including exact color matches.

Some also go too far in the other direction, and generalize too much.

I agree with the rest that shape and size are probably at the top of the list.

Regarding color, I try to be in the same general ballpark colorwise as the real thing, without being obsessive about it. I figure that even if the trout can't discern the fine differences in my artificial fly coloring, they also can't discern a real insects true coloring either, but at least my offering looks to be the same shade of gray or green or purple as the real thing, without worrying about biological or anatomical details in the fish's eyes.

 

[ColdBore]

MKern wrote:

Saw a speaker once who said that everything is a shade of grey against a back light. He tied all dry flies ...

With dries, he's probably not too far off.

But with the rest of the stuff that we fish subsurface, or bouncing along the bottom, they aren't backlit, so I think that coloring matters to a point. To how much of that point though I'm not sure, so I try to be generally close in color.

 

[MKern]

Yeah, I was just referring to dries.

But I have said for many years that most of the subsurface stuff is brown, green, or greenish brown. And I doubt slight shade differences make a difference to the fish as its flowing by.