Why do some trout favor one color over another?

[Bocianka1]

I've been fishing Ridley Creek here in Eastern PA most of this winter and spring and a buddy of mine pointed out an interesting observation he's discovered from years of fishing at this location.

When he fishes a Green Weenie (tied with fl. chartreuse green chenile) he catches a disproportionate number of rainbow trout and brook trout compared to brown trout. However, when he fishes an Orange Weenie (tied with fl. orange chenile) the opposite is true and he catches mostly brown trout.

I have found similar results this past year, even when switching between colors on the same day in the same location.

Have you noticed similar behaviors in other waters? Is this type of reaction common, or is this a localized quirk? does this have something to do with the way fish species perceive colors? Is this related to how certain colors might resemble a species most prevalent food source (unlikely given the unnatural colors used here)? Are trout color blind (or perhaps more or less color sensitive based on species)?


I wondered what insights the rest of the forum had. Feel free to offer your insights.

 

[jifigz]

I couldn't tell you the answers to that. I have never fished an orange weenie but I've certainly caught a ton of wild browns on green weenies throughout the summer months.

I have noticed that a bright pink San Juan worm catches way more rainbows than browns in fertile limestone influenced waters. The worm also destroys brookies in mtn freestones but that is a different story all together.

 

[SurfCowboyXX]

I do remember feeling like red disco midges seemed to pull more strikes from rainbows than browns, and black disco midges having the opposite effect. It's all anecdotal, but who knows? Maybe there is something to it.

 

[redietz]

I wouldn't be in rush to ascribe the difference to color, per se. It may be that orange chenille absorbs water at a different rate than green chenille, and thus sinks at a different rate. It may be that one or the other is brighter (ie they'd look different in a black and white photo.) It may be random. There may be other difference in the chenille beside absorption rate, like thickness. It may be that one is tied on a heavier hook than the other. (Back when I fished green weenies a lot, I found that one tied on a 2x heavy hook outfished one tied on standard wire. It may be a question of visibility of the flies in the types of water preferred by each species. (There's a bit of truth in the old saw "Brown trout lie along the bank, rainbow trout lie in the middle of the stream, but fisherman lie every, but especially in fly shops")

I other words, there are lots of variables involved and it may have nothing to do with color. I agree, though, that the different species of trout do have slightly different preference, although I'm not sure color is one of them.

FWIW, I've done well on rainbows with an orange weenie before, and I've caught hundreds of wild browns in the Gunpowder on green weenies over the years.

 

[Dave_W]

redietz wrote:
There's a bit of truth in the old saw "Brown trout lie along the bank, rainbow trout lie in the middle of the stream, but fisherman lie every, but especially in fly shops"

Neat way to put it.

 

[3oh4]

I think Browns lock in on cases caddis more than rainbows - I can't prove it but just from my experience. Maybe the rainbows don't like the cases and the Browns are seeing the orange weenie as a cased caddis instead of just the Ryachophila. But who knows...

 

[TimB]

In my experience in PA, the green weenie is a brown trout killer (wild or stocked) and the red San Juan worm has the same effectiveness on wild or stocked 'bows. I think it's more about profile than color.

 

[shakey]

it seems to me that fish in ridley key in on color more than fish in other streams.

i have had days there where they key in on olive or red.

i remember a day when they would hit anything olive.a size 18 dry fly.a size six streamer,size ten wetfly. it didn't matter ,so long as it was olive.

ridley trout hit ants more than anywhere else too

 

[Tigereye]

Last week when fishing Brodhead Ck, all imitative nymphs/wets were ignored. (PT, HE, red squirrel, Grey SH, Green SH, Coachman)

They were focused on Pink, I tie a bead head nymph in Pink just for these occasions. I call it Elton John (Play off of Copper John) Pink Bead, Peacock Thorax, Pink wire, and red tail.

The fresh stocked rainbows seem to relish them. Not sure why mistaken for salmon egg perhaps???

 

[FarmerDave]

This is why they sell Powerbait in so many colors, including rainbow. ;-)

 

[pete41]

Art Flick-

 

[NewSal]

Some things will remain a mystery until someone invents a language to speak to fish

 

[MKern]

Colors are important to fish because, well...they have colors on them.

I always find red colored flies work the best of browns in the fall. Red spots deepen as mating begins. Red is clearly a trigger.

 

[afishinado]

I'm really a poor judge of how the trout react to the color of flies because I most often fish more natural-colored and/or hatch matching flies with earth tone colors like HE's, PT's, Zebras, BWOs, hendricksons, sulphurs, stonefly patterns, ISOs, scuds and cressbugs, beetles and ants, etc. all depending on the stream I'm fishing and the time of year. None of those flies really have bright colors.

I pay more attention to colors when fishing for steelies, smallies and when fishing saltwater.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

The only time I notice it is on a local stream that has native brookies, wild browns, and is stocked w/ bows. I pretty much know that if I tie on a white wulff, I'll start catching the stockies.

 

[MKern]

I think it is different with dries too. Anything against a lit background is going to be some shade of grey.

Of course fish see differently than we do, so who knows what they see.

 

[Jessed]

And yet there are some people out there that claim trout can’t see color..

 

[Bocianka1]

I found this interesting article from fly fishing website Midcurrent.com titled Fish Eyesight, Does Color Matter.

While it doesn't answer my initial question, it hints that "Another finding, but one that needs more study, is that some fish favor a specific color." I guess i'll have to wait and see the future studies on the topic.

The article was a good read and informative, even if it didn't site it's sources. It was geared specifically toward fly fisherman and highlighted why fluorescent colors work so well. I recommend you take a look if you have the time.

https://midcurrent.com/science/fish-eyesight-does-color-matter/