Line Colour

[steve2]

Does line colour matter to fish or just to anglers?
Back in the 70’s I used a heavy black fishing line for carp and pike fishing, I think it was made by Sylcast. Even I could see this line in clear water.
Recently trying out a yellow braid for lure fishing neither of the colours have made any difference to my fishing I still caught and catch fish. Have also used red lines with the same results.
So are anglers more worried about colour than the fish are? Sea anglers have used coloured lines for years.

 

[cassey]

Since I see fish being quite happy swimming around and into 2” boat mooring ropes I think that fish are more afraid of bumping into something they can’t see. It’d scare the **** out of me!!
As for colour, the hype about fish not seeing colour at certain depths, (red being the first to “disappear”) just bear in mind that while the colour isn’t ‘seen’ doesn’t mean its invisible, it just seen as black.

I also dyed lines black in the 70's, I was trendy to.

 

[robtherake]

I believe it was Walker who stated that it wasn't the appearance of the line that mattered to the fish - they're used to swimming through strands of soft organic material - but its stiffness.

I've used lines of all colours of the rainbow and couldn't say that any of them improved the catch rate. I have a preference for camo lines when decent ones are available, thinking that it can't do any harm to break up the solid outline, but I couldn't say for sure whether they've caught me any more fish.

 

[binka]

I remember asking the same question some time ago which concluded... Inconclusively.

So go for fluorocarbon!

Ah...

But...

A fish can spook off of something it can't see but can feel whereas it can navigate around a visual obstacle.

Don't you just love this fishing business?

 

[paul80]

It is said by those that know about these things that fish can not see red at all, apparently they see red as grey, not sure how they figured that out though.

So a nice grey line might be quite obvious on a brown or green lake bed.

 

[tigger]

Since fish have lots of colours on their bodies and fins, and often colour up during the breeding seasons for display etc I would say they must be able to see colors as well if not better than we can.
I don't think the colour of line matters too much if your legering but fishing up in the water i'd deffo opt for as inconspicuous coloured line as possible.

 

[carpinbob]

I don't think the colour matters at all I've used lots of different coloured line and I still manage to blank.

 

[barbelboi]

It is said by those that know about these things that fish can not see red at all, apparently they see red as grey, not sure how they figured that out though.

So a nice grey line might be quite obvious on a brown or green lake bed.

Water absorbs different wavelengths of light to different degrees. The longest wavelengths, with the lowest energy, are absorbed first. Red is the first to be absorbed, followed by orange & yellow. The colours 'disappear' underwater in the same order as they appear in the colour spectrum. Even water at 5ft depth will have a noticeable loss of red, obviously the remaining colours would lose colour in sequence at slightly greater depths. To our vision red becomes grey at approximately 15’ and at about 50’ becomes black/dark brownish with fluorescent colours retaining their colour in deep water. How fish see these colours is another matter..................

 

[S-Kippy]

I think line colour might be an issue in certain situations like eg clear water.....so why take the risk ? I prefer clear or pale lines as to my mind they are less likely to cause me a problem if there is one to be caused. To me its about light v dark rather than specific colours.

However....I've seen "clear" lines light up like a lightsaber when the sun hits them. I cant imagine that helps but, on balance, I think a clear/pale line is preferable to a dark one. Cant see any advantage in a "coloured" line for general coarse fishing.