Color Filtration in Water
Water filters light. And since all color is actually colored light, water will filter colors. Certain colors cannot be seen below certain depths because light is broken apart when it hits the water and certain wavelengths (colors) are filtered out. The severity of this filter depends on the clarity of the water, wind conditions, time of day and lure depth; dirty water, high winds, deep water, and evening hours mean fewer colors. To understand these effects, we must first understand the relationship between light and water.

The colors of the spectrum (the colors of light) are Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. A mixture of all of these colors produces white. If an angler were to stand in the center of a very deep lake and shine a bright light into it, the colors within the light beam would gradually disappear as it traveled toward the bottom. At 10 feet, red is almost gone, orange is disappearing, and yellow is starting to fade away. At 35 feet, orange is gone, and yellow is quickly disappearing. At 75 feet, yellow looks greenish-blue and the only visible colors are blue, indigo and violet. As we pass 150 feet, blue and indigo are hard to see and violet is disappearing. At a few hundred feet, ultraviolet is the only color left, and it is not visible to the human eye anyway.



Neon colors, however, do not disappear when the spectrum colors do. This is because they "fluoresce", meaning that they glow when hit by ultraviolet light. We have heard reports of brightly visible fluorescent pink and yellow colors at depths of 125 feet and deeper!

Keep in mind, however, that these water color filtration rates assume that the water is crystal clear. Pollutants, sediment, and wind can drastically affect these numbers by rearranging the filtration order and decreasing the overall depths of all colors. Under these circumstances, red-orange seems to be the most visible, assuming that your lure depth is not greater than 20 feet. That said, here are some tips from anglers on how to pick lure color:

Super Clear: White or clear. Use glitter for color. All colors are visible to 10 feet.
Clear Water: Blue is most visible. White is visible. All colors are slightly visible to 10 feet.
Green Water: Green is most visible.
Stained Water: Orange, green, and chartreuse are most visible. Red is slightly visible.
Muddy Water: Red is most visible.

Here are some additional suggestions to help with low light (first light until sunup), medium light (sunup until the sun reaches 20 degrees to the horizon), and high light (from 20 degrees to the opposite horizon) conditions:

Low Light: Blue, purple or black work best. Use with silver flash.
Medium Light: Red and orange work best.
High Light: Brown or gray work best. Use with fluorescent accents.

NOTE: When the light level falls below 0.1 foot candle (clear night, no moon), all colors become just shades of gray and cannot be seen by the fish.