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smokepoles
11-20-2008, 10:09 PM
There can not be much doubt that pink works, but why, especially at depth?

Pink and Fish:

True pink is NOT a pale variation of red diluted with white, although certainly some people call it pink. Rather, true pink is a shade of magenta, as is purple. Following are some thoughts on PINK, and why it may indeed be a good choice for use at depths if it is the true pink variation of magenta.

First, the primary colors of LIGHT that produce a color response in humans are red, green, and blue (longest to shortest wavelengths, respectively).

Second, the primary PIGMENTS that produce color (in other than fluorescent lures) are cyan, magenta, and yellow. These pigments act by absorbing (removing) one of the primary colors of light - red, green, and blue, respectively.

Pink is a variation of magenta. Note that pink is NOT a primary color of light, and is NOT a dilution of red!!! Pink pigment absorbs green light, but reflects red and blue light, and humans interpret this as pink.

We understand that the red light in sunlight is relatively quickly removed with increasing depths, but pink lures should continue to reflect any blue light. How a fish perceives this is another question, but it is clear that pink will be reflecting blue light at any depths to which blue light penetrates.

As to other primary pigments -- Cyan pigment absorbs red light, but reflects green and blue light. Thus, it would be interesting to have a true cyan lure in at depths. Yellow pigmented lures would seem to be poorest choice to reflect any light at greatest depths because yellow absorbs the blue light which penetrates farthest, but might be great a moderate depths because of the green it reflects.

Of the primary pigments, it can be noted that pink is unique in that it reflects red and blue light that are at the farthest ends of the spectrum, and would be expected to have distinct 'color' shifts as red light is absorbed at depths. In contrast, cyan and yellow pigments reflect light of contiguous wavelengths, and any color shifts with depth may be obscure.

The other possible lure colors are produced by mixing the primary pigments. For example, blue/violet color is not from a single primary colorant, but is produced by mixing magenta and cyan to absorb green and red, respectively, leaving only blue phases of light to be reflected. This might be expected to perform well at depths, but in practice the combination might not reflect as much light as just pure pink/magenta.

As to UV lures, water absorbs UV light more than light of visible color. So why big push to UV lures? Of course, maybe fish are extremely responsive to UV light making up for its lack of penetration through water.

Just some thoughts. But clearly, pink should not be viewed in as anyway associated with red light, but as possibly very visible at great depth.

Tight lines,
Chuck

HiTechKoke
11-20-2008, 11:09 PM
Nice post and I'll just confirm that pink has no depth limits in my tackle box and has proven itself over and over again whether in a hoochie our spinner combination(s) At New Melones this year, mid summer, it was 90-120 feet. Other lakes, for me most of the time this year pinks were strong for me in the 45-65 feet. If I had to look back at the year in general it was a "Pink" year for me and every year seems to be something a little different that I end up as my "goto" set of lures.

SilverBullets
11-21-2008, 12:48 AM
This is a great question and one I have also wondered about. I have had great sucess with pink at depth, and have read hundreds of reports over the years with the same results. So what color does pink turn to as it goes down? I often thought it might go to a shade of grey, and just figured kokanee like that shade. What ever it does, it works!thumbsup

smokepoles
11-21-2008, 10:02 AM
Fact: Pink pigment absorbs green light, but reflects red and blue light, and humans interpret this as pink.

Fact: The red, green, and blue penetrate water to greater depths, in that order.

Thus, pink will only be reflecting blue wavelengths once it is at depths that the red wavelengths have been lost. 'Pink' pigments should reflect the blue wavelengths continiuing to depths to which blue wavelenghts penetrates. Blue wavelenghts penetrate to the deepest depths as compared to the human visible wavelengths or UV waveleghts.

Note I am only addressing wavelenghts of light. How an organism responds to them is 'color', and that varies.

HiTechKoke
11-21-2008, 10:28 AM
From a human perspective you won't see "color" at depths pushing ~70~ feet or so since the color spectrum gets filtered out in the order described above and everything is just shades of gray to black. This comes from my diving experience and underwater photography as well where your flash becomes a requirement in order for the organism / fish to reflect back their colors. This is probably why I like shallow water diving more than anything else since you can spot the vivid colors available in a reef environment.

Now what those fish are seeing in has always been a mystery since they are not talking!

Digi-Troller
11-21-2008, 02:00 PM
Great write up on pink! I can't tell you how many times I've been asked... if ROY G BIV is so important then why does pink work so deep? I tell them that pink relates closer to blue than red. Next time I'll direct them to read what you wrote so they get the full picture, and not just my dumbed down explanations!

Kokanee Wizard
12-16-2008, 10:59 PM
IMO, this is one of the best discussions on color that I've read. The ROY G BIV does little to explain why pink works. Typically I've seen discussions that try to explain why something shouldn't work not why it does. I'm impressed. Thanks