For an angler using sea fishing lures this is an interesting and important question. It is also a question for which many people have their own opinion. Mostly derived from experience not study. This does not mean they are wrong. Oh no, many experienced fishermen are keen sudents of fish behaviour and keep good records of what lures they used, what the weather was like and what they caught where.

There has been a study done on the behavior of fish with regard to the shape and color of lures presented to them.

It is important to set some ground rules. If you want to examine visual ability the you would be looking for, shape recognition, color recognition, movement recognition and brightness perception. There have been studies done which have measurd the heart rate of various fish when exposed to light, when the heart rate changed it showed the fish were responding to the increase of light.

It has also been found that fish have slightly different responses to the visible spectrum (colors). Those fish which are migratory such as salmon and trout respond to light in the the range 500 nm to 560 nm. Fish which are landlocked in lakes etc repond to light in the 490 nm to 510 nm. Since the tests didn't examine the sea fish which don't migrate I am speculating that they have a response to light in the 550 nm to 600 nm range.

What does that mean to the fisherman looking for an effective sea fishing lure? Have a look at the table below.

color                                      wavelength interval

red                                          700–635 nm

orange                                    635–590 nm

yellow                                      590–560 nm

green                                      560–490 nm

blue                                         490–450 nm

violet                                        450–400 nm

See what color your lures should be? Yup, Predominantly green with some yellow perhaps. In dark water or water with poor visibility you should go up a scale and look for yellow to orange colors. Look to use a lure, in clear water and bright conditions, in similar colors to the natural bait fish, in darker days or cloudy waters look to get more contrast so the fish can see the lure.

OK, so why do the silver lures work? Probably because they flash light and fish respond to light, it excites them and they then make rash decisions.

How to pick good sea fishing lures then? You will need a range of lures for sea or fresh water fishing as you can see. This is to be able to select one depending on the conditions, Generally though you should get your best results with a lure which has something which will flash light and is in the range of colors from green to orange. Things which flash are spinners, spoons, glossy finish or even those with a hologrammatical type patch on them.

You will get your best results from a lure which swings and sparkles as it is retrieved. Attract the attention of the fish with light and movement but when they get close enough to strike you really want the fish to believe that what they see is tasty. Succeed here and you will get fish in the bag or fish box.