Underwater Lighting

[Tyson]

Been tying and thinking about how the fly will appear in the context that trout are likely to see it in. Particularly deeper than 2.5 feet of water, because the fly is seen more in reflected light rather than direct light as Lafontaine says. We obviously have to create flies in direct light. Is there any good way to simulate the underwater lighting and thus get a better idea what materials create the best image?

[chris]

Been tying and thinking about how the fly will appear in the context that trout are likely to see it in. Particularly deeper than 2.5 feet of water, because the fly is seen more in reflected light rather than direct light as Lafontaine says. We obviously have to create flies in direct light. Is there any good way to simulate the underwater lighting and thus get a better idea what materials create the best image?

Go to the river, throw them in the water and see if a fish eats them. It's all that matters idn't it?
Or, get a clear tube like say a bong, and fill it with water and put flies in it and take them outside then film 24 hours of what takes place.

[ByteMe]

You can even test it with a current.

[MickG]

you could fill up some gogles with water and put them on.

[cheech]

Just ask the fish if they like what they see. If they respond "do I like... what", you can clearly tell that they can't see what you are trying to show them. Try again until successful. Scuba gear helps

[JayMorr]

The responses were pretty funny! But Tyson if you want to get technical, Gary Borger has said a few things:

Color vision is a well-defined trait in shallow-water fishes of both oceanic and fresh water systems. It evolved, as it did in other animals, as a mechanism to allow the fish to better separate potential food items from the background. In the watery environment, the background may be either the bottom (normally a tarnish olive to green color) or the background may be the water itself. When looking horizontally through clear water, the background appears pale, silvery blue. This phenomenon is known as background space light and is caused by the scattering of blue light as it passes through the water. In water with a lot of suspended algae, the background space light is greenish yellow, and in tea-colored bog water, the background space light appears reddish brown.

With this being said:

For selectively feeding trout, color not only serves to separate the food organisms from the background, but also serves as one of the four major characteristics that triggers feeding (the others are size, shape, and behavior of the food item). Thus for the fly fisher, color becomes a necessary consideration when choosing the best fly to match a natural food item of selective trout.

The question then becomes, how accurate does the color match have to be? It was a question that started me on a twenty-year experiment into the color preferences of selectively feeding trout. First I assured myself that selective trout are definitely sensitive to colors. They can and do distinguish between brown and olive, for instance.

In response to the obvious question raised by this result, I found that even though trout can distinguish colors, they do not discriminate between very fine shades of any one color for selective feeding purposes. The reason for this lack of color hyper-sensitivity is simple: the food organisms vary slightly in color. If the fish were too color sensitive, much food would be lost. For selective feeding purposes, trout will normally discriminate between about four or five shades of a color, from the palest shade to the darkest.

I also discovered that when matching some insects, a shade of a color different from the shade of the natural can be more attractive to selective trout; usually the more attractive shade has more chroma (the color appears more intense than the color of the natural). The reasons are complex and not completely understood. For one thing, the food organism is often multicolored, and one of these colors might stand out more to the trout than other colors. Trout see further into the ultraviolet range than do humans and perhaps are seeing a "color" that is not visible to us. Then, too, the watery environment could be influencing the transmission of specific colors. In addition, skylight varies during the day. In morning and evening, for instance, skylight contains more red; therefore, at these times reds, oranges, and browns will stand out more than other colors. There's still some very interesting work to be done in this area.


Hope that helps ;)

[Curtis Fry]

Good info JayMorr...

[Improv]

The responses were pretty funny! But Tyson if you want to get technical, Gary Borger has said a few things:





That was the longest way of saying - "color is important, but I don't have a clue what to do about it".

Anyway...

Perhaps someone could start a new major in collage that would compete with “Underwater Basket Weaving” - “Underwater Fly Tying”.

[styan]

You can even test it with a current.
Excellent use of your Contributor Benefits!

This might "stimulate the underwater lighting"....
http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=20089

(not my first choice but gotta be UOTF P.C.)

[Tyson]

Thanks Jaymorr. I think the background colors of the riverbed and distant water has a lot to do with what parts/colors on a fly get noticed. Looking to better create those two or three most noticeable traits that mean easy and nutritious prey.