Does color matter this much for walleye?

[3Roosters]

Sometimes I wonder if a shore fisherman with a plain hook and a minnow/leach/worm can out fish a sponsored boat, motor ,trailer ,tackle in a tournament.? Just saying.....a person doesn't need the latest and greatest to catch fish.

 

[Rowdie]

Sometimes I wonder if a shore fisherman with a plain hook and a minnow/leach/worm can out fish a sponsored boat, motor ,trailer ,tackle in a tournament.? Just saying.....a person doesn't need the latest and greatest to catch fish.

There are times where I've done better shore Fishing, especially in the spring and a few times in the fall. I much prefer shore Fishing if I can catch them.

 

[tikkalover]

This is what I use from shore.

One rod with a 3/8 to 1/2 oz egg sinker, 12 inch mono leader attached to Northland gumdrop floating jig with a minnow hooked thru the upper lip. Open the bail on the reel.

Second rod casting a 1/4oz jig and minnow.

Right after spring spawn or in the fall when they start putting on the feed bag.

 

[svnmag]

October is fast approaching. Except in the Tailrace:

 

[svnmag]

^^^^Keep it underwater right to your toes. Walleyes will beach themselves out of freakn' nowhere.

 

[Up Y'oars]

Black lures… Didn’t Reef Runners come out with a black crank with the skeletal white lines?

 

[Sum1]

I recently watched a podcast about largemouth. They blocked certain sensors to see how it would affect thier feeding. Sense of smell had little effect, blocking the lateral line also had little effect, covering there eyes they could not feed.

I remember years ago reading in In-Fisherman that scientists have zero proof that the lateral line in fish has anything to do with a fishes ability to find food, lures or anything. It’s all a theory. Which seems pretty crazy for how often you hear about a fishes lateral line. How lures effect their lateral line, how they use the lateral line in dingy water, the list goes on.

 

[Traxion]

Black lures… Didn’t Reef Runners come out with a black crank with the skeletal white lines?

Yes and I’ve never caught crap on them.

 

[tikkalover]

Walleye like these. Especially if the lake has baby bullheads in it.

 

[snow2]

JOHN HAYES
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
jhayes@post-gazette.com


JUN 23, 2022 9:25 AM


Lake Erie’s dominant predator spends much of its time chasing food in the dark – at night and at depths that obscure most light frequencies. Named for their odd pearlescent eyes, walleye can distinguish colors in various water conditions and see in shades of darkness that blind their prey


Veteran walleye anglers and fishing guides base strategies on the fish’s evolutionary visual advantages. But scientific research on the species hasn’t kept up with studies of freshwater bass and trout, despite the walleye’s natural range stretching from the Arctic to Alabama.


A recent study at Ohio State University explored precisely what walleye can see in various water conditions. Some of the research confirmed details that anglers have long suspected. In clear water, the study found, walleye will strike white lures or almost any color. When the water is clouded by sediment, they are more likely to go for yellow or gold, and in green algae-laden waters, walleye eyes are best at seeing black.


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Suzanne Gray, a professor of environment and natural resources at Ohio State, researches why and how some animals can adapt easier than others to human-induced environmental changes. She was initially attracted to Lake Erie walleye because of their exceptional visual skills and exposure to annual algal blooms in their spawning waters in the warm shallows of the lake’s western basin. Human-induced nitrogen-rich agricultural runoff causes the blooms, which can grow dense, massive and spread across half of Lake Erie.


Gray recently explained some of her research in a webinar angled for anglers and hosted by Ohio State and Ohio Sea Grant, a research, education and outreach center linked to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.


“From my perspective, I think of individual fish and how they respond to environmental stressors, whether that’s changes in the color and clarity of the water or changes in the temperature of the water,” she said. “How do fish sense those changes internally? Do they then react and respond, and what does that mean across the lifespan of the fish and the community of fish?”


Some rely on smell. Other fish feel disturbances in the water through the sensitive lateral line. The walleye’s eyes evolved as its predominant sense. The bulbous organs find food and avoid predators even through dense algal matting and mud or other sediment from waves or tributaries. The eyes detect movement under high waves and have acuity at water depths beyond the reach of visual light (about 33 feet below the surface of clear water). Walleye rely on sight to spawn, to scan the water during the twilight of dusk and dawn, during starless nights and when a bright moon casts stark silhouettes.


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Some of what Gray has learned about walleye eyes may help anglers make decisions about lure color choices in degrees of water clarity.


“These are very visually dominated fish, so they use vision for a lot of different tasks,” she said. “Then, of course, there’s the human dimension. [Anglers] are likely to spend some time thinking about what lure you’re going to use each time you go to catch fish. In the case of walleye they are visual hunters. They have color vision, they can see in really low light. We know these things. So really understanding what they see under different conditions is pretty important to this recreational angling industry, which is worth about $2 billion a year in Ohio.”


Gray and her research team conducted a lab test to document the basic visual abilities of walleye under various water color and clarity conditions. A phone app was developed and Lake Erie charter captains were recruited to log data noting lure color, water color and clarity as well as clients’ walleye catches during various levels of water turbidity. The researchers used that information to make predictions about the walleye bite when using lures of particular colors under various water conditions. Finally, they tested those predictions in a controlled fishing experiment.


As expected, the initial laboratory testing confirmed that visual perception decreased in water clouded with sediment, and was further degraded in mixed sediment and algae. When the water contained algae only, however, walleye vision reduced 40% as compared with what they could see in sediment. Also, to detect prey in algal waters, walleye needed to be 15% closer than in sediment.


The charter captains’ data showed base lure color success varied by water clarity and color. This part of the research found that white lures outfished other colors when the water was clear. Yellow and gold were hot in water clouded with sediment. But when waters were green with algae, more walleye were caught on black and purple lures.


In the controlled fishing experiment, grad students performed the hard work of fishing in Lake Erie. They logged lure color, water clarity and time of day to test the predictions developed using data from the previous testing. They took six fishing trips in clear water, six in turbid water and three trips during algal blooms. Four people were fishing at a time, each with a different lure color.


“For our experiment we used this analysis to understand if fish preferred any of these four lure colors in a given water condition,” said Gray. “What we found was that in clear water … there was no preference, they would just pick whatever color they saw first, maybe. In sedimentary turbid conditions … given all the lure colors, the probability that the fish were going to strike on a gold lure is much higher. Under algae conditions … when given a choice between all four colors, the fish seemed to prefer black.”


Despite low sample sizes and reduced research in algal waters, Gray said the experiment confirmed that in various water conditions walleye could see some colors better than others, and proved that researchers could predict walleye lure color preferences in various water conditions.


That’s what fishing guides successful walleye anglers do on every trip. But conducted in controlled conditions, the study put some PhD credibility behind knowledge of an important yet understudied game species.

Interesting read V,thanx for posting

During tough bite days i reply on dynamite.

 

[shorthairsrus]

We used black cranks for musky -- I have a couple.

Def a goto is a black with blue flake - LM favorite

Walleye really depends on the lake imo.

 

[snow2]

Last summer fishing up river from chamberlain sodak,#5 shad raps in leech pattern was killer,(clear body with a black stripe down the back) word got out about this crank,local bait shops sold out.

Another lake we fish where color seems to make a difference is upper red lake in mn,giant crappies and "day glow pink verticle jigs" tear drop style ice fishing tipped with euro larva,live bait guys did well,same jig.

 

[Pheasant 54]

They definitely can tell a difference , I have seen it pulling spinners many times , one or two people using one spinner and catching fish and another one using ALMOST the same color and pattern with 0 .

 

[Rowdie]

They definitely can tell a difference , I have seen it pulling spinners many times , one or two people using one spinner and catching fish and another one using ALMOST the same color and pattern with 0 .

I've seen it in the fall with jigs. My brother was hammering them on a light blue jig with a small yellow dot. Nothing else would do that well. He even threw a couple fish and then jigs to a guy who was guiding as they were both tied to the same piller. They couldn't land a fish until they used a blue jig.

 

[svnmag]

ESPECIALLY in Fall from the bank (also "ice-out"):

Don't be afraid to use black coated wire in the myriad of below options. A saltwater bbl swivel affixed to the main line preserves expensive braid spool depth:

Titanium leaders work harden and eventually snap on the back cast.

Palomar knot(s) are essential with braided line:

Trusting the original swivel. If not:

Lots of options to preserve spool depth for years:

Best crank/color/lip ever conceived. Good luck:

 

[CatDaddy]

ESPECIALLY in Fall from the bank (also "ice-out"):

Don't be afraid to use black coated wire in the myriad of below options. A saltwater bbl swivel affixed to the main line preserves expensive braid spool depth:

Titanium leaders work harden and eventually snap on the back cast.

Palomar knot(s) are essential with braided line:

Trusting the original swivel. If not:

Lots of options to preserve spool depth for years:

Best crank/color/lip ever conceived. Good luck:

Good advice. I like the Sharpie - simple addition to a trusted lure/pattern.

I've had the clasp on the leaders you showed pull apart on big fish. I prefer direct tie or something like the connector you offered on the "if not" suggestion.

 

[701FishSlayer]

Some days a certain color is the only answer.

 

[walleyewanker]

So what's everyone's go to in the tailrace to match the goby coming through the chutes?

 

[walleyewanker]

 

[Sum1]

So what's everyone's go to in the tailrace to match the goby coming through the chutes?

Is there gobsters coming through the chutes??