By Capt. Jim Hirt
The year of red has arrived. Wherever you fish and whatever you fish for fishing lures on red fishing line will increase your catch. That's a fact let me tell you why. The reason it is so effective is simple, visibility. Read this article for all species all presentation tips that will work for you.
Some of you will think red line what happened to clear mono line. There are applications where clear will work well but red will work better. Visibility needs to be broken down into sections. First a discussion of how light penetrates water and the impact of light on successful fishing. I must go into a little science to illustrate why red is sweeping the fishing line industry. The color of your lure has long been a concern by anglers. Correct lure color is very important to your success. A bait with a color that produces well on top water may not be effective in a deeper presentation. Now line color will add to the success of any presentation. This is a good time to talk about color as it relates to the amount of light. You may or may not remember learning the colors of the rainbow in school. The colors are remembered by this acronym "ROY G BIV". These letters mean red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Most of the time I run lure colors of red, orange, or yellow when a lure is presented in the portion of the water column with the most light. The other end of the rainbow blue, indigo and violet are used in darker or low light situations. The reason for this is the spectrum of light changes as it penetrates the water. As demonstrated by this discussion, the first color that disappears as light penetrates water is red. This is why red fishing line is so effective. Red disappears at 15 to 30 feet of water. We all know that a line that is invisible to fish will not spook your target and lures look more natural. For this reason red will put you on more action in deeper presentations.
What if most of your fishing is done in less than 30 feet of water? Red line should also be your first choice. This secret is now being used by pro bass fishermen to catch more fish in shallow water. The key here is your ability to see subtle movement in the line to detect the bite. Clear line is very hard to see and you will miss the nibblers. A bass will inhale the bait and spit it out before you can detect the line movement.
Rigging is important to red line in shallow or deep water. Running red line directly to your favorite lure may not be the way to go. Tournament anglers are using a 4-foot Seaguar Fluoro Premier fluorocarbon clear leader on the end of the red line. This approach should be applied anytime red line is used. Ice fisherman use 4-pound test red line with fluorocarbon leader to detect the bite of small pan fish. Salmon anglers trolling with multiple lines will find red line is easier to see and more manageable with less tangles. The answer is red above and below the water. Follow this tip for more action and less downtime. Live bait, plastics, cranks and spoons all become more effective on red line. Power Pro, a leader in the fishing line industry, has an ultra-strong braided Spectra Fiber Phantom Red line that is the first choice of cutting edge anglers everywhere.
Please allow me to tell you of a relatively new and much improved addition to spoon colors. I have found that glow in dark colors catch more fish. After charging up the glow paint on the spoons with a bright light, they will take fish in the dark or stained water. You will find several manufactures with this product. I have found the glow on the spoons at
http://www.badgertackle.com will last longer than most of the spoons being sold. Good Luck let's go fishing! Jim charters out of Milwaukee, WI. with Blue Max Charters. He can be reached at 414-828-1094 or visit his web site at
http://www.bluemaxcharters.com Copyright 2007, James J. Hirt, All Rights Reserved.
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