Kings and Chrome

The 2005 salmon season on

Lake Ontario went down in history as one of the best ever. With copious amounts of salmonids stretched across the lake it was a boat anglers dream come true. While most captains set records for numbers of fish landed, many struggled through the early summer as they stuck to their guns and their color charts and matched the lures they ran to the conditions that they had. I have to admit that by early July, I was tired of hearing the same old report: Chrome Prism E-Chip flasher and a mirage G-Fly.

Who came up with the idea of running chrome in the sun? If you read the "books," it says to run chrome in early morning and low light conditions. Even my first mate John cringed at the idea of putting that thing in the water. "Listen," I said, "you have been in Kansas all spring. Just run it!" So run it we did. Dipseys, lead core, copper, Thumper, riggers. Chrome Prism E-Chip with a mirage fly, what a combination. Well knowing how all anglers love to doctor every lure they purchase, (God forbid they run it clean out of the package) we saw every color combination imaginable added to the Chrome Prism E-Chip flasher. Funny thing; they all worked, as long as it was chrome.

Over the past twenty years, we have seen the water clarity and conditions of Lake Ontario change dramatically. There was a time when five feet of visibility was considered clear. Today, under the right light conditions, you can see bottom in thirty feet of water! So why then does one particular color work better than others on any given year?

Scientists tell us that most fish do see in color. The retina of a fish's eye contains two types of cells, rods and cones. Cones are used for day vision and are the cells used to see colors. Rods are used for night vision and cannot distinguish colors. The eyes of most freshwater fish contain both rods and cones.

Fish such as trout and salmon are more sensitive to color than walleye. Studies have shown that trout and salmon have color vision similar to that of humans. They can distinguish color's spectral hues.

Light behaves differently in water and the various colors of light travel at different wavelengths. The longest wavelengths are the reds, followed by oranges, yellows, greens, blues, indigos, and violets. When light travels through water, some of its energy is absorbed, and the longest wavelengths are the ones absorbed first. Thus, the warmer colors fade out and gradually appear black as light penetrates the water column. Red light is almost completely absorbed within the first 15-20 feet. Orange penetrates to 30-40 feet, and yellow to 60-70 feet, while green and blue remain visible for as deep as the light penetrates.

The total amount of light also decreases with depth. At 50 feet, a white dodger will still appear white, but will not appear as bright as it did at 20 feet. While red may be visible down to 15 feet in the clear waters of Lake Ontario, it will disappear six inches under the surface in dirty water. At depths where it is nearly dark, a white or silver lure would show up better than a blue or green lure. Lures that reflect any light that strikes them, like the Chrome Prism Flasher, will be most visible under turbid water conditions. This may help explain why it was so hot last season. If you recall, there was a high algae content due to the extremely warm summer we had; water clarity was less than half of previous years. If we experience clear water conditions, everything may change. We wouldn't want it to be too easy, now would we?

So with the '06 lake season just a few months away, and new products arriving on the market already, what will be the hot rig this season? Only time will tell.