Streamers and Flies, Exact Color, Is it Critical?

[James Smith]

Gandolf, In my opinion, the exact intensity of the colors matter more to the fisherman than the fish, especially in warm water where it is often stained in color. I believe that color contrast matters more in that it calls attention to the fly which is the first step in catching any fish. Jim Smith

[Byron haugh]

John,
I believe you are correct. All the studies on trout vision, that I have read, indicate that color becomes more important as the trout comes closer to the subject. So, I believe it is more important in sub-surface flies than in dries. This is dependent, to some extent on the design of the "dry" fly. If the fly is an emerger or half emerged fly, I think color becomes more important.

[johnstoeckel]

I think another factor is whether the fish are feeding selectively or feeding opportunistically. With selective feeding fish -- eg, fish feeding on specific emerging insect -- color is probably of some importance. However, I suspect that with streamer fishing you are probably catching more aggressive, opportunistic feeding fish and precise color matching is of less importance.

[Buddy Sanders]

I think you can use any color you want in your warm water streamers and still catch fish if you present it properly. Bluegills, crappie, and especially bass are not color selective in most instances (I fished a whole tournament season with EVERY lure a pastel pink-saw no drop off in catch rates, actually the reverse). Your 'pastels' may become the new hot color if you just keep them wet.