I have read from several “Experts” that fly color doesen’t matter. If so I am wasting a bunch of time and money on stuff I’m tying flies with. Think about it! if color doesen’t matter would our flies all be a boring dull grey? Would the beautiful traditional flies exist? I know a lot of great tyers who go to a lot of pains to get that bug they are tying just the right shade and that has been the traditon since Dame Juliania wrote her Treatisie. For myself, I really enjoy creating flies that imitate the size, shape and COLOR of Insects. I think color does matter. At least It gives me confidence in the thing on the end of my leader if it looks like the real thing. I believe that confidence in the fly that you are using is one of the greatest tools we use to catch fish And mine are going to match the size, shape and color as best as I can make it. What do you think?
When the trout aren’t biting copper/brown, I try black. If they aren’t hitting black, I’ll try white. If those 3 fail (which is seldom), I’ll try flies with more than one color…like olive/black or orange/black for example.
Some days the fish show definite preference for one color over another. That tells me color DOES matter.
I can’t speak to precise color matching to a natural fly/nymph/pupa, however, simply because my fishing isn’t that sophisticated yet. 
I think that both color and size are quite important. I fish a small walk in lake that has a good population of brookies. I usually carry three different colors of flies. These flies are all the same size and the same pattern. Brown ranks number one ,black number two and grey a distant number three. This has happened on several trips to the lake.
Also size seems to be important. I think fish are prone to ignore flies that are too big or too small.
Tim
Tim
In my experience color matters more when fishing under the surface. However, fly colors change when wet depending on the materials. What you think is orange when dry, it could become a brown under a couple of feet of water (assuming good water clarity). On top, you can get along most of the time with light vs. dark colors. For example a light gray dun to fish a sulfur hatch.
M
I don’t know of anyone who says that color does not matter at all at least in the part of the fly that is in the water (wings are another matter). I do believe that it is near the bottom of the scale of importance. For me the most important factor is presentation including movement in the materials followed by size and then silhouette of the fly. When I am satisfied with all of those things I will try to match the the color as closely as I can. While I try to have fairly exact matches for the insects I expect to encounter I have caught many fish with general imitations chosen by that criteria. I also admit to fishing colorful attractors at times but who says I have to be consistent. I’m doing this for fun!
Color also became important when we arrange them in contrasting pattern. think about the zebra pattern. All black with silver stripes.
M
Who are the “experts” you have read?
Trout do have color vision.
It is one of the last features a trout makes out when approaching an insect or fly.
If you have good presentation, good size, and good shape, why not also have good color???
Why not?
Most real experts I know say it can be an issue, so why not take it into account???
What is the possible advantage of not using appropriate color?
Here’s my question: if there are rusty spinners on the water, do you think a green spinner would work as well as a rust colored one?
There are those rare times when you could toss a kitchen sink out and get a fish, then, color really doesn’t matter.
However, those are very rare times and the rest of the time color and to a lesser degree, size, do matter, very much.
Since we never know for sure just what will peak the interest of the fish at that particular time and day, that is why we have so many colors of the same style of fly.
Rainbowchaser brought out a very good point. Presentation is far more important than color. No matter what the color of fly, if you don’t present it properly then you will not catch near as many fish.
Larry —sagefisher—
I also listed presentation first.
However, one’s presentation is not the issue when deciding whether or not to match the color of the insect you are imitating. Your presentation abilities are extremely important, but they are what they are. Then, it comes down to picking the correct size, shape, and color of the fly to imitate the insect.
If you were to take two fishermen of the same presentation skills, then it comes to the fly as to which one might be the more successful.
IMO presentation, profile, and size trump color. A lot of days, I could probably do as well with a well presented Adams or Royal Coachman in the right size than with a more exact colored imitation. However, there are certain conditions, certain lies, and certain fish where that more exact imitation might be needed and who’s to know in advance when you might run into that situation. So I try to match the size, profile, and color of the bugs that are on the water – just in case.
Also, for me, learning about the different bugs – what they are, when they hatch, what size and color they are – and having flies to match them adds to the enjoyment. of the experience. That is, it’s more fun to catch a trout during a fall BWO hatch on a Baetis dry fly that I tied for that hatch than on an Adams.
Even the flyfisherman’so common names for the insects we try to imitate have “color” in the name…blue Winged Olive, Pale Morning Dun, Rusty Spinner, Gray Drake, March Brown, Mahogany Dun, etc., etc., etc.
Yes, they do. However, that may have more to do with the fact that we recognize the different insects by color rather than the fish recognizing them by color.
I’m trying to remember who (Charlie Fox, maybe? Bergman?) who would demonstrate holding an insect overhead in the day light, and it’s color was always black. Only when the sun was low on the horizon did color become visible. (This probably pertains more to dry flies than, say nymphs.)
There’s an article in the current issue of American Angler entitled “Confessions of a Color Heretic”. He puts forth the argument that color almost never matters, although he does allow that in off-color water, a color that’s easier for the fish to see is more likely to be taken. I don’t 100% agree with him; if for no other reason that there are other times when visibility comes into play, and there’s still the matter of light vs dark as opposed to hue. I’ve fished the white fly hatch a couple of times with two otherwise identical soft hackles, one white and one dark just to see what would happen, and as we would all like to believe, the dark one didn’t get much attention. OTOH, I’ve fished peacock herl bodied dries during a sulfur hatch before and done fairly well. I think that color may very well matter in some circumstances, but it’s a distant third to presentation and form.
Here’s my question for you: if Western Green Drakes were hatching, and the fish were keyed on them, and you have two exact size , shape and structured flies: A bright olive colored one; And a brown colored one.
Which fly do you think would be the more effective…fished with the same skill level of presentation?
Hmm, never having seen a Western Green Drake I’m taking a shot in the dark here, but I’d say that 50% of the time it would make no difference, and the rest of the time, lighting and/or water clarity might favor one or the other at different times. If they’re a daytime hatch, and hatch in bright sunlight, I’d be inclined to say it’s more like 90% of the time that it doesn’t matter. (Assuming dry flies.)
I just thought of another case where color probably does matter: the right mix of colors can give the appearance of motion, which does a difference. Grizzly on a Griffith’s Gnat works better than a solid color. Mixed grizzly and brown is, I believe what has made the Adams as successful as it is.
- Size
- Action
- Shape
- Color
In that order…but tell that to the Trout that jump all over these things, just to prove “they” don’t know:
[
](http://s305.photobucket.com/user/planettrout/media/BEST NYMP PATTERNS/silverstreak_zps38a9cbec.jpg.html)
Kingrey’s Silver Streak (BWO)
[
](http://s305.photobucket.com/user/planettrout/media/BEST NYMP PATTERNS/palinista-midge-1_zpsb9e74aed.jpg.html)
Palinista Midge
[
](http://s305.photobucket.com/user/planettrout/media/BEST NYMP PATTERNS/moos-blue-1_zps801d721b.jpg.html)
Moo’s Blue Midge
Go figure…
PT/TB
The latest (March/April 2014) issue of American Angler has an editorial on pg. 72 by Bruce Ingram titled. “Confessions of a Color Heretic” in which he states, “the color of our flies rarely has anything to do with whether … trout … strike our offering.”
I emailed him that color does matter. In his article, he gave examples of fish hitting the wrong color flies. I referred him to a post in which I written about selectivity and how it develops in trout; and why even during a hatch, some fish behave non selectively.
Selectivity develops by a process called operant conditioning. Bruce wrote me back that this was anthropormophic thinking, but he is incorrect.
This is behavior from the study of pigeons and rats by BF Skinner. Operant Conditioning applies to fish as well, and I referred him to the youtube video below that shows behavior modification in a goldfish by operant conditioning using food as a reward.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRcNqNvQZ9U
Food is the exact reward through which selective feeding is developed. When a trout takes an object that it thinks could be food and is rewarded with food it gradually becomes conditioned to seek that food reward by taking the same object. By repetition and continually being rewarded with food, selective feeding behavior develops.
Operant conditioning works by punishment as well. When a trout takes a fly pattern and is rewarded with a hook, it gradually becomes conditioned to avoid that patterns. This is how trout gradually will begin to avoid certain patterns and a “hot” pattern eventually cools off.
Bruce’s second error is that he does not realize that a fly fisher, by the choice of his fly, is performing a sampling experiment. He is sampling the fish in the river for the fish that is susceptible to his fly. So when fish are feeding non selectively and are not selective to color, he will catch fish.
Due to population variance, the degree of selectivity among the fish and even if most of the fish are selective to color, there will be some that are not and those are the ones he will catch.
This population variance is is exactly why the “hatch breaker” strategy works. It is why a Royal Wulff can take a fish when most of the fish are feeding selectively on tricos. This does not disprove selectivity at all. What is proves is population variance. Population variance is why a fly that does not match color can take fish even if most of the fish are selective to color.
Finally he ignores the basic logic of reducing possible variables for rejecting a fly. When a fly fisher chooses a fly color, he is making a wager/bet whether color matters or does not matter. A decision matrix as to whether color matters can be created as follows. The Left Column is the wager of the fly fisher and the Top Row represents reality. The 4 intersecting boxes are the results of the fly fisher’s actions meeting reality.
The decision matrix shows that matching color is as effective or more effective than not matching color in every possible situation. So the best strategy is to match color.
redietz I couldnt disagree with you more when it comes to color! I’ve held bugs up to the sky in bright sun to see what the trout sees and I can tell you I’ve never seen black. I tie many flies with different blends because of it. If your fishing over trout in catch and release areas size color and silouette will always be important. Presentation is what I do after I made the previous decision on what fly to tie on. I can tell you this an Adams and the Griffiths Gnat will not catch trout in the rivers I fish. Too bad to because the Griffiths Gnat was once a favorite.
A fly I tie by the hundreds every year for dolly varden uses UV dubbing… Tied without UV it has seriously under-performed the same fly with it side-by-side. When the fly is switched to one with UV dubbing it proceeds to catch fish on virtually every cast. The difference has been dramatic on too many occasions to think the UV does not make a difference.
That is more than proof enough to me that color matters and often matters a great deal.
Sea-run cutthroats favor red in the fly by a serious margin, in my experience. Again, it is something I have seen when fish were aggressive to some flies (with red) and not at all interested in non-red flies.
art
Amen, Gene.
OK. Here’s my order: Presentation, size, shape, color in that order.But who really knows. Our opinions are made with the experiences we have had. I’ve caught fish on bare hooks and they were not snagged either. I’ve caught fish on some of the most outlandish flies you could think of. I find that sometimes fish will hit most anything and some times you can’t catch one on anything. When I am catching fish like crazy, i’ll change flies to just to see just what they will take. Fly fishing is my passion because you never learn it all. Thanks to you all for your opinions and thanks to nature for it’s mysteries.
Oldster