How does sunlight level affects lure selection? There are thousands of different kinds of lures out there and they all come in a number of different colours. But why are there so many different colour variations? Why not have one colour for every different lure type? One of the most important reasons there are multiple colours of the same lure is the difference in sunlight hitting the water. If you understand which colours will work best in the sunlight available choosing the correct lure colour can become a lot easier.
Sunlight has a similar effect on the water as water clarity. If you have ever been diving, you’ll know that when the sun comes out, your visibility underwater gets a lot better. It’s exactly the same for fish, bait is easy to see on a sunny day and harder to see on a darker day. In terms of lure colour, the same rules we mentioned in water clarity apply here too. Dark or luminous colours on dark days and natural colours on bright days. Although, it’s probably better to weigh them up together. If you’re fishing clear water on a dark day, then use something that is still natural but is either a little dark or has some flash to it. If the water is dark and the sky is darker, then go for the darkest or brightest colour you have.
Something else that affects how sunlight penetrates water is the surface conditions. If you are a diver you’ll know that visibility is much worse when the water is rough than when it is calm. If it’s windy on a lake, making a big ripple and lot of surface movement, the water reflects and refracts a lot of the light that hits it and stops it from penetrating. This means that if you are fishing in clear water on a sunny day but it’s very windy, you’re going to want to think about using a darker or luminous lure.