How a Lake trout sees your lure
Which lure colour a Lake trout can actually see, at your depth and in your water. 3 cone types, peak 605 nm. Ranked contrast for 54 colours.
Salvelinus namaycush
Measured in a close relative
No spectral measurement exists for this species. The cone peaks are taken from other Salvelinus species, its close relative with the same feeding ecology. Treat the hue rankings as indicative rather than exact. Its retina uses the A2 (porphyropsin) chromophore, which pushes its long-wavelength sensitivity well to the red of what an A1 retina would give. Many freshwater fish shift the A1/A2 ratio with season and temperature, so real sensitivity drifts through the year. It is treated as a low-light specialist because it feeds deep, which is an ecological inference rather than a measured light-sensitivity value.
Spectral sensitivity
| Cone peaks | λmax | Chromophore |
|---|---|---|
| Short | 440 nm | A2 |
| Medium | 535 nm | A2 |
| Long | 605 nm | A2 |
| Rod | 525 nm | A2 |
Rods do the work at dawn, dusk and night — which is when most people fish.
Lure table
Ranked by how much each colour stands out to a Lake trout in these conditions. — Gin-clear, 23 m.
| Colour | Contrast | Seen from | Fish view | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | White | 98 | 7.9 m | Buy now | |
| 2 | Glow Glow finish — not modelled | 98 | 7.9 m | Buy now | |
| 3 | Chartreuse / white Fluorescent finish | 97 | 7.9 m | Buy now | |
| 4 | Chartreuse Fluorescent finish | 97 | 7.9 m | Buy now | |
| 5 | Bone | 95 | 7.8 m | Buy now | |
| 6 | Silver holographic Metallic finish | 94 | 7.7 m | Buy now | |
| 7 | Sexy shad | 93 | 7.9 m | Buy now | |
| 8 | Chrome Metallic finish | 91 | 7.5 m | Buy now | |
| 9 | Clown | 89 | 7.9 m | Buy now | |
| 10 | Yellow | 89 | 7.4 m | Buy now | |
| Stands out least | |||||
| Junebug | 27 | 2.8 m | |||
| Purple | 23 | 2.5 m | |||
| Black | 23 | 2.3 m | |||
| Purple / black | 20 | 2.3 m | |||
Contrast quoted at 1.0 m viewing distance. · Light that survives best here: 570 nm
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Get these colours
The three that came out on top, searched on your own Amazon. The ranking above is worked out from the water and the fish, before any of these links exist.
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Gear this page implies
- A lure kit with a spread of colours See on Amazon
The point of knowing which colour wins is having it in the box.
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What this water lets through
Alpine lake or spring-fed quarry. You can see the bottom in 8 m.
Water types
Target species
Questions people actually ask
Can a Lake trout see colour?
Yes. It has 3 cone types, peaking at 440 nm, 535 nm, 605 nm. That gives it 2 colour dimensions, against a human’s 2.
Where does this data come from?
No measurement exists for this species. The cone peaks come from a congener with the same feeding ecology.
Sources
- Salmonid pattern from Salvelinus fontinalis and Salmo trutta measurements.
- Bridges, C.D.B. (1972). Handbook of Sensory Physiology VII/1, 417–480 — A2 dominance in deep-lake salmonids.