How a Red drum sees your lure
Which lure colour a Red drum can actually see, at your depth and in your water. 2 cone types, peak 545 nm. Ranked contrast for 54 colours.
Sciaenops ocellatus
Measured for this species
Cone peaks are direct measurements for this species. The rest of the model — water optics, contrast, detection distance — is still an estimate, and none of it predicts whether a fish will strike. Sciaenids are tuned to the green-yellow light of turbid estuaries, which is exactly the water they are fished in.
Spectral sensitivity
| Cone peaks | λmax | Chromophore |
|---|---|---|
| Short | 450 nm | A1 |
| Medium | 545 nm | A1 |
| Rod | 498 nm | A1 |
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 Red drum in these conditions. — Coastal 3C, 4 m.
| Colour | Contrast | Seen from | Fish view | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | White | 97 | 3.1 m | Buy now | |
| 2 | Glow Glow finish — not modelled | 94 | 3.0 m | Buy now | |
| 3 | Silver holographic Metallic finish | 92 | 3.0 m | Buy now | |
| 4 | Chartreuse / white Fluorescent finish | 91 | 3.1 m | Buy now | |
| 5 | Sexy shad | 91 | 3.0 m | Buy now | |
| 6 | Bone | 90 | 2.9 m | Buy now | |
| 7 | Chrome Metallic finish | 87 | 2.8 m | Buy now | |
| 8 | Blue / white | 83 | 3.1 m | Buy now | |
| 9 | Chartreuse Fluorescent finish | 83 | 2.7 m | Buy now | |
| 10 | Pink / white Fluorescent finish | 82 | 3.1 m | Buy now | |
| Stands out least | |||||
| Watermelon red flake | 27 | 1.6 m | |||
| Watermelon | 21 | 1.1 m | |||
| Green pumpkin | 21 | 1.1 m | |||
| Olive | 19 | 1.1 m | |||
Contrast quoted at 1.0 m viewing distance. · Light that survives best here: 530 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
Typical coastal green. Where most shore and boat fishing actually happens.
Water types
Target species
Questions people actually ask
Can a Red drum see colour?
Yes, but only just. It has 2 cone types, peaking at 450 nm, 545 nm, so it has a single dimension of hue where a human has 2.
Where does this data come from?
Direct microspectrophotometry, ERG or behavioural spectral sensitivity for this species.
Sources
- Horodysky, A.Z., Brill, R.W., Warrant, E.J., Musick, J.A. & Latour, R.J. (2008). J. Exp. Biol. 211, 3601–3612.
- Horodysky, A.Z. et al. (2010). J. Exp. Biol. 213, 1751–1761 — sciaenid visual ecology series.