Stained: what light survives

Stained: the light that survives here peaks at 640 nm, Secchi depth about 1.3 m. Which lure colour stands out, computed rather than charted.

Light that survives best here: 640 nm

Secchi ≈ 1.3 m

What this water lets through

K_d is the diffuse attenuation of the light coming down; c is the beam attenuation along the line of sight. Confusing the two is the classic error in this field.

λ	K_d	c	1 m	5 m
400 nm	13.729	16.652	0.0%	0.00%
430 nm	8.623	11.967	0.0%	0.00%
460 nm	5.469	8.988	0.4%	0.00%
490 nm	3.456	7.019	3.2%	0.00%
520 nm	2.235	5.755	10.7%	0.00%
550 nm	1.517	4.946	21.9%	0.05%
580 nm	1.116	4.427	32.8%	0.38%
610 nm	1.081	4.226	33.9%	0.45%
640 nm	0.990	3.995	37.2%	0.71%
670 nm	1.056	3.905	34.8%	0.51%
700 nm	1.107	3.816	33.1%	0.39%

K_d is the diffuse attenuation of the light coming down; c is the beam attenuation along the line of sight. Confusing the two is the classic error in this field. Method and sources

Lure table

Ranked by how much each colour stands out to a Largemouth bass in these conditions.

	Colour	Contrast	Seen from
1	White	97	1.5 m	Buy now
2	Chartreuse / white Fluorescent finish	94	1.5 m	Buy now
3	Glow Glow finish — not modelled	93	1.5 m	Buy now
4	Bone	93	1.4 m	Buy now
5	Chartreuse Fluorescent finish	92	1.4 m	Buy now
6	Pink / white Fluorescent finish	90	1.5 m	Buy now
7	Silver holographic Metallic finish	90	1.4 m	Buy now
8	Yellow	90	1.4 m	Buy now
Stands out least
	Junebug	0	62 cm
	Black	0	61 cm
	Purple / black	0	61 cm
	Black / blue	0	60 cm

Contrast quoted at 66 cm viewing distance. · Light that survives best here: 640 nm

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Target species

Largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides Northern pike Esox lucius Muskellunge Esox masquinongy Walleye Sander vitreus Zander Sander lucioperca European perch Perca fluviatilis Yellow perch Perca flavescens Common carp Cyprinus carpio Roach Rutilus rutilus Tench Tinca tinca Barbel Barbus barbus Wels catfish Silurus glanis Channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus Snakehead Channa spp. European eel Anguilla anguilla Sturgeon Acipenser spp. Common snook Centropomus undecimalis

Open the calculator

Gear this page implies

A Secchi disc See on Amazon
Lower it until it disappears and read the depth. That single number tells you which water type above is yours — it is the one optical measurement anybody can take.

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