Science: Research On Bass Color Preferences

I’m always looking for the practical applications of science and research, and how I can better utilize the information from those studies to better my fishing. One particular area of interest concerns studies done that try to discern color perception or preference in bass or other fish. Based on most of the studies I’ve read so far, I don’t believe small highlight color additions or alterations make that much of a difference to the fish. But what about studies where color as an entire collective are looked at? Here it seems that the results are a bit more mixed, with most studies showing no overall favorites, but certainly some colors that are considered less favorable.

This newest study (Fluorescent Transgenic Zebra Danio More Vulnerable to Predators than Wild-Type Fish; Jeffrey E. Hilla, Anne R. Kapuscinskib & Tyler Pavlowichab) takes a look at the preference of largemouth bass when faced with the option of eating normal colored zebra danios, or selecting genetically modified zebra danios that were altered to produce a red-fluorescent color (GloFish). “In experiments including habitat complexity, transgenic red-fluorescent-protein zebra danios were approximately twice as vulnerable as the wild type to predation by largemouth bass“, stated the researchers in their abstract.

Whether color matters or not will probabaly always be a topic of bass angler disagreement for a long time. But for those that do believe in color, you might want to ask KVD to make a ‘GloFish’ shad line of baits.