The Invisible Light That Makes All The Difference

So if you haven’t guessed it yet, Glowing lures are kinda our thing and yeah they look cool and get your attention, which is great, BUT..

There’s actual science that backs up why they work so well, which is why we’ve incorporated them into so many of our colors, this one’s a little long and technical in the beginning but worth the read! 

First off I must clarify that there is no such thing as colored light, only light traveling in different wave lengths, measured in nanometers, that are picked up by special cones(color receptors) in eyes and then interpreted by the brain as color. Here's a quick example/break down of wavelengths our human eyes pick up and the colors our brains interpret them as: 

556nm = Red

535nm = Green

440nm = Blue

Here's a chart showing the different wavelengths and corresponding colors as we perceive them:

Now I believe it is also important to note that what makes something appear a certain color are the wavelengths that that object reflects off itself, for instance something that appears black simply absorbs most light waves that hit it and reflects a finite percentage of them making it appear black, whereas something that appears red, absorbs all the wavelengths except ones in the 550-700nm range, which bounce off of it and then into our eyes and that's what makes us interpret that object as the color red(all eyes work this way).

The entire visible light spectrum ranges from 700nm(super bright red) to 400nm(blue-violet), this encompasses all shades, mixes & hues of the colors listed above. Beyond 700nm is the infrared spectrum and below 400nm brings us to the subject of this post, Ultra Violet(UV) light, both of which are undetectable by our human eyes.

The Ultra Violet Spectrum(less than 400nm) peaks at 355nm and can only be detected by eyes that have adapted a special color receptor that is able to pick up light rays in this range of wavelengths.

Phew, now that we got all that scientifical stuff out of the way and to keep this from being such a dry, statistic laden read, from here on I'll simply refer to the colors, just keep in mind that all the colors represent are a specific range of wavelengths that our brains interpret as those colors. 

Now let's get to why UV light matters so much in fishing..

Light behaves differently in water than inthe air, to put it simply, when rays of light from the sun hit water, certain colors get filtered out by the water way faster than others, basically reds get filtered out first, then greens, then blues and lastly purples(violet). (more on this soon) 

We humans, as large mammals, only have 3 color receptors in our eyes, able to detect red, green & blue, which make up lots of colors, but not all. (Many large carnivores like dogs & big cats only have 2 receptors, unable to see the color red, which is what fuels the “dogs are colorblind” myth, but I digress)  

To the contrary, in order to adapt to the lack of light under water, many marine creatures possess a 4th color receptor, which enables them to detect light in the Ultra Violet spectrum(<400nm), a range of light that we are incapable of detecting (until we get sunburnt.. #gingerprobs)

This UV light also just so happens to be the LAST color that’s filtered out as the sun's rays flow through the water, which means it travels further underwater than all other light, which gives predators that can detect this UV light a yuuuge advantage because they can detect their prey from a further distance due to the reach of the UV light rays reflecting off their prey. (Funny how evolution works, huh?)

So what does all this mean for you as an angler?

Well, as the sun’s rays reflect off of your lure, the light bouncing off of it will only travel so far before it’s filtered out, depending on what color(s) your lure reflects(remember this is how color is interpreted) 

Our glows obviously glow in the dark which helps at night, but more importantly, during the day, they reflect the UV Light from the sun. Which means the fish can see your lure from further away!

That's the secret sauce behind all of our glowing colors, the further away your lure can be detected by the fish you're after, the better your chances are that that fish will notice your lure and ultimately eat it.

And while bright, flashy UV reflective colors might not sound like the most natural presentation, it is a lot more natural (in the marine world) than it sounds, take these images of a Damsel fish for example. (Got these off David Attenburough's "Life In Color" Documentary on Netflix, it's great)

See how it appears bright yellow to our eyes, and then semi-miraculously completely changes to a bright pattern of violet spots when viewed through a Ultra Violet camera designed to pick up Ultra Violet Light.

Fish are able to see this, even though we are not and this is what our glows imitate!

Pretty neat huh? 

So basically, say you have just a standard red lure and a blue lure, both placed equal distance from a fish and that fish is moving towards those lures, approaching both at an equal rate, as it moves closer it is going to detect the blue color first because the blue wavelengths travel further in the water than the red ones, the red lure will simply appear black or greyish until the fish is close enough to pick up on the red. (which might be what they like, who knows, I know all the red & white rhymes, I’m not saying red doesn’t work, just bear with me) 

Now suppose you switch that red lure to a red one that’s exactly the same, except now it also glows red, now, that fish is going to detect the red color first because the UV light rays reflecting off that glow travel further through the water than the blue light rays reflecting off the blue lure that doesn’t glow, catch my drift?

If you can increase the distance at which a fish can detect your bait, then theoretically you increase your chances of getting that fish’s attention, which increases your chances of that fish striking your lure!

This is the overall thought process behind our baits, pack in every advantage possible in order to increase your odds of success on the water as much as we possibly can.

Make sense? If it does you should really give them a try and see how much of a difference they make for you firsthand, 

A great place to start would be our Glowing Colors Box Combo, it’s got 12 packs of our top glowing colors in a sweet waterproof tackle box, you can check it out here,

Till next time,

-M.