Do fish see line?

[Nova]

If you don't think so I got a news flash for ya Last weekend fishing on ML(very clear lake) Rapala had his cam down. He had recently tied up a new jig and we could see he left a pretty long tag end on the line...maybe 3/4" Well it wasn't long and the fish that were just sitting around nosing the jig and waxie decided to start going after this tag end. He was using 4lb fireline crystal which I thought was maybe why they could see it. Not so much, he stepped out of the house for a break and I slid his cam over on my jig. I had maybe a 1/2" tag end on my line and they were after that too. I was running 3lb. mono.... They can see you line just fine, don't kid yourself! FYI

[MikeDebner]

I agree the fish see the line. That is why they make green,blue, clear, yellow, red. Different colors for different backgrounds. If I fish darker dingy water I always have a black sharpie in the boat to color the first couple feet of line. If I am fishing green healthy weeds I use the green sharpie to color the braided line.
It is amazing how smart fish are if you watch them in there own environment. Nice post Tim. Something most people over look.

Ice fishing I just try to use a small diameter mono but like you said. They can still see.

[alagnak]

Personally, this is just one more reason I like fishing king salmon, big pike/musky, big cats that don't give a rat's *** if there is 4'' of 80# braid hanging off the end!

Great observation though Nova.

[ole1855]

The fish can see the line but......Does it matter???? By jigging were the fish scared completely away from your jig???

[Nova]

The fish can see the line but......Does it matter???? By jigging were the fish scared completely away from your jig???

No Ole, they were not. this was merely a informative post to those that buy a certain line that they claim fish can't see. I have never really noticed this before and to be honest I have bought line on the pretense that fish wouldn't be able to see it. Not any more. And you are right. I don't think it matters...in this case anyway. Maybe in a tough bite for walleye it would though.

[Michael Thompson]

Fish can see the line, but it is unlikely they care about it. the main reason to use light line is that it helps the lure or bait move more naturally. for ice fishing, going lighter helps straighten out the line, giving you direct contact with your lure.

[BASSRANGER]

Great post Tim! You are 100% about fish being able to see line. There have been a few times that I have been out with other icefishing and they were getting minimal bites, they were using 4lb test and I was using 2lbs test and getting a lot more bites. Plus, I always keep my tag end to minimum (1/8" max), especially ice fishing when it might interfere with the bait.

[AllenW]

The fish can see the line but......Does it matter???? By jigging were the fish scared completely away from your jig???

That would be the question for me, just guessing I'd think probably not a lot, but on them days the fish are really picky...maybe??

I use sight as a pretty big part of my fishing, especially with jigs and live bait rigs, for me having dark green line in dark green water posses a problem, I can't see it.
So not sure if I'd be any better off.

But 90% of my fishing is done with clear blue stren and that shows well enough out of the water and seems ?? to disappear under it, I just bought some yellow line and have been using it on the river, no problem seeing it, but it does seem to be visible under water, haven't enough time on it to tell if its effecting my fishing or not.

Like Pete said, for musky's and such it doesn't seem to matter, I use a braided line from Cortland and it definitely shows under some water, although not like the yellow stuff..

Does make ya think though, thanks.

Al

[Uncle Smash]

Good stuff Tim.

On topic but not quite the same situation, I gave this some thought last year on some highly pressured musky lakes as we would have follow after follow with no commitment/hook up from the fish.... I really started examining everything from my presentation, getting that figure 8 out further from the boat/longer rod, lure selection and included the thought of trying mono leaders.

Needless to say I bought some mono leaders and with the switch, we were able to convert what were follows in the past, to hook up's and landed fish on these bodies of water/ areas.

I'm sure they can still see the mono on slower, sluggish presentations, etc but it seemed to help on the pressured waters. Additionally it was quite amazing how that mono leader seems to disappear and create separation between the line, that I can clearly see, and the bait.

There are many other factors that can come into play in regard to why these fish hit on the day they did but we were trying the same baits, same areas,etc and the results did seem to change as result of the change in leaders. I still need to monitor this going into 2010 but have switched to mono leaders while throwing for pressured musky.

For the aggressive fish and reactionary strikes it will not matter but anything that may increase my odds, even a little bit, on these toothy girls I’ll take the extra step and give it a try as lord knows it can be a lot of work some day’s

[AllenW]

Since Nova posted this, it got me to do a bit more wandering the web and seems many think there is something to this, Pete Hash reccomends when using a bright line to use a neutral or invisible line as a leader, makes sense.

Wouldn't take all that long to rig, and would eliminate the chance the fish see the line and fail to bite.

Thanks for posting Nova, I just started using a bright yellow line for jigging and I think I'll add a leader with clear Stren mono just in case.

Al

[a10lbeye]

Great Post Nova! I've always had my opinions on line visibility but when you actually got to see it on camera..now I know

[SlipperyBob]

I always suspected that even with flourescent reflective type of lines, the fish will see those lines even better.