Observations on Kayak Color

We had a group get together at a local lake last week with five different yaks. The water here is just warming up from winter and there are many bass and bluegill in very shallow. You could clearly see hundreds of fish in the clear water. I was in my Hobie which is a brownish color and had fish all around and under my yak. I had caught several nice bass when my friend paddled up in his Night Glow Sun yellow Pro Explorer.  All the fish, every single one, disappeared immediately. No kidding, not a fish. As soon as he paddled off, the fish all came out again around my yak. Subjective, I know. Then my other friend paddles up in a gray Pro Ex and the fish stayed and we continued to fish. A half hour later the Lemon Rider came back and all the fish bailed again. There was clearly an adverse effect on the fish in shallow water. I just had never thought about yak color actually repelling fish, but this was clearly the case. I was sitting there very smug in my choice of yak color when it dawned on me that I often fish in salt water within Sparky's home range. A yak the same color as an elephant seal may not always be the best choice either. Also, I'm sure yak color has no effect when fishing deep. I have no conclusions, just interesting observations.

Ed

BTW - The get together I mentioned was the kick off for our own Tri-State club:  Rocky Mountain Kayak Fishing. We cover Utah, Wyoming and Colorado. We had seven founding members and four more have joined since last week. Our sport is growing exponentially. Please wish us luck.

That is interesting Ed.....

Good luck to your Tri-State Club - I think it's great that you guys are pioneering the sport while at it's infant stage. With the traveling / kayak fishing you guys have done, your experiences will definitely be of value to those who have not had the opportunity to kayak fish Nothern and Southern California waters. I'm sure you'll be able to do a great job getting more people involved with the sport and be safe at the same time.

Best of Luck and keep us in the loop with your progress. Let us know when you guys get your web site going so we (NCKA) can help spread the word 

See you guys at Elk!

I have a yellow P15 and when I was fishing Clear Lake recently the bass would come up to greet me. I know hey were posturing, but the color of my kayak seemed not to matter at all.
Wonder if your friend cleaned his kayak with something that left a nasty lingering smell that repelled the fish? Heck, they are just fish. Anything is possible.

I wonder if the "night glow" description of the color meant there is a flourescent aspect to the color which may be repelling fish.

   My usual Bridgeport crew used to fish in tandems. The person in the back would navigate the stream while the guy in front would fish.  One tandem was dark olive green and the other was bright yellow. It wasnt uncommon for the crew of the green boat to catch more fish than the yellow boat.
   Pre-spawn posturing would probably occur with the largemouth if you were moving a bright pink battleship into the shallows, but year round I find that supersized bass will move next to and then move along beside my dark green T140.  "She" is in a bright orange T100 and does not experience the same affection. Of course "she" rarely stops talking and that may be a factor.
  On the otherside of the coin, some of the most successful fisherman of the NCKA fish in bright yellow boats and most of them recently took me to striper school AGAIN.

Very funny. I hope "SHE" doesn't come too hard on you for saying that.

The Night Glow was my sarcastic inflection. It was just yellow. I fish with this guy often, and he usually outfishes me in that yak (I sold it to him). I think this had to do with early spooky fish in very shallow water. Two feet or less. The yak clearly ran them off that day though. He didn't get a bass and we did. All I can venture is I think sometimes it does matter.

All i know is that when I'm out in my blue tarpon, you can't see me past 100 yards if i wasn't using a bright yellow paddle.  I think I would rather sacrifice a few fish then blend in so much that a PB could mow me down, or search and rescue not see me if i really needed them. Of course maybe i should just stay out of trouble

had that same problem with my yellow necky gannet,when i took my blue sit on top had better luck..this was at Los Padres dam

Funny you posted this.
 A few weeks ago I was fishing in Amador Lake when I saw a bobber go by me about 20 to 25' away. Courious I paddled towards the bobber. When I got within 15 to 20' range the bobber did the mini version of the bouy dive that the GW did in Jaws. I did this for about 20 min. with the same results everytime ( with more of an alto jaws theme).
I finally cast my crappie set up at it and brought a nice 4 lb. planter trout to my Red Hobie Revolution which fought like hell the closer it got to my yak.