Northwest Fishing Magazine July 2025 Volume 4 Issue 10 - Flipbook - Page 18
exceptional scent detection
– measured in parts per
million. Visible, contrasting
color is visual for the fish at
only about 20 inches or so.
Scent is detectible over a
far greater distance than 20
inches.
DUDE: Since the scent has
a source, and if that source
coincides with the visible,
contrasting color, that is
why they work together.
KOKANEE: Exactly.
DUDE: Remind me again
about the 20 inches.
KOKANEE: It is often a
challenge to get humans
to accept that the human
eye is vastly different than
the kokanee eye. We simply
cannot focus. We see near
and far at the same time.
We kokanee have relatively
good contrast vision for
dark and light, but very
limited vision for color. We
have to be about 20 inches
from a target to discern its
colors other than light and
dark. And that color has
to be right in front of our
snoot. So, as we approach
a target, there reaches a
finite point where the vision
for light and dark suddenly
flashes to color – and we
could be talking about a
distance of a quarter inch.
Within that 20 inches
– color; outside that 20
Celebra琀椀ng Our 21st Year!
Updated website with new products
KOKANEE — TROUT
LANDLOCKED SALMON
Matching lures: NEW Kokanee Krill, Beaded Spinners, Super Squids, Spin Bugs
Only the finest fluorescent (“UV”) materials used. Tandem Gamakatsu hooks.
FISH WITH GARY TACKLE CO.
La Pine, Oregon
www.fishwithgary.com
541.536.1002
Home of Kokanee University
inches – shades of dark
and light. Just barely inside
those 20 inches is suddenly
an explosion of color that
a quarter inch before was
only light and dark. That
color flash, working with
scent, creates its own biting
response.
DUDE: You said visible,
contrasting color more than
once.
KOKANEE: Indeed, I did. On
purpose. If the color is not
visible, there is no color
flash, no matter how close
the fish gets to the target.
We know that ordinary
colors turn black at some
point down the water
column. However, as you
recall from our last session,
fluorescent colors do not
fade provided there is some
light to act on them
DUDE: Right. So even if
there is only green, blue,
indigo, and violet light left
at that particular depth, a
fluorescent orange with
still be bright orange, even
though there is no orange
light to act on it.
KOKANEE: Don’t get me
wrong. Black is a good
fishing color if it contrasts
with a fluorescent white or
natural glow. Remember
too that black will contrast
with the color of the water
except at deeper depths.
DUDE: And I do recall
from our last discussion
that the term “UV” is
