Sorry to burst your bubbles. All salmon species, (except some Atlantic runs), stop eating once they enter fresh water. Any fish that bites your lure or bait does so by pure 100% aggression. That is why they feed so aggressively before they enter the rivers. Their digestive system shuts down when they hit brackish water. THEY DO NOT BITE YOUR BAIT OUT OF HABIT! THEY DO NOT SEEK OUT FOOD! THEY DO NOT GET HUNGRY! All you have to do is p!ss them off and they will try and kill your bait with there mouth. The same way you would if you had no hands. This is not theory, this is scientific fact. Most fish caught on bait have been lined some what even if its hooked on the inside of the mouth, the line is usually what makes the fish mad. It’s just another myth accepted and accelerated by the masses. Like using pink for humpies because they can see the color. Pink disappears and turns white between 5 and 10 feet under the surface of the water. I was once again told this weekend that humpies couldn’t resist pink. The fish can’t see it, nothing can. A pink, red, orange, or any shade of red lure under the water looks the exact same color of white to every type of animal below the surface. If you have a problem accepting this after buying a tackle box full of pink lures, just drop one in 10 foot of water, swimming pool, lake, river, or salt and see what color it is. Its kind of a blind cult following. Just ask the lure manufactures about the sales of pink lures over the past 20 years. If anyone would like me to elaborate on how some runs of salmon on the East Coast can travel up river spawn and return to sea over and over like steelhead just ask.

Tre,

Yes, it is common knowledge that a salmon's internal processes convert to reproduction, once they enter fresh water. I disagree however, that all feeding stops. For whatever reasons, salmon WILL ingest eggs, shrimp, even herring, far upstream from the salt. One theory is that since salmon don't have hands, they use their mouths to investigate things that peak their curiosity. Another theory holds that the feeding response is habitual, and stems from their freshwater feeding as juveniles.

Agression is certainly one of the main factors why salmon will strike a lure in fresh water. As far as what fish see at certain water depths, colors DO NOT turn white as you get deeper. On the contrary, they turn black, due to less reflection and absorbtion of the specific light wavelengths.

You are correct, that once a certain color, or technique becomes popular, everyone seems to jump on the bandwagon. This fact is definitely capitalized upon by the tackle manufacturers. For me personally, most of the challenge in fishing comes from being willing to try new things, and experiment with new ideas and techniques. After all, someone, somewhere down the line decided that white dodgers, and pink mini-squid might just catch humpies in Puget sound. And what do you know, IT WORKED!

Well, that explains why a wrapped Kwikfish will outfish an unwrapped one by 3 to 1 some days. Lining fish with eggs under a float?

[ 08-29-2001: Message edited by: Dan S. ]

How many people here have caught hundreds of salmon by either backbouncing, or jet diving eggs??? It's pretty hard to 'line' a fish when your bait is straight behind the boat, in line with the river current. Next......

Yeah, I have a hard time believing most fish are lined. What explains fishing fruitlessly for hours with shrimp, then switching to eggs and hammering them?

Salmon and steelhead definitely have preferences on what bait they bite, even though they aren't actively feeding. And yes, color plays a large part in what fish hit at times.

That's been my experience at least...

Gotta disagree with Tre - Colors turn black with depth (red going fastest). Interestingly, black is the most visible color when viewed from below in the water(a fish's perspective).

As far as salmon biting in fresh water, I used to hike the Kalama in the fall and fish for smaller chinook that could pass through the weir. Technique was to position on the bank above deep slots and flyline small clumps of eggs with a couple of split shot. In undisturbed holes, the first few casts would always be met with aggressive hits. These fish were seeking out and eating these small clumps of eggs, not being lined or striking a kwickfish that was marching downstream at them out of defense.

Fish biologist showed me a long white cord and was told it was once the fishes stomach.
They don't have a stomach because it had become residualized. What ever thats worth.
Duck In The Fog

While it is true that salmon eventually stop "actively" feeding once in the river, the reason is not because of hitting brackish water. They stop feeding when they begin to utilize thier internal organs as energy reserves to fullfill their destiny. This is more a function of water conditions and the condition of the fish. The darker the fish the less interested in feeding it becomes. I have caught hundreds of spring salmon (cromers) on the Trinity River, a hundred miles upstream, that were still actively and voraciously feeding without a doubt. Stomachs just stuffed full of discarded roe when you clean them.

If the fishes stomach was a long white chord, I'm sure this process didn't happen over night. You could also have seen a fish's stomach that has finally reached an upriver hatchery, which is what I'm betting if a biologist showed it to you. What happened to "eggman's" huffin' and puffin' over on ifish?

Being knowledged in diving (muff, cliff, scuba) somewhat, the colors turn to black, not white because of exactly what was mentioned above: the lure's light reflective properties. I have practiced lure presentation in swimming pools over 10' deep and they were not white, but appearing darker.

Saltwater is a perfect example. You can see a 500 pound bull shark 20 feet deep and he could be colored hot pink and you wouldn't know it. He would appear solid black.

Gonna quote backlash2 "Next............."

Mis-information or propaganda should be a crime.

The 3 I hooked today all had the eggs down in their throats.

Fishhead5

The 2 silvers wwe got yesterday had the bait (eggs) clear down in there throat. Theses fish were in freshwater a long ways from salt.

When fishing for salmon in freshwater, i am not looking for them to eat my gear, be it Dick nites on the sno or eggs on the skagit, etc. I just need them to bite it. Tough to line fish when you are getting hits directly downriver.

If red disappears first in the water column,
why do blinking red light lures work so well. How do all of us human beings know what fish see? Has anybody ever talked to a fish and asked em ? Cones in a humans eye differ from a fishes eye. Heres mud in your eye. Remember its all pink on the inside!

So what you are saying is that we are all a bunch of lining,cult followers and the color pink doesn't really work to catch fish?

I deleted this topic once today already and like a bad nickle it turns up again.I do not think that the sportfishers of this board need to be called liners.

Please troll somewhere else.

ReiterRat