How To Spot Fish

[mikebraun]

Spotting fish can up your odds and it's fun to watch the bite.

First thing you need is a pair of polarized glasses. In our area it's usually cloudy and low light, so yellow or light copper lenses seem to work best. Next you need to see what fish look like in the creek, not in the hatchery pond (it is a place to start though). Seldom do you see a "fish" in the water, most of the time you will see a shade of color. It can be blue, gray, tan, brown or anything in between. Basically they look a lot like rocks so you have to tell the difference.

Any hatchery area will have small water and fish holding. Go to one of these places and stare into the water till you can see past the surface, it will take a few minutes for your eyes to adjust. Stare into the water that's deep or riffelly until you start to spot fish. Look at what color they are and remember it. Now just scan over a drift and see if you can spot that color. Once you've found the color walk up to it and see if it swims away.

Keep practicing because it takes years to get good. Some people think that I still call rocks a fish :rolleyes: (it was only once maybe twice).

[David Johnson]

And sometime you don't even see the fish but the shadow that is under the fish.

[Spade]

Damn, it's color based.....what do the colorblind people do? :D That's where movement becomes the key factor and I'll bet you have to practice getting used to how the water changes shapes of a swaying fish vs a rock. :)

[ryank]

Mike, very cool subject, thanks for posting!

[RollinontheRvr]

Definitely a difficult thing to spot, I like watching the river ahead of mu drift boat and watching the "V" coming at me as the fish swim up river. I suck at spotting fish otherwise.

Thanks for the tips Mike, I will try to put them to good use.

[spactrukn]

Mike I think this is a great topic. I'm always out there with my bare eyes staring at the glare on the surface. I'm sure that on smaller water it's every bit as important as being able to read the water. Thank you for bringing this up.

[Chinook SSSF]

Osmosis is color blind and he can see very well! He can see shades of darker or lighter but he thinks the shapes stand out better. Might ask him what to look for...

[youngbuck307]

Yea he can see them verry well LOL First steelhead i ever got to the bank he handed off to me. but that day we were fishing this tiny lil creek and we all walk up and he is all o look theres a fish... and theres one. theres anouther wow man theres a lot of fish in there.. I didnt really see what the hell he was talking about. By the end of the day I was picking them out.

[Spade]

Osmosis is color blind and he can see very well! He can see shades of darker or lighter but he thinks the shapes stand out better. Might ask him what to look for...


Yea he can see them verry well LOL First steelhead i ever got to the bank he handed off to me. but that day we were fishing this tiny lil creek and we all walk up and he is all o look theres a fish... and theres one. theres anouther wow man theres a lot of fish in there.. I didnt really see what the hell he was talking about. By the end of the day I was picking them out.

Yes for sure the shapes are easier for us colorblind guys to see. I actually pay attention to shape before I pay attention to color. I need to pick up a perscription set of polorized copper lenses, clip on's just don't cut it.

[Troutier bassier]

I know people that dont even use lenses. They see them in the riffles with the NAKED EYE!

[me and the river]

It's always nice when you can see the fish and make a cast at them and wait for that bite or see them take it.

[Osmosis]

I can see the shades of color pretty good too and use that as a factor, specifically in some holes or riffles where the water doesnt have enough windows to see the shape. usually I use shapes and movement as my "go to" and follow up by color. Chrome fish generally look blue or grey to me.
For some reason us colorblind guys dont seem to need polarized glasses as badly as those that arent. Matt's seen it, I do just fine when I leave mine at home. It also helps that I have 20/10 vision (that means if you have 20/20 vision, the clarity you have looking at an object from 10 feet away is what I am able to see at 20 ft.). When us colorblind guys put on good polarized glasses we can count the rocks and the poor fish stick out like sore thumbs.

It's always a HUGE thrill for me to watch the fish grab a spinner or bait. Same reason I don't think I'll ever stop fishing dry flies for trout, it's so dang cool to watch them sip it off the surface or explode up and grab it! Nothing quite like seeing the bite happen for me, I dunno why. It's great to see how fish react to different colors and presentations as well as gear size when you can see them, its a wonderful step in learning fish behavior to apply in the larger rivers as well.

[Chinook SSSF]

Thanks for the input Alan

[steelhead_stalkers]

Great thread. There are some nice spots on the McKenzie where you can spot steelhead in the summer. Its crazy how many you can find and others around are fishing and have no idea that there are fish right in front of them. Its fun to see how the steelhead react to different colors and bait/lures/jigs but it can drive you crazy too. Sometimes it takes a few hours of changing up to get one to bite!

[worm slayer]

If any of you have stared at the crazy pictures and you begin to see something else in them, it's a lot like that when you stare into the water.

http://media.fukung.net/images/5655/animated-magic-eye-1.gif

This is a fish swimming

[youngbuck307]

yea you will really watch the coho RUN from almost anything with color at ec once they get past all the *******s

[steelhead_stalkers]

They did not run from a little purple micro jig this year. :)

[Osmosis]

Thats true they didn't, but you were below the main gauntlet of madness!

[steelhead_stalkers]

Oh, I see. That's crazy, I thought there were a lot of guys where we were.

[youngbuck307]

o man it gets really really bad up there almost makes you wanna stay home or just go sandy because of the number of people for such a small area

[Troutier bassier]

A shark! lol