# Hull Color/affect



## dgt2012 (Apr 14, 2012)

Pondering hull color selection for my next skiff:

Does the color of the hull really impact the way fish react to your skiff? 

We have all done it, watch a fish we didn't see race off. Therefore the question; is there an advantage to selection of hull color? We can agree that being stealthy on the pole and the bow is essential but as it gets skinny, and the shadow is directly under the skiff, does a dark hull spook fish from a distance or just look like a manatee? Just how far from the boat will the fish make visual ID? Does light blue or white blend in with the sky giving a less distinctive profile? Where does guide green, sea mist, or fighting lady yellow fit into all this?

On the other hand there is the scenario where you pick up a fish heading for you so you can't move. You watch him slide by then when the timing is right cast ahead of him at the angle that will get the strike or pitch a chunk and play dead. Did it just come together without him seeing you when he was ten feet off your starboard? Was it my ice blue hull?


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## BobGee (Apr 10, 2019)

dgt2012 said:


> Pondering hull color selection for my next skiff:
> 
> Does the color of the hull really impact the way fish react to your skiff?
> 
> ...


Great questions. I read a fly fishing book quite a while back (can’t remember the name) that discussed what fish can most likely see from beneath the water’s surface. The biggest factor was refraction which depends on how deep the fish is. The fish’s vision looking up was bounded by a cone. Anything outside the cone was not visible above the surface of the water. The surface outside the cone was like a mirror. Apparently fish close to the surface can’t see much. You can try this yourself when you’re diving. Things like boats penetrate the mirror. 
Relative to color, his conclusion was that the least visible fly line is white.


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## Outearly (Oct 20, 2015)

Since it’s unlikely any fish will respond, I’ll throw my two cents in.

Just like in your last scenario, I’ve been posted up and had redfish- my target- swim within feet. If they hit your shadow, they’re gone.

When you’re moving, in the Texas marsh, mullet get nervous 20 or more feet away. Reds will notice you moving -IMO- not quite that far away.

I think it’s the pressure wave more than anything. Color? I don’t think it matters as much if at all.


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## windblows (May 21, 2014)

The shadow definitely seems to be what gets them. I've been in boats with hull colors from black to white and everything in between and had fish come right on by or spook from 40 yards. I don't think it's the color that matters. Fish are used to objects in the water...grass islands, trees floating, docks, moored boats, clumps of seaweed, etc. What they are not used to is those objects moving out of sync with the wind or current. It's why sight fishing or extreme shallow water fishing when it is dead calm can be frustrating...imo


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## FishWithChris (Feb 6, 2019)

My boat is red. The hull is almost literally fire-engine red. I have no issue catching fish, nor do I have an issue sneaking up on fish (I don't pole, typically TM slowly or drift into them). 

Factors impacting: 
- water displacement due to size of hull and motion, causing a change in water flow and pressure against the fish that seems unnatural (big predator near by pushing a big wake? time to GTFO)
- hull slap/noise. obvious.
- confidence. gotta have it


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## DBStoots (Jul 9, 2011)

^ what Chris said


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## Capnredfish (Feb 1, 2012)

I have black because it looks cool. I think fish see someone up on a platform with a tall pole just as easily as the boat. I do well staked off and have fish come right up to the boat. Always had black boats so I can’t say it’s the color.


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## jay.bush1434 (Dec 27, 2014)

I’m in the camp that says hull color only has an impact on the owner. Think about it this way, if a fish can detect a little 2” long baitfish or shrimp in the dark it certainly can feel your boat. Water doesn’t compress so pressure waves from your boat moving through the water are pushed out away from the boat. Even if you are staked our, the water hitting your hull is causing rebound and the fish can feel it. How much they tolerate it depends on the fish. I’ve had them spook at 40’ and I’ve had them swim alongside the boat while we poled.


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## tx8er (Jun 3, 2016)

Interesting read

https://flylifemagazine.com/wednesday-fish-facts-snells-window/


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## not2shabby (Sep 14, 2016)

I think the deck color is more important than the hull color.


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## sjrobin (Jul 13, 2015)

An easy on the human eyes deck color is good. Not white. Any color hull 0k unless you don't like keeping dark hulls clean. Hull slap and shadows from anything. Including the fly line, leader, or fly. Big trout are one of the most sensitive to pressure waves. Windy days are usually best for getting close to fish in shallow water. Except for snook and tarpon. They will at times hold for trolling motors etc in all but the shallowest of water.


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## TX_Brad (Jun 8, 2018)

Past thread on related topic...

https://www.microskiff.com/threads/hull-color.63558/


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## Surffshr (Dec 28, 2017)

The 20 degree number is interesting. A fish 20’ away will see something 7.2 feet high. 30’ away is 10.9’ which is getting close to me standing on my poling platform. 

The 48.6 degree number is something that I have not heard before. If we make that number 45 degrees for math’s sake, then the depth of the fishes eye is the radius of a circle the fish can see out of Snell’s Window. A fish that is 1’ deep as a 1’ radius circle looking up. 

Hopefully someone checks my math here.


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## not2shabby (Sep 14, 2016)

I don't know about your math, but I've painted a redfish's face with a fly and it sure acted like it didn't see it.


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## LtShinysides (Dec 27, 2018)

It has to matter. Every time my buddy wears his bright yellow shirt fishing we don't catch crap.


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## Lagoonnewb (Apr 16, 2017)

LtShinysides said:


> It has to matter. Every time my buddy wears his bright yellow shirt fishing we don't catch crap.


That’s because he dressed like a banana, time to find new friends!! Haha


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## Capnredfish (Feb 1, 2012)

not2shabby said:


> I think the deck color is more important than the hull color.


Plan on fishing from a capsized skiff?


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## BobGee (Apr 10, 2019)

The Fin said:


> Clear fly line would be my guess as to most invisable!


Clear fly line wasn’t available when the book written. White was least visible on the “mirror”. Of course a lot of people say white flashes in the sunlight when it’s being cast.


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## Cam (Apr 5, 2017)

I don't think color matters much. Fish are used to seeing all sorts of stuff float along. What I do think they respond to is pressure changes as a hull displaces water, hull slap, hull shadow, motor noise, etc.

This is anecdotal but we definitely noticed how much easier it is to get on top of fish with our skiff vs our bay boat fishing the same waters. We particularly see this with white bait. It is significantly more difficult to lure white bait close to the bay boat than the skiff.


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