Kayak Color and sharks...

[wiredantz]

Originally Posted by dos ballenas

In Southern California we only have to worry about Great whites for the most part. Unfortunately socal is home to a large number of immature and juvenile GWS. Fortunately, when they are small these sharks are mostly fish eaters.

That being said, if the young ones are born and grow up here then the mammal eating mothers must also be here. This may cause some concern, but if you run the numbers, the probability of getting attacked by a shark on a kayak is very, very, very low. How many shark attacks have you heard of in socal? Compare that to how many people go swimming, surfing, kayaking, etc.. everyday in socal. Of course the chances go up if you spend more time OTW. Not to mention that GWS populations are slowly growing.

If you're worried about sharks, then you might as well stay home and never leave your house. Its more dangerous crossing the street to get a donut. I'm personally more worried about the 16 year old that just got their drivers license...

That being said, shark avoidance is a great idea... but then you have to think about why and when most shark attacks occur... Most of the time shark attacks are a case of mistaken identity.... most of the time they occur in murky water with low visibility. Most of the time GWS are ambush predators. So how visible is a kayak, or the color of a kayak, in dark, dirty water? Good question.

In regards to color preference when using irons or jigs IMO: color matters, but the action or way the jig swims is more important. The action is a combination of the jigs shape, and the fishermens presentation. Many people say size doesn't matter... whats important is how you use it. IMO, I think size, color, and action all are important. But they are not equally important.

The only shark attack I can think of that occured in socal was a case of mistaken identity in low visibility water which leads me to believe that the shark was keyed in on the action of the swimmer and not their color...

The fact is that GWS are all around us all the time. If they wanted to eat humans they wouldn't have any problem doing so.

Just go fish... you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't.

Yes, it is a very very low chance. you are more likely to get in a car accident and probably the same percentage as getting struck by lightning.

Just like we have to drive to work and put on our seatbelts and just as we make sure we carry a spare tire. This is just like going into lion territory, you just want to play your cards right.

No doubt all of us love to be on the water, thats why we are all here. Some of us just like to take more precautions than others. Some of us drive a huge Hummer while other drive a smart car. How protected are you?

If someone wants to be camoflauged, while other want to go in a bright red suit. To each his own.


I had a red tandem for a long time and never got bothered. Was I more of a target that another color, i don't know. Do i want to find out? no...

[CurtyL]

my thoughts? dead man paddlin'

[Hunter (The 80's Man)]

So, what's the protocol if you do have an encounter with one of these sharks? If you have one nosing around your yak, is it one of those things where you don't make eye contact? Do you stare him down? Do I raise my arms and yell to try and seem bigger than I am? Or, maybe since I'll be crapping my pants, I can just throw it at him like a monkey in a zoo. Seriously, if you can poke him with a paddle, do you do that? What do you do????

[wiredantz]

Originally Posted by Hunter (The 80's Man)

So, what's the protocol if you do have an encounter with one of these sharks? If you have one nosing around your yak, is it one of those things where you don't make eye contact? Do you stare him down? Do I raise my arms and yell to try and seem bigger than I am? Or, maybe since I'll be crapping my pants, I can just throw it at him like a monkey in a zoo. Seriously, if you can poke him with a paddle, do you do that? What do you do????

well, i read your suppose to stay still, if he becomes aggressive you hit him on his nose with your paddle, and then poke his eye out with your knife if your endanger and prey you don't get eaten alive.

[bubblehide]

Originally Posted by wiredantz

well, i read your suppose to stay still, if he becomes aggressive you hit him on his nose with your paddle, and then poke his eye out with your knife if your endanger and prey you don't get eaten alive.

Uhmmmmm, you may want to think about shitting you waders first

[sasha]

Hey i know im new but isnt the idea is to tie a big hook to the back of the kayak. Then peddal real fast and now you got a one big lure to get the biggest fish in the kayak. Well just a thought,,

[dos ballenas]

And then food for thought... Are Sharks Color Blind? ScienceDaily (Jan. 19, 2011) — Sharks are unable to distinguish colors, even though their close relatives rays and chimaeras have some color vision, according to new research by Dr. Nathan Scott Hart and colleagues from the University of Western Australia and the University of Queensland in Australia. Their study shows that although the eyes of sharks function over a wide range of light levels, they only have a single long-wavelength-sensitive cone* type in the retina and therefore are potentially totally color blind. Hart and team's findings are published online in Springer's journal Naturwissenschaften. "This new research on how sharks see may help to prevent attacks on humans and assist in the development of fishing gear that may reduce shark bycatch in long-line fisheries. Our study shows that contrast against the background, rather than colour per se, may be more important for object detection by sharks. This may help us to design long-line fishing lures that are less attractive to sharks as well as to design swimming attire and surf craft that have a lower visual contrast to sharks and, therefore, are less 'attractive' to them," said Prof. Hart. Sharks are efficient predators and their evolutionary success is thought to be due in part to an impressive range of sensory systems, including vision. To date, it is unclear whether sharks have color vision, despite well-developed eyes and a large sensory brain area dedicated to the processing of visual information. In an attempt to demonstrate whether or not sharks have color vision, Hart and colleagues used a different technique -- microspectrophotometry -- to identify cone visual pigments in shark retinas and measure their spectral absorbance. They looked at the retinas of 17 shark species caught in a variety of waters in both Queensland and Western Australia. Rod cells were the most common type of photoreceptor in all species. In ten of the 17 species, no cone cells were observed. However, cones were found in the retinae of 7 species of shark from three different families and in each case only a single type of long-wavelength-sensitive cone photoreceptor was present. Hart and team's results provide strong evidence that sharks possess only a single cone type, suggesting that sharks may be cone monochromats, and therefore potentially totally color blind. The authors conclude: "While cone monochromacy on land is rare, it may be a common strategy in the marine environment. Many aquatic mammals ? whales, dolphins and seals ? also possess only a single, green-sensitive cone type. It appears that both sharks and marine mammals may have arrived at the same visual design by convergent evolution, in other words, they acquired the same biological trait in unrelated lineages." *Note: There are two main types of photoreceptor cells in the retina of the eye. Rod cells are very sensitive to light and allow night vision. Cone cells also react to light but are less sensitive to it. Eyes with different spectral types of cone cells can distinguish different colors. Rod cells cannot tell colors apart. Journal Reference: Nathan Scott Hart, Susan Michelle Theiss, Blake Kristin Harahush, Shaun Patrick Collin. Microspectrophotometric evidence for cone monochromacy in sharks. Naturwissenschaften, 2011; link to paper abstract provided below...... DOI: 10.1007/s00114-010-0758-8

[Fiskadoro]

Originally Posted by dos ballenas

.....

Originally Posted by Original post

.....the best colors for surface jigs not diving jigs are not bright colors but dark colors purple, black and dark green.... these colors make the sharpest silhouette or cast a better shadow (high contrast) and they are the easiest for makos that are hanging deep looking up for prey on the surface to see....a shark looking up sees your yak against a whiteish light blue back ground of water and sky, but a shark that sees you from the side sees your yak against a green or dark blue background.... the lures that dived deep got bit best if they were bright colors because the sharks were seeing them from the side not from underneath them.(high contrast)...Ultimately this is all about visibility, what get's seen due to high contrast is the most likely thing to get attacked or probed for scavenge....

Good stuff!!! That pretty much goes along with what I said in the beginning.

There is no doubt that sharks do not perceive color the way we do, the truth is few animals do. What they do definitely see is the amount of light reflected off the object, how it contrasts to the background light, and different colors reflect different spectrum of light or essentially different amounts of light in relation to various backgrounds.

Jim

[dos ballenas]

nice... it only took 11 minutes for your response... I was expecting less I can tell you have thought about this a lot...

A wise man once said "always cast your surface iron into the sun and then fan out from there until you see which angle is getting bit best"

I think the important thing is to learn as much as we can from shark attacks that occured in the past. Most occured in low visibility conditions.

[Fiskadoro]

Originally Posted by dos ballenas

nice... it only took 11 minutes for your response... I can tell you have thought about this a lot.......

Yeah well... Though that was from a recent article it was hardly a new concept.

Actually when I get some time though I will read up on their research.

Past studies have shown that sharks have both rod and cone photoreceptors in their eyes, which would suggest they could see color in some manner, but studies have shown that their vision seems to be set up to enhance the contrast of targets silhouetted against a background, or more technically that the cones are specialized for contrast over wide range color perception.

This specialization though is not anything new as I could find you papers about it that are more then fifty years old. That is why I kept talking about color in relation to how it contrasts to it's background. Sharks eyes key on contrast.

That said: I did find your post interesting. especially this part which is about roughly half of the sharks they studied.

Originally Posted by dos ballenas

"However, cones were found in the retinae of 7 species of shark from three different families and in each case only a single type of long-wavelength-sensitive cone photoreceptor was present. "

You may not know this but the long-wavelength colors that those specialized cone photoreceptors are keyed for are yellow orange and red.

So though ten out of seventeen sharks species they studied did not perceive color so much as contrast those that did had eyes set up for enhanced yellow orange an red perception, at least that is what I got on a quick glance over.

Jim

[surfnutnj]

Originally Posted by Jim Day

Yeah well... Though that was from a recent article it was hardly a new concept.

Actually when I get some time though I will read up on their research.

Past studies have shown that sharks have both rod and cone photoreceptors in their eyes, which would suggest they could see color in some manner, but studies have shown that their vision seems to be set up to enhance the contrast of targets silhouetted against a background, or more technically that the cones are specialized for contrast over wide range color perception.

This specialization though is not anything new as I could find you papers about it that are more then fifty years old. That is why I kept talking about color in relation to how it contrasts to it's background. Sharks eyes key on contrast.

That said: I did find your post interesting. especially this part which is about roughly half of the sharks they studied.

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You may not know this but the long-wavelength colors that those specialized cone photoreceptors are keyed for are yellow orange and red.

So though ten out of seventeen sharks species they studied did not perceive color so much as contrast those that did had eyes set up for enhanced yellow orange an red perception, at least that is what I got on a quick glance over.

Jim

sooooo.....anyone want to buy a RED Tarpon 120?

J/K...hopefully the tax man does not try to eat me while I am fishing. If he does at least I died doing what I love to do. (not driving to work) I always say that.

[Hobie-Pedaller]

very interesting & thought provoking points & topics in this thread.

yum, yum, yellow..... i resemble that.

[dos ballenas]

very interesting indeed...

even more interesting in the resurfacing of the infamous Hobie-pedaler! that sure was a long breath hold

[Hobie-Pedaller]

Originally Posted by dos ballenas

.....the resurfacing of the infamous Hobie-pedaler! that sure was a long breath hold

unfortunately, i haven't been fishing, nor on any of the kayak boards since early last Summer.

i've been traveling in & out of state over past year, dealing with a death in family back in Texas, and the subsequent repair & sale of a house back there.

finally finished with all that above, and now ready to get back into the water for some fishing. just had to replace the sonar on my Yak, which had the transducer wiring fail last year, due to salt water corrosion. yak is all repaired and ready now. just bought the 2011 Fishing license. I'm finally all ready to get back out there again, within the next few days, but now we have rain coming for the next 3-5 days.

so NEXT WEEK, I will be back out on the water for sure. SD Bay at first, for a few trips, then I'll get out to LJ soon after that. Can't wait. WAY TOO LITTLE FISHING FOR ME IN PAST 2-3 YEARS.

[maui jim]

It's there world , were only passing thru.............

[DESTROYER]

I'm more afraid of Knotheads!

seas_sealion2.jpg

What color do they like Jim? LOL

[cowboybill]

I saw a thing on Myth busters about this.

The color that came up as most attacked was either Yellow, or Silver!

Camo would probably not be seen from below unless close....A shadow is a shadow....

Now if you could put lights underneath to act like sunlight, now you are camo from below!!

Or a transparent/ translucent kayak?!?!

Cowboybill

[bubblehide]

Originally Posted by cowboybill

I saw a thing on Myth busters about this.

The color that came up as most attacked was either Yellow, or Silver!

Camo would probably not be seen from below unless close....A shadow is a shadow....

Now if you could put lights underneath to act like sunlight, now you are camo from below!!

Or a transparent/ translucent kayak?!?!

Cowboybill

Bill, you may want to keep in mind that your looking down, while fish are looking up; and don't shadows have shape?

[wiredantz]

OKay so i just saw jaws after a long time... What we need is an oxygen tank and a gun, and a bigger boat.

[dos ballenas]

Originally Posted by Jim Day

This specialization though is not anything new as I could find you papers about it that are more then fifty years old.

Jim

fifty years ago? lets see it.... I love papers from the good old days...

so have you learned anything you didnt already know from the replies to this post?

You should talk to Keith Poe...