Published as a separate and in Fisherman’s Digest , 1998, 47, 23-24

EFFECTS OF FISHING IN A
NEON-COLORED BOAT ON FISH CATCH^{12 3}

Department of Research, Fisherman’s Digest

The purpose of this study is to find out if fishing in a neon-colored boat will change the amount of fish a person will catch. Three boats were used in this experiment, one was the normal silver, one was neon green and one was neon orange. The silver boat was considered the control and the neon colored boats were the experimental.
After the same person fished in the same spot at the same time with the same lure in each of the boats, there was a significant difference in the amount of fish caught. The neon orange boat caught the most fish, 15, the neon green boat caught the second most, 9, and the gray boat caught the third most, 5.

Fish are attracted to fishing lures that are brightly colored. The two colors that tend to attract fish the most are neon green and neon orange. Roberts (3) found that if two lures look the same but one is a bright color then fish will go after the one that is bright. Jones (1) found that fish swim towards bright colors when he placed fish in a tank with two pathways, one with a bright color at the end and one with a dull color at the end. Another study that was conducted by Thomas (2) showed that fish will also go after worms died neon green more than they will go after worms that are the normal brown. The studies suggest that fish are attracted to neon colors and will go towards them if they see the color.

B. Method

1. Subjects

There were three boats used in this experiment. All three were Lund and were fourteen feet long. The bottom and sides of the control boat was gray, the bottom and sides of one of the experimental boats was neon green and the sides and bottom of the other experimental group was neon orange.

2. Measuring Instruments

a. Hummingbird Fish Finder. This is a fish finder that is used by many professional fisherman. It sends radar waves to areas underneath the boat and can detect if there are any objects off the bottom, which are usually fish.
b. Johnson’s Super Accurate Fish Scale. This is an electronic fish scale that weighs fish and can mount right onto the side of the boat

3. Procedure

Bob Smith, a professional bass fisherman, went out fishing in the same spot on Lake of the Ozarks for three consecutive days. The first day he went out in the gray boat. He arrived at the spot in Duck bay where there are lots of lily pads and counted 6 fish on the Hummingbird fish finder. He made 300 casts with the L.L. Bean Quest fishing rod, using a Cabela’s titanium wire Colorado buzzbait. He caught 2 smallmouth bass, two largemouth bass and one pickerel. The smallmouth bass were one pound and two ounces and one pound and four ounces. The largemouth bass were one pound six ounces and two pounds one ounce. The pickerel was seven ounces. Smith noted that the fish did not seemed very excited and did not even notice the boat, except that when they swam around it they avoided it as much as possible.
The next day, Smith went out at the same time in the same model boat to the same spot, but this time the boat was painted neon green. When he arrived at the spot he counted four fish on the Hummingbird fish finder. He made 300 casts into the same general spots as the day before with the same L.L. Bean Quest fishing rod and used the same Cabela’s titanium wire Colorado buzzbait. He caught five largemouth bass and four smallmouth bass. The largemouth bass were one pound three ounces, one pound nine ounces, two pounds four ounces, three pounds one ounce and three pounds six ounces. The smallmouth bass were one pound two ounces, two pounds two ounces, two pounds five ounces and two pounds nine ounces. Smith noted that there seemed to be more fish arriving near the boat and the longer he stayed, the more fish were on the fish finder.
One the third day of testing, Smith went out at the same time in the same model boat to the same spot, but this time the boat was painted neon orange. When he arrived at the spot he counted five fish on the Hummingbird fish finder. He made 300 casts into the same general spots as the two days before with the same L.L. Bean Quest fishing rod, using a Cabela’s titanium wire Colorado buzzbait. He caught eight largemouth bass, four smallmouth bass and three pickerel. The largemouth bass were two pounds one ounce, two pounds four ounces, three pounds five ounces, three pounds nine ounces, five pounds two ounces, five pounds seven ounces, six pounds four ounces and seven pounds seven ounces. The smallmouth bass were one pound six ounces, two pounds three ounces, two pounds eight ounces and three pounds four ounces. The pickerel were eight ounces, one pound one ounce and one pound nine ounces. Smith noted that fish seemed to be drawn towards the boat from every direction. He also noted that it also attracted bigger fish that seemed to have come from long distances away.

4. Analysis

The control group was compared to the experimental groups with a t test. This test showed that was a significant difference between the cast/catch ratio of the control group and the cast/catch ratio of the experimental groups. It also showed that the average weight of the fish caught with the experimental boat was larger than the average weight of the fish caught with the control boat.

C. Results and Discussion

The t test between groups showed a significant difference in the data. This shows that fishing in a neon boat does increase overall fish catch. This may be important technology, especially in the future when there may not be as many fish around and there has to be a new way of attracting fish. The average weight of the largemouth bass caught in the control boat was one pound eight and a half ounces. The average weight for smallmouth bass caught in the control boat was one pound three ounces. The average weight for the pickerel caught in the control boat was seven ounces. The average weight of the largemouth bass caught in the neon green boat was two pounds and four ounces. The average weight for the smallmouth bass caught in the neon green boat was two pounds and two ounces. The average weight for the largemouth bass caught in the neon orange boat was four pounds and six ounces. The average weight for the smallmouth bass caught in the neon orange boat was two pounds and five ounces. The average weight for the pickerel caught in the neon orange boat was one pound and three ounces. Overall, this data shows that the catch and the weight of the catch increased with each boat. The only other conclusions that can be drawn is that pickerel are not attracted to neon green, because no pickerel were caught when this boat was used. With this data, fisherman could improve their catch by fishing in neon colored boats.

References

1. Jones, Paul. The World’s Best Fishing Lures. Atlanta: Bantam Books, 1995.
2. Thomas, Steve. How to Catch More Fish. Dallas: Culver Press, 1998.
3. Roberts, Jason. What to Fish With. Los Angeles: Publishing Company, 1999.

Department of Research
Fisherman’s Digest
350 Main Street
Dallas, Texas 84672

¹ Received in the editorial office on December 7, 1998, and published immediately at Bangor, Maine. Copyright by the Culver Press.

² This experiment was supported in part by a Faculty Research Fellowship granted to Gary Thorn and Bill Clement by Fisherman’s Digest.

³ Requests for reprints should be sent to the third author at the address shown at the end of this article.