One of the perks of surf fishing is the ability to cast your bait from dry land and catch several fish right off the shoreline. Many anglers prefer this fishing method due to the surprisingly wide variety of fish
you can catch without having to invest in a boat and spend hours out in the middle of the sea.
The best color braid for surf fishing is green or blue. Apart from the type of fishing line, you will need to pay attention to the line’s color, simply because some fish are wary of colors not camouflaged underwater. Surf fishers generally prefer using colors that blend in with the water.
Although braided lines generally do not provide much invisibility underwater, they are widely used by anglers due to their other benefits like abrasion resistance and strength. Let’s look at the different colors of braided lines and their benefits underwater to ensure you pick the perfect one to suit your needs and fishing environment!
Benefits of Using Green Braided Lines
Green is one of the most commonly used colors for braided lines due to its low visibility underwater. Anglers popularly use it for inshore, bay, and inlet fishing. Although some people believe that color plays no great role in surf fishing, scientists have proved that choosing appropriate colors can improve your chance of attracting more fishes.
Fishes are remarkable creatures and are extremely wary of predators. They generally use their hearing and sight to avoid falling prey to other creatures. So it isn’t unusual for fishes to avoid messing with brightly colored braided lines that seem to attract too much attention.
Visibility
When choosing braid colors, it’s important to use the color of the water to your advantage. You will have to keep in mind that the fish braid color is always slightly different underwater. Hence, you can’t make a decision based on what it looks like out of water.
Put, if the water you’re fishing in seems green-hued, green will be your best bargain.
From a scientific point of view, green has a shorter wavelength when compared to other colors. In addition to this, light absorption also depends on the wavelength of the color.
Colors with longer wavelengths like red and orange are absorbed quickly. Hence, they change their color very soon as the depth of the line increases underwater. Red usually starts to look like black as the depth increases, one of the most visible colors underwater.
However, colors with a shorter wavelength (like green) don’t absorb light as quickly and remain green underwater even as the depth increases. In extremely shallow water, your green braid will remain the same color. It will blend in with the water’s bluish tinge, thereby decreasing its visibility and preventing fishes from suspecting a trap.
Suppose you’d like to check out high-quality fishing braids specifically made for surf fishing. In that case, I suggest you check out Reaction Tackle Braided Fishing Line. It comes in a variety of green colors, giving you the benefit of choosing the perfect green to match the color of the water you are fishing in to make sure your line is perfectly camouflaged!
Benefits of Using Blue Braided Lines
Blue is a color that is very similar to green, making it the next in line for low visibility fishing lines. It has a short wavelength and maintains the same color even as the depth of the water increases.
Visibility
This can be a great option while surf fishing, as water, generally tends to look blue in the sunlight. Even though inshore fishes have good eyesight, they will not be able to decipher between the water and the blue braid even in shallow waters. This makes it a great option, even for clear water fishing.
Scientists who conducted a study on the retinas of fishes discovered that fishes have good contrast-detection abilities. So using a braid whose color blends in with its surroundings is crucial when attempting to reduce your braided line’s visibility.
If you feel the water you’re fishing in has a very prominent bluish tinge, then blue braids are the way to go. KastKing SuperPower Braided Fishing Line is one of the most popular blue fishing braids on Amazon. In addition to this, customer reviews praise the product for its low visibility and camouflage.
How to Camouflage Braided Lines
All said and done, braided lines are one of the most visible lines underwater, simply because of its thickness. Nevertheless, it is an excellent choice due to its durability, thickness ratio, low memory, strength, zero stretch, and snag resistance.
Though blue and green braided lines will significantly reduce visibility, you may also want to employ a few other methods to ensure your line is properly camouflaged, despite its thickness.
Use Different Lines Together
Monofilament clear lines are one of the most invisible lines in the market. The thin line is almost impossible for fish to detect underwater. It usually comes in clear blue color, making it invisible underwater but easy to see from above water.
To get the most out of your braid in clear water, try connecting a monofilament line with the braided line using a Double Uni or Alberto knot. This gives you the ability to use the best properties from both the lines – strength and invisibility!
Other lines that are almost invisible underwater are fluorocarbon fishing lines. This line also has low visibility due to its excellent light refraction properties. It is perfect for catching fishes with a ‘skittish’ nature. Most anglers use this for clear water fishing.
Additionally, it is thicker than a monofilament line and adds to the strength of the braided line. This line can also be knotted with a braided line to increase invisibility.
If you would like to see a tutorial on how to tie a braided line with a monofilament or fluorocarbon line, feel free to watch these explanatory videos below:
Lines That Increase Visibility
Although most anglers prefer using invisible underwater lines, some like to have clear visibility of the line even when it is underwater. This helps them keep an eye out for potential fishes that might have taken the bait.
If you fall under this category, you may want to use a yellow or red-colored braided line. This is because both these colors have a long wavelength and can be seen from above even when the water is muddy or unclear.
In addition to these colors, fluorescent colors also have a slightly longer wavelength compared to other colors. Anglers who like seeing their bite usually use fluorescent yellow braids, which ensures you get high visibility of the line even as the depth increases.
KastKing SuperPower Braided Fishing Line is great for its bright yellow color and thick diameter.
Summary
Though fishes can perceive a certain amount of color underwater, the fact remains that they depend more on stimuli like movement, shape, and smell to detect predators. From the article above, you now know three ways to decrease the visibility of a braided line.
- Use green braided lines.
- Use blue braided lines.
- Combine your braided line with a clear monofilament or fluorocarbon fishing line.
The points above summarize the methods that effectively camouflage braided lines. However, if you would like to increase the line’s visibility, use red, yellow, or fluorescent lines instead.