How important is colour?

We're all drawn to certain flies for salmon fishing.  We all have our own ideas, opinions and preferences in the size and shape of flies we like to fish.  Some prefer Irish Shrimps, some like the Scottish Longtail shrimps, some like hairwings, etc.  One area that I haven't mentioned above is colour.

I think we get drawn to pretty looking things and colour plays a major part in that.  There seems to be a fascination with bright coloured salmon flies and when I think of bright coloured flies I automatically think of flies like the Cascade, Park and Calvin's Shrimps, Wilkinson Shrimp etc.  There can't be many salmon anglers out there that don't have a Cascade in their box or have at least fished with one at some stage.  This is nothing new though and if you look at some of the beautifully constructed winged flies popular in the past, many of those were extremely bright and colourful too.

We all have ideas too of what colours work best at different times of the year.  Yellow and Green are generally considered as Spring colours.  Blue combined with silver is thought to be a great combination for grilse in Summer time and then as the season moves into the latter stages of the season in September and October, we start to think more of reds and clarets.  The only colours I can think of that you see throughout the seasons are orange and black.

Yellows and Greens associated with Spring

I have to say that I was always the most successful from September on.  The flies I tied seemed to suit the season better with red, orange and claret flies seeming to come into their own. The more I think back on it now, I was probably more successful with those colours in the later part of the season as that is the time of the year I started fishing with them.  Had I used the same flies in July, would I have caught any more, or indeed, any fewer fish?

I remember quite a few years ago,  I was out fishing in July.  My dad had been in Donegal for a few days and brought me a few flies back from a shop in Donegal Town.  One was a Green Highlander Hairwing.  The moment I saw it I said to myself, "Spring fly, when am I going to fish that".  I tied the green fly on that day in July and hooked four grilse before I got home.

The Summer time blues

I remember looking through Peter O'Reilly's book and seeing the 'Faughan Shrimp'.  Claret and Orange, I automatically classed it as an autumn pattern but then reading the remarks, "It is highly regarded as a Spring fly...".

I also remember reading a thread on the Salmon Fishing Forum where someone had asked for recommendations for Autumn flies and someone had responded recommending the Curry's Red Shrimp.  The Curry's Red was my go to fly for grilse.

So, is the colour of fly or the season we associate them with, in any way important?  There is a lot of reading and information online on how salmon see colour and how the colour may look different depending on the depth of the water and the amount of UV light that penetrate the water those depths and how this changes depending on the sun at different time of the year. To be honest, I haven't read up on this at all as of yet.  I've bother enough with the amount of thoughts already in my head to take on more information that will make me overthink things that I am already overthinking!   However, it would appear, to me anyway, that colour may not be all that important.

I'll throw another spanner into the works here.  Jungle Cock.  Does a fly need Jungle Cock?  Generally, to catch fish, no, definately not.  Being a zealot for fly patterns and respecting those who tied them,  if the pattern states it has Jungle cock then it will have Jungle Cock.  If it states that it does not use Jungle cock then it won't have it.  If I am tying some of my own patterns, particularly for water that might be carrying some colour, I do tend to add Jungle Cock.

What led me to do this was that about 8 years ago, a friend of mine was running a function to raise money for the Foyle Hospice.  I said I would tie him some flies that he could sell and put the money to the charity.  I tied him 10 or 12 shrimp flies on trebles and when I tied a fly I stuck them on a piece of foam and had them sitting on the bench.  There was all the usual shrimp flies including Bann Special, Curry's Red, Apache, etc.  All the colours under the sun.  At that time I was tying in our old shed.  The bench was at the back away from any natural light.  I remember going into the shed one evening for something off the the bench.  It was getting dark outside too so the light at the bench was really poor.  As I appoached the bench, something drew my attention out of the corner of my eye.  When I looked, I could see something almost glowing. When I switched the light on, it was the line of shrimp flies I'd tied and it was the Jungle Cock I'd seen.  I couldn't really believe it.  Out of all the colours used for hackles, tinsels used for bodies and ribbing, the only thing I could distinguish in that poor light was the Jungle Cock.  Since that evening,  I have had no hesitation in using Jungle Cock.  In clear water and good light conditions, where a fish can see a fly easily, I do not believe that Jungle Cock will make much difference in a fish deciding if it will take a fly or not.  In spate conditions where you might just need that something extra to draw attention, I believe Jungle Cock is the best natural flash that there is.  In saying all of that, you still need to put the fly in front of a taking fish to have any chance whatsoever.

More reds and clarets as we move towards Autimn

While I enjoy tying many of the bright patterns, and fishing them and catching fish on them, my own preference now has been to move to more subdued colours.  Drab patterns using more brown and black in them.  The Foxford Shrimp has probably always been my favourite pattern for salmon anyway and now along with Peter O'Reilly's Green Peter Shrimp and the John Anthony Shrimp, these duller flies probably account for most of my fish now.  Again though,  I am catching fish on these dull patterns more because I am using them more.

A few more drab patterns

So, by all means, stick with your yellows and greens in Spring, the oranges and blues in summer and the reds and clarets in Autumn.  You will certainly catch fish if there are fish there to be caught.  However, don't be afraid to try a different colour outside of the seasons that they are associated with.  It is us who have made up our minds that these are the colours that are associated with the seasons.  A salmon doesn't even know what a fly is for goodness sake. Never mind that it can only take a certain colour at a certain time of the year.

I suppose I could have shortened this whole post by just saying, tie on the fly that looks good to you.  A salmon might just agree with you!