New Umpqua PINK Leaders and Tippet Review - Think Pink!
Ok, I know how much you guys all love rainbows and the color pink especially, so I want to explain the logic behind these new leaders and tippet series from Umpqua.
*Check out the new Umpqua leaders here!
If you don't want to read this entire article: Pink was chosen because in theory it will disappear from the visible color spectrum underwater sooner than other colors and be "more invisible" than clear tippet. I am a bit skeptical because I fish very shallow most of the time, and I don't think it will matter for me personally, but it is cool. Honestly for most anglers, being able to see your leader better will help you more than you think. Whether or not the fish can see it (or if they actually care) is another story.
Pink was chosen because in theory it will disappear from the visible color spectrum underwater sooner than other colors and be "more invisible" than clear tippet.
I was actually fishing orange mono many years before anyone else, as in decades ago. People thought I was dumb and said "oh the fish will see your line too easily!" Nope. Not how that works. I could see it really well on the surface and the fish couldn't see it at all. In fact, believe it or not, if I used blue line or dark green line the way many people do, thinking it's "camo" it would actually be more visible than my hot orange line underwater. How is that possible? This is due to physics: ROYGBIV (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet) which is roughly the order in which colors disappear underwater, as you go deeper. I used to dive all the time and it was easy to see for myself how some of my brighter colored gear faded away as I went deeper. Same thing happens on coral reefs. You need to use underwater lights to bring out the colors in deeper coral structures. Otherwise it all just looks gray. I would like to point out that it isn't "invisible" or anything, it's just dull and less noticeable. Essentially like all the color was sucked out of the coral. But again, this is because of how sunlight penetrates the water column. At the surface (or very close to it) this won't affect colors.
Now I might sound like Bill Nye the Science Guy (who is awesome by the way) but this is my admittedly non-scientist explanation for "Why Pink?" with these new leaders and tippet options. Now you know.
So that's the theory behind it all. But in practice, does it really make a difference? Probably not in the flats, but I'm sure it couldn't hurt much either way. Fish are stupid. Stop getting "outsmarted" by something so far down the food chain, guys. I'm really getting worried every time I hear from someone that the fish outsmarted them... If anything we tend to outsmart ourselves and overthink things, which is probably where this pink tippet came from. Clear is clear at any depth, right? Pink is pink on the surface. And "not pink" anymore below let's say at least 10ft or so (approximately). Some sources say 15ft, some say 20ft, but my experience is anything beyond 10ft it will fade a bit (this does depend a bit on the exact hue of red or pink).
A bonefish sitting in one foot of water is not affected by this color fade. Really anything less than a meter probably won't do much. It might help the angler see his leader better though, and I think that's actually more valuable anyway. Clear fluoro is still the king guys. But pink is cool and I will probably start using it frequently for comparison purposes and to keep testing it.
One more point I explain to people all the time: Fish, especially flats species, go by "feel" quite a bit (useful while hunting for prey and also for avoiding predators). Fish can sense small vibrations and things in the water using their lateral line. Humans don't have this of course so it's hard for us to think about that but really the fish can probably "feel" your fly line or leader in the water even if it can't see it. So don't sweat all this too much. Just go have fun and fish.
Check out the new Umpqua leaders here!
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