Kayak Color and sharks...

[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.

[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

[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

[maui jim]

Well said.. Ive seen sharks twice in30 years of surfing Oside and Santa Barbara, its there world and im passing through.
Ihave also been in close contact with bears and a Mountain Lion while hunting in deep woods and forests. And I dont like being stalked either way, but being in the outdoors there is no betta life, So enjoy it before you get too old. No ka oi.

[Smokeybear]

Interesting old thread. Who's watching shark week, I was watching shark week about the two surfers killed in Vanderberg one in 2010 and the other one 2012, also that missing firefighter that went kayak fishing off Gaviota beach Coincidence I don't think so.

Let's face it the state is protecting a predator like th GWS and since the 1990s there are more sharks and they found lots of food in Socal and humans are not a threat to them anymore.

About kayak and colors I think it's the shape not the color most surfers are wearing black and riding white surfboards and from below they look like seals, do kayaks look like slow dying dolphin?
Great thread

[tacmik]

Actually, the color of the yak doesn't matter. It's the motion and vibrations that the Hobie fins put out that trigger the shark attacks.

[tacmik]

always thought that sharks were color blind, only saw in black and white. Or was that my dog? Also as to the color red, thought that that was the first color to go in the spectrum in the water.

[Sheephead]

My buddy listens to house music via portable speaker and see's a shark every outing. Don't listen to music and you'll almost never see one.

[MITCHELL]

IMMIGRANT......song We are your overlords....

[SoCalEDC]

We have 10 more years of data since this post was created and recreational kayaking/kayak fishing is probably more popular now than it ever was in the past. With all the more data to analyze, has the evidence shifted to show that color of kayak does or doesn't matter?

Do shark stripes on the bottom of the hull work if they are painted in a way that they break up the sihlouette and don't look like a caution sign?

[SoCalEDC]

https://www.mensjournal.com/adventur...olor-question/

Very interesting. Bed time for me. Maybe someone else will find some more info for a proper revival of this ever relevant topic.

[JohnMckroidJr]

Originally Posted by SoCalEDC

https://www.mensjournal.com/adventur...olor-question/

Very interesting. Bed time for me. Maybe someone else will find some more info for a proper revival of this ever relevant topic.

Thanks for bringing up this unread thread and sharing the article by Paul Lebowitz. I have always gone with "yum yum" yellow as my biggest fear is getting hit by a derelict boater. Plenty of them off SE Florida. In my 6 years offshore I have encountered plenty of hammerhead and bull sharks and have yet to have a yak bite. On two occasions I have had hammerheads hit the yak, but in both cases, I Believe the attempt was directed towards the Solas reflective tape, and my papaya kayak hull.