Do fish miss topwaters because of reflections? (Photo)

Several years ago my cousin Frank Moore and I had a friendly debate over topwaters. He said the color of the lure’s back matter and I said it was irrelevant.

That inspired me to dive and photographer lures from underwater. The result was the back of the lures showed up in the water so Frank was right.

What was far more interesting was that lures even in semi murky conditions cast a definite reflection.

Check out this photo of a Super Spook taken from a couple of feet away and just under the lure.

(Photo by Chester Moore, Jr.)

Notice the defined reflection?

Could this explain why trout, reds, bass and other species sometimes miss topwaters when they strike?

It is understandable in murky water because they are most likely hitting at the sound but until I saw this for myself it was hard to understand in clear water.

It is easy to see how a fish could miss the mark by hitting at reflections like the ones on this plug. I have seen trout jump completely out of the water hitting at a plug and I now believe in those situations they were striking at reflections because the water was certainly clear enough to see it.

If you are a TF&G subscriber and registered online click here to read the full length article I did about this phenomenon.

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