Do UV finishes and bright colors actually catch more trout?

The honest answer is "sometimes, and less magically than the packaging claims." Juvenile salmonids have ultraviolet-sensitive cones but largely lose them as adults, so adult-trout UV marketing runs ahead of the biology. What is well supported: contrast against the background matters more than exact hue, deep water strips red and orange first so silhouette and flash dominate for lake trout, and freshly stocked rainbows — raised on brown pellets, naive to everything — do hit bright chartreuse, orange, and pink at rates wild fish rarely match. For wild stream fish, match the prey; for stockers and stained water, be visible.

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