Electric Chicken Question

[agn54 0]

Panama Red's thunder Chicken fly got me thinking. When tying flies in Electric Chicken colors, how do you prefer to stack the colors, the chartreuse on top or the bottom? I have tied many flies both ways and caught fish on both and have even seen plastic jig bodies both ways but have never taken the time to see if one produces better or if there is a "proper order" to Electric Chicken. I usually tie chartreuse on top with the rationale that it's like the standard chartreuse over white but with a pink belly instead. Any one have any thoughts or preferences on this?

[riffleriversteelheadslayer 0]

I always tie them pink on top because my pink is darker then my chartruese

[tidewaterfly 0]

I usually tie chartreuse on top with the rationale that it's like the standard chartreuse over white but with a pink belly instead.

 

My thoughts also! I don't think it matters either way as far as catching fish, but this is how I've always tied them.

[Robert M 0]

I usually tie the darker color on top but I don't think it matters on that combination its the stark contrast that matters.

[Tailn'Jax 0]

I like to out chartruse on bottom with pink on top as well. Same rationale, I believe the darker color should go on the back. That color combo is a trout killer. Good luck with it.

[agn54 0]

I agree completely with you Bob, the contrast is probably what makes it work so well so it really doesn't matter. I also normally keep the darker color on top, but sometimes it can be tough to tell which is the darker color if you are using very bright shades like fluorescent chartreuse and hot pink. For a light pink I will probably keep it on the bottom but I have some materials like arctic fox that are pretty hot pink so would do well on top. Does anyone know anything about the origins of the name or original color combo, like of there was an electric chicken lure or something? Kind of an odd name, but I like it

[riffleriversteelheadslayer 0]

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In truth, the secret of the electric chicken comes from its duality and its contrast. “Electric chicken” is not a specific lure; it is in reality a laminate color pattern with one color layered over the other. There is actually a scientific rational behind this striking color combination, which I will get to later. In the vast majority of fishing lures sold as “electric chicken”, the bottom color is chartreuse. The term chartreuse was first used to refer to this color (the color halfway between green and yellow) when the X11 web colors were invented in the mid- 1900’s. Before that, this color was called yellow-green.

 

 

 

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Almost all animals have eyes, or descend from animals that did. In most vertebrates (including humans and fish), the eye works by allowing light to enter it and project onto a light-sensitive panel of cells, known as the retina, at the rear of the eye. The cone cells (for color) and the rod cells (for low-light contrasts) in the retina detect and convert light into neural signals. The visual signals are then transmitted to the brain via the optic nerve. The Mantis shrimp has been reported to have the world's most complex color vision system, but most other sea creatures have been also found to have complex color vision as well. Studies have proven that chartreuse is the most visible color to the human eye. It would be easy, therefore, to assume that chartreuse would also be one of the most visible colors to fish as well.

 

 

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Interestingly, the complementary (opposite) color of (the web color) chartreuse on the HSV color wheel is violet. Accordingly, violet may refer to a shade of purple, that is, a mixture of red and blue light, and not a spectral color. Spectral violet is outside the gamut of typical RGB color spaces, and although it can be approximated by that color shown below as violet, it cannot be reproduced exactly on a computer screen. A close representation of this color (violet), which is considered the opposite color of chartreuse, is depicted below.

 

 

Look familiar? So scientifically, the “electric chicken” combination puts chartreuse (the most visible color to the eye) on the bottom of the lure against its opposite color (electric violet) on the top. Hence the most extreme color contrasts possible

[agn54 0]

Damn, that's awesome stuff, riffleriversteelheadslayer, thanks for the great information.

[Panama Red 0]

awsome info, I am used to putting chartreuse on top of clousers and followed suit on the TCM...Very interesting artical, explains why Lefty Kreh always says "if it ain't chatreuse, it ain't no use". Will change the way I look at color combos.

 

Thanks...dave

[riffleriversteelheadslayer 0]

no problem guys I just passed on the info I found from another warm water site

[crawfly 0]

My first use of this color combo didn't involve stacked color as I was duplicating some poured plastics. The color shift was horizontal instead of vertical. That being the case, electric chicken (char. tail, pink body) was tied initially and reverse electric chicken (pink tail, char. body) secondarily. I catch fish on both but my greater success has easily come on the EC config.. Don't ask me why. Water boarding doesn't work all that well on fish!

 

I fish it a lot though and it has produced some awesome fish for me. Wish I could say I've done adequate testing in the salt but unfortunately I'm land-locked these days.

[Guest rich mc]

after reading theses replies i tried a small purple over chart clouser that i had. fish in drakes creek,ky fought over it. unfortunately a tree won the last battle. i will post up tomorrow[tuesday] of a electric chicken swap . i willbe looking for poppers, deceivers,clousers, seaducers, double bunnies, wooly buggers, shannon streamers, whatever fly with those colors. rich mc

[Fishkill 0]

This is a good thread. Being a coastal angler. I often refer to lure/fly colors in old mirrolure "code". Heres some examples. They have the Texas and Electric.

[Markbob 0]

I typically tie this color pattern with the pink on bottom because that is how I normally see it represented on soft plastics. When I am tying these colors with chenille, I tie the pink in front of the chartreuse.