The color red is the first color to disappear in the light spectrum under water I have read many times in fishing stuff,. past 3 feet deep in water the color red is gone. Take the Red Snapper it is red but not on the bottom of the ocean floor. It turns into a mirror and reflects light back and becomes camo against it's background. Many other fish use the color red to blend into its surroundings in deeper water. Why I don't know but it is a fact that the color red is gone after 3 feet or so. Andi the mono line maker used this for there pink line and many world record fish have been caught on it before fluorocarbon came on the market.

Night Owl I think you have built lights around the color that best suits our eyes and gives us less glare and fatigue on long nights shrimping. You and many others have also said that shrimp do not like any light and will run from or avoid it at all cost. I am not so certain of this and in fact have seen the color green kick but.

I disagree and agree that shrimp do not like light or the color. On my old web sight I wrote very long posts on shrimp run cycles and how shrimp at times do seem to want some kind of light source and can be attracted to it. I have no facts on this stuff but I have seen it with my eyes and am a believer.

When you get away from a standard 6 hr tide cycle like Oak hill you get away from the standard tide turning and the shrimp start showing up as the tide starts heading out. The tide gets stronger and the run is on. Then towards the end of the tide the run shuts off and and it is time to  pack it in. Most others and I would agree the tide current is what got the shrimp off the bottom and the lack of current at the end it what shut them down.

As you may  know most of my shrimping is done away from the normal 6 hr tide cycle like Oak Hill. At H/ C the current may go the same direction  for days and you notice things about the run cycle they you may miss at other 6 hr tide places. The current may be going and nothin and all of a sudden it is on and my last for hrs and then the shrimp start to slow down and then stop with no real current changes in speed or direction.  

What I have noticed is strange about shrimp and lights.

Many many times at H/C or R/R bridge I have noticed that there is a weird cycle to the true run. It has a start cycle, a run cycle and an end cycle.

At first when the shrimp start showing up they don't care about my bright Start fire lights and will inter the light field and pass right through it without caution. As the run gets stronger and the shrimp start to train one behind the other the shrimp may come right at the light and run into it almost like it is a target. But as the run dies down they start to act different and avoid it like the plague. They will come into the light field and do one of two things; either go down or around the light field. Why I don't know but I have thought it has something to how the shrimp relate to the moon phase and position in the sky. Sometimes at the very end  when the current is slow  and about to change they may come up from behind the boat out on the outside edge of the lights and almost sit there like they want to be in just the correct light and hanging out and waiting on something. Strange and  also these are the easiest  targets. Strange again and why I dont know but they do it..

Street lights and above water dock lights attract shrimp at times and they will stay in this light even thought they are easy targets for fish? Why I do not know but they this too. There has been times I would pull up to a dock, street light or finder light and find shrimp close to or at the top. I would then turn my lites on and the shrimp would almost run away or disappear. I would then turn my lights off and the shrimp would then reappears and I would sometimes dip gallons of them in only the ambient low light from the other source. These shrimp liked something  about these above water dim lights, maybe the other source was tricking them and they thought it was moon light; I don't know but there is something to this. I have seen it too many times to not not notice it and think it was a one time thing...

There is a place in H/C on the north side that the street light shines down into the water. At the end of a tide when it is about to change I sometimes will move there and find shrimp by the bunches at the top and sitting at the edge of the shadow line and NOT wanting to enter the dark water. Why I do not know but I like it. I also know if I turn my lights on in this area at these times the shrimp will disappear. They like the street light and not any other light!  This goes against everything we are all taught about shrimp not liking lights. I have also seen this around the small overhead wall light that is always on just north of R/B at the end of the tide. Why I don't know but again they do it. I have also seen this at many other locations. S/I, NSB south Pier, Titusville memorial pier and even the Florida Keys bridges.

The color green can sometimes make a difference to the shrimp and not just our eyes I think. A few times and one time in particular I was at H/C and got my but kicked by green lights during a very slow current. I can remember me being not far away and watching a guy in a boat  in dead current catch nice shrimp one after another with florescent green lights on top. For some reason the shrimp were not coming into his lights but rather straight up and too them. Every shrimp he caught came from no less then two feet away from his lights and I could tell that they were just popping up deep and swimming strait at his lights that were on the sides of his boat. Strange again I say. I moved behind, on both sides of him  with my Starfires but noda and he was in what I would call not a good area of the canal and kicking my butt. He limited and I went home with two gallons thay night.

So there you go take it or leave it but I do think light brightness, color and type can make a big difference in you bucket on certain nights and times.

Last: why do shimp ever need to come to the top and risk thier life at all if they do not like any kind of light???