To expound, I tried to put myself in the fish's place and try to imagine what would  attract me to this lure. I needed to see something that not only gets my attention but also elicits an instinctual desire to strike at it. What is it then that tempts the predator?  What is it that would not only catch your eye, but also your desire to kill and eat it?  Is it obviously a physical attraction of some sort. Or is it more than that,  in this under sea world of eat or be eaten, in part at least I considered it must be the colors!

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.

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.

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.  

This color combination stems from something called, complementary colors.

Complementary colors are colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel. They contrast, enhance and intensify each other. Therefore, complementary colors need to be used with caution. The differences in tone and hue can be eye catching, but used to much they can be an eyesore. Complementary pairs contrast because they share no common colors. For example, red and green are complements, because green is made of blue and yellow. Complementary colors can appear very exciting and seem to vibrate when placed side by side.  Two colors are mutually complementary if mixed together they form gray.

Complementary Colors: Red and Green, Blue and Orange (Univ of Florida), Purple and Yellow (LSU). These are the colors directly across from each other on the color wheel. All color wheels are not exactly alike, but usually pretty close. Don't let the name fool you, these complimentary colors rarely look good when used together unless you are going for a striking appearance. They're called "complementary" because, when used together, they become extremely vibrant and have heavy contrast, like my little "electric chicken."