Color may have been due to the depth? A lot of what my left hand is buried in is air. It appeared that they may have 2 bladders, one side emptied faster than the other. Another thing I had to have proven to me is the vast difference in lake trout from lake to lake. Got the hang of landing them in one lake then moved on and found them to be more colorful and spastic. Learned the hard way again when a 20 incher was thrashing while suspended by a Rapala from my thumb, barbless is the only way to go.