It seems like today must be a great day to talk about the topic of selecting colors in bass fishing lures. Wired2Fish had a piece about the differences between small amounts of flake to change the hues and appearance of the baits. I also read a post on Big Indiana Bass that states basically that action can be more important than
color. Both sides are interesting and both have an argument.
Wired2Fish mentioned green pumpkin as an example and the use of orange flake and green flake and how they seemed to look different under water and would be better suited for different bottom conditions. They also said "the flake actually appears to change the overall mask of the
whole bait.". True. The colors can change drastically by appearance and they went on to mention how different colors "can also be attributed to prey changing colors at different
times of the year". I know crayfish change based on many situations; water temp, season, habitat, etc. I see their point. They added "the fact is some days, and even more routinely some seasons,
slight variations in color matter."
Big Indiana Bass on the other hand seems to stand on the other side of the fence and believes that marketing plays a huge role in the amount of colors people buy. They say "you don't need to own every
color a soft plastics manufacturer makes. You can live perfectly fine with a
color or two (or even three) that has proven its catching ability in any
given style of bait." I love this blog because they always have studies, science and research to back everything up and this topic is no exception. They have reasons to believe this way and basically come to a conclusion that "simply figuring out and having a
color or two in the former category is all that you need on any given day, on
any given water."
I am somewhere in the middle of the two. For most of my fishing, I stick to two basic colors. Junebug and Watermelon. I use red flake for both, watermelon black flake, watermelon candy, purple for watermelon, plain junebug. I typically just fish them and grab whatever is there, and spend more time casting than worrying about flakes. I have, however seen times when red flake seems to work better. Like I said, I'm in the middle.
Where do you stand? Does color really matter, or is it marketing that makes people buy more colors?
6 comments:
I fished a club tournament last year under bluebird conditions, nobody caught a limit, but all the bass that were caught were on weightless or wacky jig 5 inch Senkos. I asked everyone that caught fish what they were using and everyone had a dramatically different color from black to watermelon to clear, and others. I used blue/black laminate, my confidence color, so just goes to show it's more about believing in your skill than anything.
Good point Pete. It definitely does come down to confidence!
Great artical Tyler... I think color is very important. We as fisherman need to be able to seperate our abilities from the other guys. Whether its the color of the lures or the difference colors make to the fish we strive to catch. It's all about the colors that give us confidence in our quest to catch more fish. Bass fishing rules! TMan
Tmclures.com
I have seen colors at times make a dramatic differnce...One time while casting jigs, my buddy was throwing a black jig/pig with a couple strands of charteuse..I was throwing all black...He caught 9 to my zero in less than an hour..He had only one jig with that color combo, so I asked could throw it..he snipped the line and handed the jig to me... He was fully convinved it was his abilty to work a jig and the color had little to do with his results...I made three casts with his jig and caught three fish...But I donot believe the color more adequately represented the forage the bass were feeding on..Merely it allowed the bass to get a better look at the bait in that particular situation...So does color matter... I would say absolutley..but so does confidence...So i guess the best answer is to do what everyone seems to do..buy every color imagineable but only throw one or two with confidence..LOL
I don't think color plays much of a role in bass fishing. It is the patterns that play the critical part. I do not like the fact that the lure makers market so many slight variations of colors to consumers. Just take a color like green pumpkin and then they add dozens of extra flakes, shades, or laminates and sell it like it is the next coming of lures. Stick with a few basic colors and shapes and be confident in your pattern.
I focus on a few different colors: black, brown, and green.
When it comes to purchasing additional colors, trout patterns and other realistic finishes take the cake.
To be honest, plastics with red flakes have been my least productive. Changing the action is my #1 rule, not color.
Good article Tyler.
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