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Fishing is all a game of probabilities (at least, that's how I view it). On any given cast, with any given bait, you either will or won't get bit. Over the course of a day, if you can stack a few more probabilities in your favor (increase specific probability rates or percentages), you should end up with a more productive day. There are a lot of variables at play, all with their own probability. Color tends to rate fairly low on my list of probabilities. What do I mean by that? In another thread I mentioned that one of the 2 primary factors in why I own/throw whatever colors I have in my box for any given bait is largely based around what is pretty much "proven" as a standard color option. So, a black and blue jig is almost a universal thing. A green pumpkin soft plastic is too, as are things like shad or crawfish colored crankbaits, a white and chartreuse spinnerbait, or a black or white buzzbait. I'm sure you can name a few others. Day in and day out, those colors get bit most everywhere in the country. As such, I tend to have one of those standard color patterns tied on when I'm fishing, and I rarely change during the course of a day. But here's a logical way to think about lure color based on probabilities. If you're not getting bit, it's probably not because of color, but it also might not hurt your chances if you changed. Things can't get worse, right, so do as you like - I likely wouldn't change myself. I'd rather change locations, baits, depth, speed, etc. before changing color to try and increase my probabilities. On the other hand, if you are getting at least a few bites, changing color could go one of several ways - your bite rate might not change at all (neutral), or it could get better, but it also could get worse, and you actually might stop getting bit. In this case, which is likely the most common scenario for most while out fishing (getting a few bites now and then), I don't gamble and change my probabilities in that regard because there is a worse outcome if I'm wrong. Finally, if I'm with someone throwing a similar bait (different color) and they're getting bit and I'm not, then it doesn't hurt to change to whatever color they are using because your probabilities will likely either stay the same or go up - very little downside to changing color in that case. So that's my take on the matter. To stick with the OPs question; why do dark colored plastics catch fish in clear water? I say - Contrast. About everything swimming in the water (or tossed by anglers) throws shade/has a dark underside no matter what its actual color. Bass eyes are built to best see forward and upward. As such, black is a universal base color in my world - YMMV -T9

Almost gave up. Difficult to carve water...lol. Hootie

We finally agree on something............anyone who thinks they know it all, knows nothing. I am confident that I know how to catch a bass on the waters I fish, I am also 100% certain that I am worlds away from being an "expert" on anything. When you close the book and your mind on learning anything else about this great sport you take great steps backwards.

I was looking through old pictures yesterday and found this one, probably the last time I had gone bass fishing prior to the summer of 2016. Interestingly enough the guy who took the picture was new to bass fishing, and so I was showing him some things that I knew and hooked up on this 3 pounder. Just Sunday night we'd talked, and he is letting me be co-angler with him on a small pond circuit this summer... Funny how life will bring you back to things you're passionate about, and a bit of shared knowledge might come back to you as a blessing ten years down the road.

I once went fishing when my wife had told me, "Do whatever you want", when she clearly didn't mean it.

BLASPHEMY you speak

Grand daughter first fish

Not bass fishing, but this is how I caught my 2nd biggest brown @21". Had to make a stealthy approach that involved a good bit of rock climbing to get into position to cast.

I thought this was shishamo:

Ive never done it but people insert pieces of styro foam shipping peanuts in them to get them to float .

Snagged a few "left overs" at Academy for $1.98.

================================================================ I like your attack on the subject, which you’ve given more thought than the average bear. To me at least, thinking ‘out-of-the-box’ is thinking smack in the center of the box. The big problem I have however, is descriptors like 'right color' and 'wrong color', as though their existence is a foregone conclusion (nuh-uh). On the contrary, I do not buy into that hypothesis. In keeping with your 20% preference analogy, I'd offer the following scenario: In the same lake on the same day, 80% of the anglers are throwing ‘Watermelon Red’ jelly worms, while 20% are throwing 'Black Grape' jelly worms. At the end of the day, if Black Grape accounted for 22% of the bass harvested, it outperformed Watermelon Red. Roger

Have had the chrome one for a while, but got the TN today. Felt like they both needed to be in the picture.

As mentioned - that bait essentially utilizes the "spinning blade" as the trailer. Remember that the blade displaces water similar to what a typical action type trailer (swimming grub, boot tail, etc) will do. Adding this type of plastic trailer to the shank, which also will displace water, would not allow either to function as you'd expect as they would both be 'fighting' for the same water. I'd recommend using one or the other; but not both. A-Jay

These two below were from our family fishing tournament this specific one was the "Red Cedar Rockbass Rumble" The losers from left to right: my aunt, me, and my mom. The winners below from left to right: my dad, my aunt, and my grandma I always try to get my aunt out a few times each summer the pic from below was from earlier this year and she had an absolute blast My girlfriend Mikaila on her last trip of the year Steve a close friend of mine I met my first year tournament fishing, it was his first year also and since then we've hit it off. He only has a few years of fishing left before his Parkinson advances to the point he won't be able to fish competitively, so I make sure I get in at least a tournament or two every year Travis is another one of my close friends, we've been friends since elementary school and we've always loved fishing and basketball, we're still doing both together close to 20 years later.

That's why you ship in pvc instead of cardboard when dealing with high end rods.

Our local lake is about 6 ft down, and when the weather is nice, we like to take the kiddos out to explore the shoreline. Shortly into our walk today, we came across an INCREDIBLE stump and roots that had washed up in the last flood. As my wife talked about how nice an addition it would be to my mom's eclectic flower bed, all I could think was OMG, BASS CONDO! Into the truck it went. Our property backs up to a small pond, but we don't own the property the pond is on. I have permission to fish there, and do so routinely, but I've never explicitly asked permission to bury fish houses (although, I might know where to find last year's Xmas tree). That being said, sometime after replying to CrustyMono's bullet weight thread, I made my move. The stump is heavy... like 60 pounds heavy. I had little doubt it would sink, but just to be safe, I strapped 40 pounds of bricks to it. I made the cold dark trek with the 100lb, awkwardly shaped habitat down to the pond. My plan was to get the thing in 3-4ft of water. A good toss of about 10 feet would get me that, and I was pretty confident I could do that. With a good grip, I walked down to the mushy bank, wound 'er up, and let it fly! The mechanics of the throw were great... but considering one of the roots I was holding onto snapped under force, Motel Fish only made it about 2 feet from the bank. Crud. It's cold. I don't want to go out there! But I have to. I'm committed now. So I take off the coat, shoes, wool socks, and pants, and brace myself. **** the water is cold! And I forgot how stinky this shin-deep, black, mucky clay actually is. With my lunker home in hand, I make my way out. Knee deep... brrr... toes starting to go numb. Oh boy, up to the family jewels... oooOOOOOOOOh boy. I can do this... I CAN DO THIS! A 7 pounder will LOVE this thing! Out to my stomach, losing feeling in my feet but sensing my opportunity is near. I take one last look at my surroundings and mentally mark my waypoint, and let go. It floated. So what do you think, Mom? Like it?

I have my preferences, but no brand loyalty.

I think we've been through this before. NO STICK!!!

I only say that because I am a college student...otherwise no such blasphemy would be spoken

After much experimentation I now only buy and use Daiwa and Shimano reels. Everything else is a bit of a mixed bag.

When they start paying me to be loyal, I'll be loyal. No one brand offers everything I want or like to use I have Abu, Daiwa, Pfluger, Lews, Quantam, and Shimano reels Berkley, Abu, Falcon, St Croix, Fenwick, Shimano, custom built and Kistler rods I use VMC, Mustad, Berkley, Gamakatsu, Strike King terminal tackle Power pro, Seaguar, Spiderwire and Berkley line Berkley, Yum, Strike King, Zoom, Robo worm, Netbait, BPS, Big Bite Baits, z-man soft plastics Strike King, Storm, Booyah, Berkley, crank baits, lipless baits, jerkbaits, topwaters, and frogs Strike king, Booyah, Boss, Terminator, outkast, z-man jigs and other skirted baits I have a tracker boat, a minn kota TM, a jeep for a tow vehicle and Lowrance electronics And Hanes or fruit of the loom underware.

I think i'm more brand satisfied than brand loyal although the performance and service I have experienced from my preferred rod brand have been as good as could ever hope for.

The older I get, the less brand loyalty I have. Nothing is carved in stone; the wise consumer will stay abreast of the ever-changing market scenario. Roger

I dont have any unconditional loyalties to any brand they dont pay me enough. What I take a liking to I will buy. Dont think any one brand can cover all areas.

Everyone on this thread who says color doesn't matter still has his favorite colors.

Well that sounds pretty crappy ?

there's 3 in the reel and they give you 15 loose ones for your pocket.

I'm a Loomis and Shimano guy...

Just throw the 40lbs of bricks in. If there's nothing else in the pond, those will attract fish for sure.

Had a wisdom tooth removed today. Went straight home, grabbed my rod and headed to the golf course for some relaxation. In my mind this is completely sane. My entire face is still numb so not in pain yet, and I actually have the day off with no kids to watch..........So fishing of course! Wasn't until I was walking back to my car after fishing for about 2hrs I wiped off what I thought was rain running down my face only to pull my hand back COVERED in blood. My gause had shifted and I had started bleeding but was so numb I didn't know until I probably looked like a vampire that just had finished feeding. What's your favorite "not sure how, but I found a way" fishing story? PS... Caught a decent one too!

I contacted TravisinVirginia on this site and started a conversation about joining my local bass club. We hit it off great via the Forum and exchanged telephone numbers and he said he was interested in checking out the club. Seems Travis fishes some of the same golf course ponds I fish and we discussed them and other places to bank fish in the greater Richmond area. Travis told me he was going to the Richmond Fishing Expo and I said give me a call when you get there Friday morning and we’ll catch up. So he did and he told me that he had his young son with him. No problem. So I meet Travis as he walks into the show and we introduce ourselves and then he looks at me and says he has seen me before. News to me. I don’t recognize him. He then proceeded to ask me if I have ever been to Buford Road Pharmacy? Of course I have, for about the last 30-years. Still go there today as we live 2 miles from the village of Bon Air. Then he lays a bomb shell on me: he is Travis, Ron’s son, who used to work his dad’s pharmacy when he was in high school. Ron now owns a pharmacy on Lake Monticello in Fluvanna County. And I remember Travis running around the store. He was a nice kid. I have not seen him in at least 10 to 15 years. Travis has grown another foot; has a beard; has a successful career; married; and his young son is a cute kid and very well behaved. I asked Travis to say “hi” to his dad for me and we are going to make plans to do some bank fishing after winter goes away and also hit the big rivers in my Ranger. Small world, isn’t it? Really blows my mind.

The boat is $799 new, I'm sure a used one would be less. I have seen some earlier models of this that I didn't like as much, the current models seem to be a bit roomier. As far as the cost of the modifications, some of the items were things I had purchased in the past and retooled for this boat. Here is what I can remember the costs to be: Marine plywood - $80 Marine carpet - $100 Carpet adhesive - $35 Transom mount trolling motor - $200 Marine deep cycle battery - $150 Big foot trolling motor switch - $35 Portable depth finder - $150 Onboard battery charge - $100 Replacement front seat - $120 Rudder - $50 Telescoping paddle - $20 Mini-bilge pump - $25 Custom waterproof cover -$400 Extra prop, fuses etc - $100 Modifications Total - $1415 plus some of your time. No, they are pretty sturdy, but I will be changing out the washers (they are starting to rust). I agree with you about the stability. The plywood floor with the carpet makes it even more stable. Plus, during the summer I like to be barefoot in the boat & the carpet doesn't get as hot as the plastic. It may sound silly, but I also run a shop vac over the carpet after every trip, it keeps it in great shape.

Absolutely, dead shad is a dynamite bait, and some might even refer to it as cheating. Your question takes me back several decades, when my wife & I vacationed at Dale Hollow to sample the bronzeback fishing. The proprietor asked me how we were doing, and I answered "very well". We came to learn that we were the only residents at the lodge doing well, and were awakened the following morning by thumping on our cabin door! As it happened, Lois & I were using a "jig & dead minnow", with minnows I caught on a small hook. Roger

i have a lot of favorites but only a few loyalty brands. I like daiwa for reels and maybe thats because i fish there high end stuff. I am sure if i spent as much on a shimano they must be good to. For rods i like Dobyns and st croix the most for quality selection and customer service. For hard baits strike king and lucky craft have what i need between them and DUO for that Japanese feel. Duo is my high class baits and you get JDM quality without the megabass funds. braided Line is suffix all the way. I like the performance braid the best but 832 is also in the rotation. Flourocarbon is either sunline or P-line 100% The only real sunline i buy is sniper. Hooks are gamy or owner only. Soft plastics are a free for all and my bag is mixed with bps stick-o's netbait packa craws keitech swimbaits, and the list goes on. Large swimbaits are the same way, ms slamer hudds black dog shell cracker and punkers Mattlures hard gills and more. Jigs are serbert outdoors only. He will make you exactly what you want or need and his normal selection is way above average!!!

Post pics if you want but my gut reaction is leave it alone and keep an eye on it. If it gets worse have it repaired locally.

I have a bunch of GL3 rods (all spinning) and one E6X Mag Bass baitcasting rod (MBR843c). I find them to be extremely similar. both very good, sensitive and lightweight blanks. The folks who run tackletour have stated that they would take the E6Xs over the GL3s (stated this in their holiday Xmas tackle roundup last year). I think although the GL3 is a more expensive rod in terms of current retail cost, it is also a less modern blank than the E6X. its been unchanged since the 90s. Given this, I would probably go E6X given the choice, esp. since they are offered in so many tapers. I really like my MBR843 E6X. I have mine paired with a Curado 200i:

I cannot say much about the e6 but I fish with some GL2, GL3 and IMX rods. They have always been good except for a reel seat on a newer IMX spinning rod. It kept loosening up. The blanks a great so I had a custom rod builder strip the plastic junk off and replace the entire cork handle and reel seat. Just be careful and put a reel on any rod you would buy.

Over the years I have buried treble hooks at least 5 times. Two in the finger which my friend pushed all the way through and we cut off the barb. Two in the belly that were buried deep and would not come out. Two emergency room trips. People were laughing when I walked in with a Bill Dance deep diver hanging from my belly. I have a bad habit of muscling them out when stuck in weeds. They shoot back like bullets. Finally a repala stickbait in my back from my cousins son. Went home had a few drinks and my cousin had to cut it out. Emergency room got too expensive.

Do bass, with no fisherman involved, reject an actual feeding opportunity based on the color of that food? For example, will a bass reject eating a real live yellow perch due to its "perch pattern"? Obviously perch are common forage for bass, but are there situations where something like this would happen? Just something worth considering in this debate. Lots of good arguements on either side going on.

I can attest to Keitech Fat Impacts being very productive on the Susquehanna, especially for larger fish. This one measured 18.5 from last summer caught on a 4.8" Fat Impact fished on a keel weighted swimbait hook. I'd have to look, but I'm sure I have pictures of plenty others caught with the Keitech Fats either rigged on a keeper/swimbait hook, underpin, swim jig, or bladed jig trailer. If I didn't have so much success with craw and grub patterns, I'd probably also drag them on the bottom with a swinging football/rugby head, too. I keep meaning to try Swimsenkos as a substitute, but the Keitechs just don't give me reason to try anything else. If there's a baitfish bite, it's super versatile, and very difficult to beat.

Great post. While I agree with the assessment, I’d add that proving color preferences don’t ever exist might be just as difficult, for similar reasons. When there’s a scorching bite the reliability of the experiment you described goes up, because the difference between “gettin’ em” and “not gettin’ em” is clear. However, only being able to effectively test for color preference during a scorching bite could introduce tremendous bias. Maybe that test only shows that color isn’t important during a scorching bite. Hypothetical example: Let’s say on a really tough day, there’s an unknown ‘magic’ color that would up your odds of a bite by 20%. If you threw the “wrong” color all day in your chosen locations, you’d catch 5 fish. If you spent the same day, same locations, same casts, etc, throwing the “right” color, you’d have caught 6. At the end of a day like that, with all the variables involved, how could anyone hope to deduce the “right” color? Tweaking any number of other aspects of your day (like location or presentation) could have had a much more dramatic impact on your success, even if you stuck with the “wrong” color. Never mind that the “right” color could be a moving target, changing throughout the day, by location, or even between different fish (personal preferences ). Even though it might be undetectable through the ‘experience’ of fishermen, a 20% preference is pretty significant. If we actually had convincing proof that such a preferences existed and we could predict them, we’d be nuts not to tie on the “right” color. Anglers go a lot further for advantages much less significant (I’m looking at you, 500 dollar reels )

None of you who argu against bass having a color preference have been out fished by a partner using the exact same tackle, brand and size soft plastic as you are using. When your partner gives the hot color you start instantly catching bass. The only difference being the right color at that time. This isn't an isolated event it happens often where I fish for bass. As Catt says color matters when it matters, otherwise it doesn't matter and I agree. Catt also asked if we ever looked at a live blue gill under water, try looking closely at a live crawdads in clear glass jar full of water. What at first looks like a brown shell is made up of a dot matrix of several colors that our eye blinds into brown. Look at alive Canadian nightcrawlers that look brown, they also have a neon blue sheen that dissapears when dead. Bass have big eyes for a reason, they help them to survive by seeing prey under all lighting conditions along with their other highly developed senses. Tom

There was the time my uncles colostomy bag became unplugged . Thats all you need to know .

Noisy & Black-n-Blue

Me, My mom who passed away in October, and my uncle fishing the saltwater flats. I'd give up anything and everything I own if I could relive that day....

My wife My dad Both my brother in laws from my wife's side. My oldest boy with his first fish without any help. My oldest niece at her first fishing derby My mom

This bug I got from a flytying site, supposed to be a hellgramite