Red Lures

[5fishlimit]

This is my #1 spring bait -I have caught so many fish on this red shad color that I just cant put it down I started as soon as water temps were in the high 30's and now in the lower 50's -They just attack it-so Im staying with this color

This was working for me one day 3 weeks back, but my knot failed on a cast and I sadly watched it fly into the depths of the lake I was fishing. Ruined my mood for the rest of the day.

[Paul Roberts]

Id like to know your thoughts on the color red. I was thinking about this last night. I own some red, they do work but for what reason I am not sure.

 

#1 - Its well known that the color red is lost at a depth of about one foot deep

 

#2 - Although I have cooked a crawfish and they turn red I have never seen one turn red in the wild. I have also never seen a red species of prey fish.

 

Why does this color work?

I always wondered this too. Below are some thoughts. Best I can do.

 

You'd have to google it, I can't remember if it's iron in the clay they burrow into or the bugs they eat.  All I know is they're red when they emerge.  I'm not the only one that has noticed this, and several people agree that red is a great early color.  Sometimes we gotta do our own research. You can't expect to be spoonfed all the time.

 

I've never heard of this, and I've read a fair amount on crayfish. Maybe it's a local thing? I've dug wintering crayfish from leaf packs and they tend to be very dark, some almost black. I'm ready to be spoon-fed on this one.

 

There ARE a few species that are red as adults (C. rusticus and P. clarkii). P. clarkii is really red and is southern. C. rusticus is much dingier but just after molting and in clear water can be rusty red.

 

Red lures in spring seems to be more of a southern thing -or at least it started there -in Texas I believe. But there are other explanations for the popularity of red lures in spring. Here's Ralph Manns' take (paraphrased):

 

Red-orange is a contrast color for bass, esp amidst a green backdrop. It can be a good lure color, esp when plankton blooms give the water a green tinge. This is true all year but early season plankton blooms are also a time of food shortage when bass are especially ravenous and are interested in just about anything they can see and catch. I believe this explains success with red-orange lures in early spring.

 

I have a small res here that gets very dense plankton blooms turning it to pea soup. We've done really well with red crankbaits there and this particular water is the only reason I finally bought some bright red supposed "craw" colors.

 

Here's a related story about the importance of visibility story, one I've posted a bunch of times... and here goes again...

 

The Mystery of the Blue Lobster...

 

A number of years back I was at a research lab on the Atlantic coast. One of the projects they had going was to check out the feasibility of raising lobsters from eggs for market. While at it they hatched some bright blue lobsters. I inquired about them because I'd also seen a few blue crayfish. They said it was an interesting story...

 

Blue lobsters are something like one in a million in the wild. But in the lab they were finding a much higher percentage of blues (don’t remember the numbers). Turns out they are a fairly common color but the researchers theorize that the blue ones are selected out in the wild by predators (sculpins, sea robins, and striped bass mostly), thus nearly all wild lobsters are found in the usual earth tones. In the lab no such selective pressure exists, and blue ones are relatively common.

 

I can also tell an almost identical story about a herd of white deer in central New York State. Similarly, one of the reasons many flocking bird species all look alike is that the odd one, say the starling with a white tail feather, or the lone mallard in with a flock of Gads, is more apt to be targeted by hawks and falcons. When you are prey, it pays not to stand out. I believe this is at least one of the reasons that fluorescent (and possibly bright red-orange) lures can work so well.

 

As to another possible reason red is so popular with fisherman, I'll leave you with a poem I wrote and posted a few times here and there. It even turned up on a poetry site lol:

 

Seeing Red...a poem...Ahem...

 

Red is an apple ripe on the vine.

Red is of Kool-Aide, grapes, and wine.

Red is of tumescence, lipstick, lingerie, and high, high heels.

Red's pretty important to people.

Tackle manufacturer's see Green when they offer Red!

Makes me see Red.

 

{EDIT}: Ouch! Things got a little heated while I was typing merrily away. White Flag from me!

[J Francho]

Don't have red lures on Oneida in April and May?  Not getting bit.  Seriously.  Crayfish are beet red.  All that may change when/if the gobies invade, but so far, it's still a crayfish lake in the spring.

[SirSnookalot]

 

#2 - Although I have cooked a crawfish and they turn red I have never seen one turn red in the wild. I have also never seen a red species of prey fish.

 

I think you mean red bait that prey fish eat, a red snapper is red and do eat other fish.

 

Paul makes a good about point about bait being identical as not to stand out, this is the very reason when we use live bait during bait runs we clip a fin so the bait stands out as it's swimming differently.

[Hogsticker]

I think it's kind of a Southern thing that carried over to parts of the mid West. Sam Rayburn I believe. I can tell ya they don't work worth a crap in the N.W., however the majority of our waters are clear to very clear.

[Bobby Uhrig]

I SAY WE LET EM GO   LOL

[J Francho]

Red Herring

[Paul Roberts]

Don't have red lures on Oneida in April and May?  Not getting bit.  Seriously.  Crayfish are beet red.  All that may change when/if the gobies invade, but so far, it's still a crayfish lake in the spring.

Hey, I just read that C. rusticus was found in Oneida Lake and, true to its nature, is dominating crayfish habitat there:

http://www.seagrant.sunysb.edu/OLI/crayfish.pdf

[J Francho]

Ahah! Thanks Paul!

[Paul Roberts]

Happy to help. (But I'm still skeptical of the reasons behind RED.)

[J Francho]

Well, it isn't because it disappears, lol. Water is pretty clear on Oneida, and we're only talking running around 5-6' deep.  later in the year, some form of red, be it flakes in your senkos, or a red highlight in your crankbait is a long standing pattern, on this lake anyway.  In spring, red seems to rule everywhere, along with blue.

[mjseverson24]

how about this one, blood is red. blood meens injured fish, which means easy meal. also gills are red, which means the fish is not looking which again means easy meal. one last point red and orange are colors that tend to trigger agression in many animals and some fish included. although they may not be able to see the color red as we do, they still see a shade of gray that is the equivelent of red to us.

 

Mitch

[mnbassman23]

Through my scientific experimentation's I have concluded that red is an exceptional spring time color, but will work thought the year.. These findings can be validated due to catching numerous big fish on the color. The end

[iabass8]

I've never researched why but on the Mississippi in many pools in IA, I've noticed a lot of crawfish during the spring and summer with red on their shell and their claws. Others have had nits of blue or straight green/dark green during the same time of year. Red cranks are a very productive bait throughout a lot of the spring.

[J Francho]

Red doesn't work in summer.

 

[TNBassin']

The first half of this was helpful. The second half was total D-BAG, why do you feel the need to do this all the time?

I think you answered yor own question as to why he does it. I thought this place was called "BassRESOURCE", not "Do your own research, we aren't gonna just spoon feed you info". D-BAG is right...

[SirSnookalot]

I would think most do their own homework, after all we're already on a computer, but we always don't find what we are looking for. That's one reason so many of us are on forums, to gain knowledge from other's experiences, nothing in print replaces real life.   I've caught fish on red and just about every other color through out 12 months of the year.

[J Francho]

Maybe "spoonfed" is the wrong term - I apologize if anyone found it insulting.  It was meant to motivate others to look things up, and make observations while your out on the water.  Even the OP said he never looked at crawfish in spring.  First and foremost, I am a fisherman, and a member.  I share what I know with other anglers.  I also happen to moderate this forum.  I'd like to think that role is transparent, but maybe it isn't.  On the other side of this, there is NEVER a time when it's okay to call anyone, mod or member names.

 

Anyway, I'll be on Oneida this weekend for the annual Take a Soldier Fishing event, and all three in my boat will be throwing red Xcalibur traps and plugs.  I'll report back.  Last year we did pretty good on red baits:

 

[TNBassin']

"The main purpose of this site is the free exchange of information. There's so much to learn about bass fishing and so many unique situations that we decided to create forums where people can ask and answer questions or just talk about fishing in general. Here you will find people that bass fish just like yourself that enjoy the social aspects of fishing."

 

No where does it say to google it.   

[JoePhish]

 I've also read about it in the In-Fisherman books on smallmouth and largemouth. 

 

Chapter 4 of Largemouth suggests that the majority of cones in a LMB's eyes are dedicated to detecting the red-orange-yellow portion of the color spectrum.

 

If this is the case one might deduct that though this portion of the color spectrum disappears first, LMB compensate by being able to see these colors better.

 

This may also help explain why a dash of orange or chartreuse sometimes makes a difference.

[TNBassin']

That dash of orange earned Cliff Pace the Bassmaster Classic Championship.

[PABASS]

Jimmy states he was the first to do red eyes, copied it from an older timer that caught more fish then anyone he knew.  I put red hooks on my suspending jerkbaits this season and so far its been dominating and these only DT 4'.  This could be a conversation that goes a few different ways, lots of crawfish talk but I use red for baitfish imitation lure, red eyes, red dots, red gills, red hooks.  Heck craws around here look like the the substrate they live in mud,rocks, leaves, I don't know of many lakes around here that have crawfish in them as they are typical to streams and rivers.  Before I heard about what Cliff was doing I was dipping my craw type plastics in JJs majic Methylate, its seems fish respond well to this.

[Paul Roberts]

No one said that red doesn't work. Colors in the earth-tones are probably the most popular and red in many waters and depths would fall into this category. I'm just not convinced that "red" means more to the bass than it does to the angler. Or asked a diff way, is red more important/exciting to anglers than it really is to bass? Now trout, that might be a different story.

[J Francho]

I don't know of many lakes around here that have crawfish in them as they are typical to streams and rivers.

 

 

As many species can be found in streams, there are just as many that dwell in lakes. Just about any lake bass I've caught pukes up crayfish, especially in spring.

[Paul Roberts]

As to red mimicing blood. I've not seen much blood when watching bass engulf bluegill or crayfish. Shad are fragile and do get their scales knocked off, but bloody?

 

Here's a shot of a bluegill a bass I'd just caught spit up. Interesting thing is, the plug has all the red! I suspect it's bc red is more exciting to anglers than bass. The bass did not try to eat this plug bc it had red on it.