Colors Of Jigs And Lures

[nebraskalargemouthhunter]

what color would be best in sunny days, I have always used bright colors when it is sunny out. when it is cloudy I use dark blues and browns and when its night time I always use black? any help on if this is right or not?

[JoePhish]

During the day I choose my colors mainly based on water clarity. Then I'll take the sun/clouds into consideration.

In conditions of higher visibility I'll use natural colors usually in the bluegill or shad patterns for jigs. For crankbaits I use the same colors as well as baits in ghost patterns.

In less clear water I'll use Jigs in darker colors with darker trailers but with the tail colored chartreuse. For cranking I'll reach for a chartreuse/black back or firetiger.

At night and low light conditions I also like jigs and trailers in black, blues and purples or a combination of them.  I like crankbaits to be loud and dark in these conditions.

[TNBassin']

I like baits with a little flash when the sun is out. Chromes, golds, maybe some orange or reds. 

[JoePhish]

I like baits with a little flash when the sun is out. Chromes, golds,.... 

 

Agree but with one caveat. I like flash when it's sunny and windy.

To refine that more, I like chrome/silver in clearer water and gold in murkier water.

[nebraskalargemouthhunter]

well right now nothing is hitting on fast moving baits, the only thing I am getting baits on is jigs. but today I may get better luck, since we have had three days in row of 60+ weather.

[Paul Roberts]

Ditto JoePhish.

 

I'll add that I like translucence in high vis conditions and more opaque in lower vis conditions.

[WRB]

The one thing that I know for sure is; I don't know what colors bass prefer and why the prefer them under various light conditions.

When I started bass fishing in the 50's I knew everything about bass lure colors! Surface lures were green frog colors, shallow diving lures were white with a red head and deep diving lures were black with white skeleton patten, because that is what worked for me back then. By the 60's my horizons widened to add fish colored lures like bluegill and crawdads and my best colors started to fade, replaced by newer choices.

Plastic worms and vynl jig skirts became my new lures and colors of choice; black, brown and purple worms and jig skirts were obviously the colors bass preferred under nearly all light conditions.

In the 70's soft plastic hand poured worms with translucent colors and metal flakes or neon blood lines came along with living image life like baitfish pattern lures came of age and my color preferences started to get complicated. Add spinnerbaits with multiple colored blades and it was obvious that bass don't know what they want.

This continued to the late 80's when swimbaits with exact rainbow trout color became my choice of lures and colors. I got into making silicone jig skirts with an unlimited combination of skirt colors and came to the conclusion that the jigs with natural deer hair dyed black, brown and purple combined together worked far better than any of the silicone or living rubber jig skirts....for the first time I took a step backwards, and decided bass do know what they prefer, we just need to figure that out on a day to day basis.

It's a myth that bass see colors like we see colors, they see better then we do.

Keep an open mind about color preferences because it will change.

Tom

Edited April 27, 2013 by WRB

[TNBassin']

Agree but with one caveat. I like flash when it's sunny and windy.

To refine that more, I like chrome/silver in clearer water and gold in murkier water.

Agreed.

[hookset on 3]

Tom's post was very thorough, as always, but the one thing I'd like to expound on, is that bass see much better under water than most people have been lead to believe. Their visual acuity and range is well beyond that of humans in most water clarities except mud, of course.

 

They have extraordinary low light vision, more than most of their prey fish, so that is one of the big reasons that bass are so active at dawn, dusk and overcast days. It is because they have an advantage then and their instinct is to use any edge against baitfish that they can.

[nebraskalargemouthhunter]

The one thing that I know for sure is; I don't know what colors bass prefer and why the prefer them under various light conditions.

When I started bass fishing in the 50's I knew everything about bass lure colors! Surface lures were green frog colors, shallow diving lures were white with a red head and deep diving lures were black with white skeleton patten, because that is what worked for me back then. By the 60's my horizons widened to add fish colored lures like bluegill and crawdads and my best colors started to fade, replaced by newer choices.

Plastic worms and vynl jig skirts became my new lures and colors of choice; black, brown and purple worms and jig skirts were obviously the colors bass preferred under nearly all light conditions.

In the 70's soft plastic hand poured worms with translucent colors and metal flakes or neon blood lines came along with living image life like baitfish pattern lures came of age and my color preferences started to get complicated. Add spinnerbaits with multiple colored blades and it was obvious that bass don't know what they want.

This continued to the late 80's when swimbaits with exact rainbow trout color became my choice of lures and colors. I got into making silicone jig skirts with an unlimited combination of skirt colors and came to the conclusion that the jigs with natural deer hair dyed black, brown and purple combined together worked far better than any of the silicone or living rubber jig skirts....for the first time I took a step backwards, and decided bass do know what they prefer, we just need to figure that out on a day to day basis.

It's a myth that bass see colors like we see colors, they see better then we do.

Keep an open mind about color preferences because it will change.

Tom

yeah I feel bass see way better then we do, I just we could understand the colors of choice for them more then what we do these, I will go spend about a grand tomorrow on different lures and jigs in every color known to man kind.

[ww2farmer]

I keep it simple, jigs/plastics = browns/greens in clear water, some form of purple and/or black in stained water. Hard baits = translucent or natural colors in clear water, brighter colors with lots of chart., blue, or orange in them in stained.

[Mike L]

I keep it simple, jigs/plastics = browns/greens in clear water, some form of purple and/or black in stained water. Hard baits = translucent or natural colors in clear water, brighter colors with lots of chart., blue, or orange in them in stained.

 

Pretty much covers it for me...

 

 

Mike

[Paul Roberts]

Studies in visual acuity actually put fish, and bass in particular, lower than humans. But pure resolution is not all there is to vision. It's true that bass are more dense in rod cells than humans, so they apparently do have "better" low light vision. Visibility (water clarity and lighting) appears to make an enormous difference in bass ability to resolve details and lighting in both terrestrial and esp aquatic environments varies enormously with every passing cloud, surface condtions, etc... . Add tactile senses (sound, pressure) and their "little" brains can be pretty discerning.

 

I love Tom's response above. Very much appreciate his experience and willingness to share. Always have. Thanks, Tom. The take-home for me is caution, which is always a good thing when trying to fathom the complexities in nature, often grossly under-appreciated if only for our desire for simplification.

[JT Bagwell]

Pretty much covers it for me...

 

 

Mike

I follow a very similar thought process.