Color/Detail/Whatever

[whittler]

Posted this on the General section a couple weeks ago and should have posted it here to find if there are any other builders/painters who have tried any experiments like this.

Living in east central Indiana I do a lot of smallmouth fishing in the three main rivers in my area. Most of my fishing is done using crankbaits about 80% of the time, maybe not always the best choice but it is what I enjoy most.

The subject of color, color patterns and the detail of crankbaits  is always a main topic of discussion anytime fishermen get together so I thought I would do a little testing of my own to see if it really makes any difference. The testing was done with a 3 color bait, one of my personal favorite colors, but using several variations of the same colors. The baits used were the same, Mdl. A Bomber Square bill in the 2 size, ( Gander Mnt. Bargin bin) no alterations were made except for color. The colors used were dark brown, chartreuse and orange and no other details were added.  All the colors were airbrushed and no topcoat was used, since I would be repainting them often and a little paint loss was no problem. Experimenting with these baits over the last couple of years and have found a few interesting things.

1.      No matter which order that the paint was applied made any difference in the ability of the bait to catch fish. Brown back, chartreuse middle, orange belly or any combination to these colors on the bait. No eyes, gill or fin detail was painted on these baits just the color order. Also tried a couple with the colors painted from front to rear.

   

2.      If  I detailed any of these colors by adding scales, craw patterns or eyes it did not

   make any noticeable difference in catching fish. They sure did look better though.

3.      Did the same thing a few years ago with FireTiger colors with the same results.

My own conclusion is that certain colors will catch fish, more by the colors painted than the order they are painted. The key is visibility in most water conditions, not Match the Hatch. Bass do not do a scale count before eating a bait.   

[CCP]

Good read there! IMO being a lure painter......there are no ''secret'' lure patterns. Its all about coinfidence. Alot of times the more detail that I put into a bait, the more coinfidence a customer has in the bait. Then inturn, they fish the bait so much better and are more ''in tune'' with it. Just my opinion

[BIG M]

I have always felt that action trumped color 90% of the time.   Now after yrs of building and painting baits I find action is very important but so is color to a point.   I'm not a great painter of details, my craw patterns are mostly splatter backs.   But if you get the basic colors of the forage on the bait then it will catch fish.   On my personal baits I never try to match the hatch.   I want my baits to stand out just a little from the crowd.

Great thread John.

[BobP]

Interesting stuff!  It's hard to test crankbaits because it's impossible to get all the variables controlled so you can single out one factor and judge its effect in a scientifically valid way.  I believe color and realism play a role but their importance depends on other factors like visibility, bass species, what the fish are eating, etc.  The best we can do is listen to good crankbait fishermen and generalize a few ideas about what may work - but you need to take it with a grain of salt because they aren't scientists either and all too often, they are also in the business of selling baits.  After long experience, you get to the point where you can feel the action of a crank as you fish it and have a pretty good idea whether or not it will catch fish, regardless of any other attribute - so I tend to agree with Marty about that.  Building and test fishing lots of crankbaits helps develop that "feel".  But all said and done, I want a crankbait that has ALL possible favorable attributes working for it on a particular body of water, under specific conditions.  So I dude them up to a reasonable degree because I believe it can sometimes mean an extra fish in the boat.  And we all want that extra fish when we can get it!

[islandbass]

I also think action is an important factor and for testing, the ability to duplicate/replicate baits is beyond my skills and perhaps very difficult to do with wood.

That said, I have caught bass on an unpainted, naked balsa bait I made when I was checking and observing the action. Incidentally, it hasn't caught another fish since it's now been painted (baby bass).  ;D :-[

[whittler]

Like Bob testing by most of us home builders is far from scientific but over a period of time you can sort a few things out. For me action is key then size of the bait and lastly color.

The baits I used in the color experiments were all the same and are very close, action wise, plus two them had a craw pattern in the colors used and I used the other six for the color changes. Most of my fishing is done for smallies, in rivers, so I think that fishing for largemouth might get some slightly different results. Color was the only thing I was interested in. I do enjoy the beautifully painted and highly detailed baits but I think they are for us fishermen, fish don't seem to be that picky.

Most guys just "chuck and wind" with crankbaits and do not truly fish them. Talk to a plastics fishermen an they will tell you how each is fished but if you mention actualy fishing a crankbait its a different story. I think this is especially true when fishing heavy cover, just go look at the number of threads on getting hung up with cranks. It is usually because the cranker is using the same technique for cover as he is for open water, "chuck and wind". With good equipment you should feel everything the bait is doing or it encounters in the water. like you Bob you should be able to feel through your hands exactly what the bait is doing.

Man its nice to hear something other than what is your favorite or what is the easiest. Thanks Guys.