Swim jig and Chatterbait color selection

[UKCATSBASSER]

When do you throw the following....

shad or white colored

green pumpkin

bluegill

black and blue

 

shades of white with a white trailer is what I throw 90% of the time. I guess I feel if the water is stained I'm better off with a spinner bait. Do you have success with the other colors above?

[RichF]

I would say it probably depends on what the main forage is in the particular bodies of water you're fishing in.  Most of the lakes I regularly fish don't have shad.  Bluegill, perch, and bullhead are the main baitfish so I exclusively throw different shades of green pumpkin and sometimes blue/black. 

[Scarborough817]

depends on the water clarity for me i mainly throw natural colours for my lake which would be green pumpkin or bluegill if it is overcast i will throw black and blue if it is a little tough i will switch to shad colours.

[ww2farmer]

I make and use 3 colors of swim jigs and chatterbaits:

Bluegill.............My go to color in both baits with a green pumpkin trailer, often with the tail dipped in chart/ dye. In all water/weather conditions

Black/blue...........Dark cloudy days in stained to dirty water

White.............. white shines in really "green" tinted algae bloom stained water.

 

[CJ]

1 hour ago, Scarborough817 said:

depends on the water clarity for me

This^^^

 

[MDBowHunter]

As stated earlier it's a about water clarity, and since the reservoirs I mainly fish are super clear it's generally green pumpkin or blue gill. For some reason black and blue just don't work for me, probably just a confidence thing.

[stkbassn]

I've never had problems in any water clarity with blue/black jigs, sunny, dark, day , night....clear, stained..seems to make no difference. I like it and it keeps it simple. Again like someone else said, it could be just a confidence thing. I just don't want so many colors that I keep second guessing myself. Too distracting and I have too little time to experiment...

[roadwarrior]

I think you will find that a lot of color combinations work well. I suggest a couple of specifics that have been good to me:

Siebert Outdoors 3/8 oz Swim Jig (Bluegill)/ Rage Tail Shellcracker (Hard Candy)

Rage Tail Rage Blade (White)/ Rage Structure Bug (White)

Siebert Outdoors Foggy/ Bluebasser86 Wobble Head/ Z-Man Project Z or Rage Blade naked with a Rage Tail Cut-R trailer...Your favorite color!

 

[alzun664]

I base my swim jig choice on water clarity and the type of forage I'm trying to mimic.

Bluegill and Green Pumpkin are essentially the same color so you don't really need multiple jigs of each type, or to only throw each one a certain time.

[kcdinkerz]

I mainly throw a few colors on swim jigs green pumpkin and pear/white. Same with chatter baits I throw a blacknblue or white/pearl. Might mix it up and add some jjs chartreuse to the green pumpkin or white/pearl on the tails or tip of craws. Most of the forage fish around here are shad and bluegill so it's easy to match.

[Munkin]

Like others have said it depends on the conditions but I have 4 main colors:

White/shadish

Sunfish/bluegill

Greem Pumkin

Black

If I need to make color changes to one of these four I change trailer color.

 

Allen

 

[ClackerBuzz]

Location trumps color.  Second runner up...deflection trumps color.

Two summers ago I was bank fishing one direction and was killing it on a white/chartreuse chatterbait.  Eventually got snagged and lost it.  My heart sank b/c i didn't have another along.  So I tied on my only other chatter, black/blue.   I killed it on the way back home at the same places, deflecting off the same cover/structure.  It was a great day of fishing and a good lesson on top.  After that day I had tons of confidence in the lure and how to use it, not the color.

[DBL000006]

White/Chartreuse

Black and Blue

Green Pumpkin

Bluegill Color

 

[Jigsaw 2/8]

For chatterbaits & swim jigs. I only use two colors 

1. Black/blue 

2. White 

[huZZah]

Chatterbaits I only have white and black/blue.  Always very hit or miss for me. Mostly miss. 
 

Swim jigs I have white, green pumpkin, and some type of watermelon green pumpkin. I’ve found the size and weight of jig and trailer makes a bigger difference than my choice of color and GP of any type outproduces white in general. 

[Dens228]

Shad colors when the water is clear or fairly clear.

Bluegill colors when it's murky.

Sometimes I add a little chartreuse to the tail of the trailer. 

 

Same with swim jigs.

 

Pretty simple and it works for me. I somehow doubt a bass swims up to take a shad colored bait and stops while thinking, "Hey, that looks a little different than the other shad around here"   I also have a few places where shad is far and away the best bass catching color and there isn't a single real shad in the water. 

[gim]

In clear water, I use a more natural color like bluegill or similar.  In stained water, I use brighter colors like white or neon green.

 

It also depends on whether its cloudy or sunny out too.  Fishing at night I always use a dark color regardless.

[A-Jay]

A come back thread, OK.

My bait selection here sort all looks the same.

If it ain't broke . . . 

  

A-Jay

[Bluebasser86]

I rarely use bluegill or green pumpkin in either. Shad colors, solid blue, golden shiner, and chartreuse and white are my favorites. 

[MN Fisher]

4 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I rarely use bluegill or green pumpkin in either. Shad colors, solid blue, golden shiner, and chartreuse and white are my favorites. 

Different areas, pal.

 

Up here, I've had my best luck with the GP and Bluegill colors for both...they seem to ignore bright/light colors.

 

Except spinners - there I go white/chartreuse more often than not...go figure...maybe our bass are weird.

[Bluebasser86]

48 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

Different areas, pal.

 

Up here, I've had my best luck with the GP and Bluegill colors for both...they seem to ignore bright/light colors.

 

Except spinners - there I go white/chartreuse more often than not...go figure...maybe our bass are weird.

They eat tons of bluegill and sunfish here, and they're very popular colors for those baits, just not for me.

[txchaser]

Chatterbaits below, don't fish enough on the swimjig to have anything useful. 

 

Most fish: bluegill or GP, usually dipped tail. 

Biggest fish: White. This year I've started fishing edges where shallow hits deep with the white if the BG has been good in the shallow flats, and it has been good for picking up a few more fish. 

Sleeper color: In Texas, in clearer water in the spring the GP/maroon jackhammer with a rage bug in falcon craw is really good.  Looks just like the craws in the region that time of year. I've had success in both central and north texas with this color. It's on my list to try it a little more in the off-season.