Color ?

[Molay1292]

I find one thing that stands out in these conversations that is odd.   There are many people that feel color makes very little to no difference at all, and they generally want to make sure that others hear their opinion about it.    If we were being honest it would be fun to know how many different colors of plastics that they have in their bags/boats right now.

It reminds me of that old adage, "Do as I say, not as I do."

 

 

[Ratherbfishing]

I'm a broken record when I say this but color doesn't matter at all-until it does.

[Mike L]

45 minutes ago, Molay1292 said:

I find one thing that stands out in these conversations that is odd.   There are many people that feel color makes very little to no difference at all, and they generally want to make sure that others hear their opinion about it.    If we were being honest it would be fun to know how many different colors of plastics that they have in their bags/boats right now.

It reminds me of that old adage, "Do as I say, not as I do."

 

 

4....

I really don't think folks on here are giving an opinion contrary to what they belive or giving advise different than what they do or use. Call me naive, but I've been on here long enough to believe that is not the case.

 

Mike

 

[Catt]

4 hours ago, Molay1292 said:

I find one thing that stands out in these conversations that is odd.   There are many people that feel color makes very little to no difference at all, and they generally want to make sure that others hear their opinion about it.    If we were being honest it would be fun to know how many different colors of plastics that they have in their bags/boats right now.

It reminds me of that old adage, "Do as I say, not as I do."

 

 

About 6-8

[primetime]

When in doubt...Throw Green Pumpkin....Or Black...Clear water....Watermelon or smoke will work usually....That is a good base...Then match the flake to match forrage, flash, or maybe because it looks good to you? 

I have been crushed by a Pink Worm, Pink Swirls, and a banana colored trick worm....Not sure why but sometimes they want a bright color, I have had a few days in my life where Metholianate in the summer kills em like nothing else, but usually in Florida Tanic Water I stick with Blacks, Purples, and flash colors....GP/Amber flake is one of my favorites in all water colors...GP/Gold...Hard to beat...Hot sunny day...Saphire blue is often very good, even on dark days...Something about that silver flake in the blue, makes  a great color not sure why...

Always carry Chart dip or a marker....It helps...I truly believe a black worm with a chart marker could get you through most days....same with a Junebug worm or creature....

If a secret color existed....That worked all the time....I wish I knew what it was....I could eliminate about 3/4 of my tackle....

I think I buy lots of colors because I like to buy fishing tackle? and the "Just in case" excuse seems to allow me to execute purchases without guilt.

[Cgolf]

33 minutes ago, primetime said:

If a secret color existed....That worked all the time....I wish I knew what it was....I could eliminate about 3/4 of my tackle....

Kalin's Ron's craw is close, it has been consistent everywhere for me for years. May not always be the best color, but man it is versatile. I really wish I could get other baits in the color. At least it is a grub so all is not lost. 

[primetime]

Just now, cgolf said:

Kalin's Ron's craw is close, it has been consistent everywhere for me for years. May not always be the best color, but man it is versatile. I really wish I could get other baits in the color. At least it is a grub so all is not lost. 

I will have to check it out...I have not been to the Kalin's website in a while, I forget they make a ton of colors and baits...I will have to try it, I always like to use colors slightly different than everyone else...Junebug Red Flake instead of Junebug....Just figure maybe it is a new look, I like Kalin's baits so thanks.

[Cgolf]

11 minutes ago, primetime said:

I will have to check it out...I have not been to the Kalin's website in a while, I forget they make a ton of colors and baits...I will have to try it, I always like to use colors slightly different than everyone else...Junebug Red Flake instead of Junebug....Just figure maybe it is a new look, I like Kalin's baits so thanks.

It is motor oil red light. I have 2 pics, both next to a water red zoom grub. When you hit it with a led flashlight, there is a small amount of green in it. Like motor oil it is a chameleon color. Until now I hadn't noticed the green in it. 

[Ktho]

For soft plastics I like green pumpkin, black/blue, alabama craw, white for spawn, pink/purple worms. For hard baits it's pretty much red, chart/black and baitfish colors. I keep it pretty simple, generally for each category I have usually 2 maybe 3 colors at thats it. While I do think some colors work better than others I definitely am not into finding the perfect color for the perfect situation and have 15 colors of craws, worms, cranks etc. Keep it simple. I fish lakes from 12" vis to 20ft+ and I really don't think you need more than 3 or 4 colors tops. 

[WRB]

Without looking in my boat lockers I have too many soft plastics to keep track of.

The basics:

Robo worms; Aaron's Magic, Baitball, Orange crusher, oxblood, baby bass, delta dawn, blue crawler, MMIII.

Berkley, black w/blue power worm, green pumpkin w/black Chigger craws.

Don Iovino worms; Shad, smallmouth killer, R&B, DVL Spl, 

Uptons Customs; Aaron's tragic, Purple thunder, mid night, black grape /blue vain, Hersey w/neon blue vain.

Yamamoto; dark watermelon with black & purple, cinnamon with black & gold, green pumpkin with black& red.

Zoom; June bug, margarita sunrise.

Custom pours; lightning Shad, purple thunder, sculpin, pea green w/purple vain, smoke with black/silver, gold, green weenie w/ blue flake, dark red with black vain.

30+ colors in soft plastics ranging from 3", 4",  4 1/2", 5", 6", 7", 7 1/2", 8", 9", 10", 12", 13", 16" straight, curl, paddle, spade and trick tails. 

Tom

 

[Molay1292]

14 hours ago, Mike L said:

4....

I really don't think folks on here are giving an opinion contrary to what they belive or giving advise different than what they do or use. Call me naive, but I've been on here long enough to believe that is not the case.

 

Mike

 

Think you kind of missed my point.   How many people do you know that carry only 1 or 2 colors of baits.  If color makes no difference and all.

[Mike L]

1 hour ago, Molay1292 said:

Think you kind of missed my point.   How many people do you know that carry only 1 or 2 colors of baits.  If color makes no difference and all.

Ok guess I did, Sorry...;)  None

 

Mike

[Molay1292]

3 hours ago, Mike L said:

Ok guess I did, Sorry...;)  None

 

Mike

No big deal, probably could have worded it better.

[MIbassyaker]

I'm generally a color skeptic -- all else equal it matters sometimes, some places, to some degree, but in most cases, it's trumped by other factors. However, I do think there is something to the following rules of thumb:

1. in low visibility conditions, precise color matters less than just getting bass to see the bait. Dark colors, contrasting colors, or bright highlights can help. Opaque colors make better silhouettes. Also, the color of the water will tend to make some colors "pop" better than others; chartreuse seems to brighten up in green stain, orange/red in brownish stain.

2. in clear water, less-bold contrasts, muted colors, and "natural" colors (smokes, greens, browns) are preferable. Specific forage colors and patterns can tip the balance between more strikes and fewer strikes, but whether it does this depends a lot on particular lake and conditions, and it's virtually impossible to know whether this is the case without experimenting. In lake I fish with 10 feet of visibility, green flake seems to be preferable to all other flake colors, especially when the sun is out, regardless of the main color;  In another very similar lake about a mile away -- basically the same visibility prey and predator species, vegetation, cover, etc --  flake color doesn't seem to matter at all, and I have no idea what makes it different in one lake than the other -- all I know is my record of success trying different things. 

3. Many baitfish, craws and other forage species change hue slightly depending on the colors of their surroundings. The colors you see in the water, on the banks, the sand, weeds, rocks, wood will be the shades and hues crayfish will take on, and will tend to be reflected off batifish scales, etc. Thus, choosing jigs and plastics that "fit" with the colors you see around you can help, especially in clearer water.

4. There may be better colors in certain situations, but solid black is rarely the "wrong" color for fishing on the bottom, and white is rarely "wrong" for fishing up in the water column. They can work almost across the board, clear water, murky water, low-light, overcast, sunny, etc.

[primetime]

21 hours ago, cgolf said:

It is motor oil red light. I have 2 pics, both next to a water red zoom grub. When you hit it with a led flashlight, there is a small amount of green in it. Like motor oil it is a chameleon color. Until now I hadn't noticed the green in it. 

I am always loaded up with Motor Oil Red Power Worms, Trick Worms, Charlies high floater swimming worms in Motor Oil/Chart tails, and It's funny that you mention that as your favorite color...I think most people call it watermelon Red now, but It does have that added chart/change over flash, which I think makes it one of the better colors in stained water due to flash and also works well in clear water as it matches forage...I stocked up on Grubs about a year ago and have packs of the 2 colors you have plus the Kalins avacado is good as well...I was lucky to come across a huge lot of Kalin's baits a few years ago and stocked up on all colors and I have cases full of grubs and swimbaits I need to go through one of these days...My biggest bass To Date came on a Motor Oil Chart changeover (It get's rejected at the Factory and they call it "Flashing???) but I had a bunch of big Ribbon Tails in the color and they look olive in one light, and then gold or Green in the water and I wish companies would sell the color instead of rejecting it....You can have guys who hand pour do a Change Over or Oil change and I still have yet to see it on the market, I guess Flashing is bad, Charlies has a great Motor Oil color, old school companies still make some good ones...

I just went down memory lane...I do have a bunch of Trick Worms that were rejects that I told the local supplier to grab on his trip, and sure enough he came back with the standard finesse worms in the Motor oil green/chart flashing color which they don't sell, but it is better than any colors they do sell....Pumpkinseed was a mistake, and that was the top seller for a few years...I know grape was the #1 10 years ago, and I think he told me Electric Grape, then it went to Green pumpkin the last few years and now Junebug and Black and blue are catching up but this Blue Magic color is getting a huge following down here as it looks like green pumpkin but as it swims it gives off blue flashes and watermelon blue is "A secret Florida Color"....So is Black, Blue and chartruese....Fry Chaser or something like that...

[lo n slo]

right now i'm only throwing two colors (3 if you count chartreuse dye). plain old june bug and green pumpkin/dipped. 

[WRB]

My 1st bass fishing forum was the Bassmaster site followed by TBH site both changed foremat or ownership and ended here several years ago. The reason I bring this up is the subject of color for soft plastics has always been split between those anglers who use 2 or 3 colors and those who use several, those who use only high mass production inexpensive worms and those who use a variety or their own hand pours.

10 years ago watermelon red flake was #1 followed by black blue flake inexpensive injection molded ribbon tails on all the sites. Today it appears green pumpkin red flake has replaced watermelon. I call this the heard memtality, bass anglers tend to use what everyone else uses regardless if it works or not.

Another factor to consider is what color each specie of bass prefer. Florida LMB can be very finicky about what color they will eat verses Northern LMB that are far more aggressive and less finicky about color. Smallmouth bass prefer different colors than LMB and Spotted bass are very aggressive but tend to prefers green tones with chartreuse highlites. 

My point is not all bass are the same and have different prey and color preferences in the same lake, the time of day. If you are fishing for FLMB with a color they will not strike it's a long day.

You can get by with a few colors fishing for NLMB. Smallmouth or Spotted bass usually want something different than NLMB, wrong color choice can be an issue using something they tend to avoid.

Why handy cap yourself by thinking color doesn't matter when it clearly does most of the time.

Tom

 

[Molay1292]

I believe color matters.  I won't bore anyone with why other than to say, that many times I have seen where a little chartreuse or orange highlight really improves the bite. 

[riverbasser]

So getting past which color you buy. When do you change colors? When you stop catching after they have been hitting? What if you haven't had a bite all day, is it the colors fault or are there just not fish there? So change color or change lure or both? These are the questions I sometimes ask myself

[WRB]

Color is meaningless if the bass aren't there or if they are inactive.

I am not a bank pounder who hopes to run across a bite. Location is very important, depth is very important, locating active bass is very important and when I have found bass and know what depth they are feeding at color becomes a factor. So I spend a lot of time and effort determine where bass are active and what they are feeding on.....before trying to focus an what lures to use, what depth to target, then through trail and error what lure the bass will strike followed by what color works best.

Tom

[Catt]

There will be times when color makes no difference at all!

There will be times when color makes all the difference!

There will be times when you'll have to change colors often to continue getting bit!

It can change from body of water to body of water. It can change daily, it can change hourly!

My favorite color is Cinnamon Pepper Neon Junebug Laminated; Camouflage!

I caught bass from Texas to Florida & from the Gulf of Mexico to Ohio on Camo.

I've caught bass on some real crazy colors, one of my biggest tournament stringers was caught on a spinnerbait with double Colorado blades in chartreuse with a pink skirt! 

Find that on a color chart

["hamma"]

  I consider color to be very important on most days, with the other days,.. not much at all.

 I let the body of water, available prey, level of sunlight, waters clarity, targeted depth, and what type of plastic (be it craw, worm, swimbait, grub, etc.) dictate what color I will choose.        

How many different colors do I have on my boat? wow! literally a boatload.

Which do I use the most? none, they are all equal.

 Transluceints and flakes i use on brighter conditions, and solids during mornings and darker conditions.

Naturals on clear lakes, with brighter colors for muddy/stained waters 

  As for buying baits? I let experience dictate what I buy. Impulse buys are not welcomed. If im fishing and come across a "need" for something I dont have, I will seek it out. Otherwise,.. I wont buy anything that catches my eye unless its a natural baitfish color that I "will" use,... then I will still greatly debate it before i pull it off the shelf.

 I used to have a plastic tote full of useless/unsuccessful baits I had bought in my younger years, that was stolen with all my tackle and tools 12 years ago. I refuse to buy plastics that seem attractive to me,....I learned to only buy plastics in colors I will actually use.

 

[scaleface]

I get a color that is hot , I'll tend to keep using it . Right now that is chartreuse pumpkin Jelly worms .  Back in the 80's lime green Fliptail worms worked well . I only had two packages and could never find them again .

[AustinHellickson]

I've heard dark colors (black, blue, green pumpkin) for murky water and light colors (white, yellow, light green)... I hope this helps.

[Bankbeater]

In murky water I use black, black/blue, and junebug.  In clear water I look to see if there is a lot of vegetation.  No vegetation, I use a brown, or crawdad color.  If there is a lot of vegetation I use watermelon, or green pumpkin.