Catt n Colors!

[Catt]

When it comes to selecting colors everyone has their own personal repertoire of confusion!

I have seen days/nights where color made absolutely no difference what so ever.

Many times I've seen 4-5 boats with 2 anglers per boat, all within casting distance of each other, all throwing Baby Brush Hogs in various colors, & all catching quality/quaintly.

I have seen days/nights where color made all the difference in the world.

Back in the 70s I set a record for the largest 15 bass sack with a 3/8 oz spinnerbait with a pink/chartreuse skirt & a #5 chartreuse Colorado blade...2 nd & 3 rd place was Larry Nixon & Tommy Martin...we were all in the same cove.

I have seen days/nights where I had to constantly change colors to continue getting bit!

Colors at night

I throw the same colors at night that have been productive during the day.

If I'm on a productive pattern that includes a Redbug worm you can bet your sweet bippy that I'll be throwing that worm after the sun sets!

I let the bass tell me, hey dummy I don't like that color no mo! 

Spinnerbaits, crankbaits, buzzbaits, chatterbaits ect

I feel flash & vibration are more important than color...see the top three comments!

That's good start from a dumb Cajun

[j bab]

41 minutes ago, Catt said:

I let the bass tell me, hey dummy I don't like that color no mo! 

Wise words!

[roadwarrior]

When I first met Big O we had a great discussion on color. The take-away was this: The "right color" can make good fishing better. So, when you have a profile/ action that's working, you might want to test  a few more colors of the same lure.

 

 

[Paul Roberts]

I've read an awful lot on light, color, and fish vision, and even talked to some of the big-wig researchers in the field. I "know" a lot. I can certainly talk theory. But I've never seen enough on the water to make color a major factor for me. I think I've seen some real empirical evidences -and I've got my druthers- but I also simply don't trust angling enough as a sampling method to say I "know".

I've also seen and heard of too many instances like one KVD offers in one of his books on color (paraphrased): "A group of top finishers in a tournament were out sharing a main lake point, working hard, and catching fish on plastic worms. What was interesting was we had all divined a color that worked best. What was most interesting was that we had all divined a different color."

I like Al Lindner's take (paraphrased): "Factors that affect fishing are like a giant tree, the fundamentals being the trunk, conditions and circumstances the branches... things like color are out there at the leaves." I for one have some trouble trusting what's out there fluttering with every errant breeze.

 

[RB 77]

Man, color is funny thing. Some days it doesn't matter, other days it makes all the difference in the world. Even with just a subtle change in the color hue of the plastic. I have seen it where literally the color of the flake is making and breaking a bite. Same exact color worm, with the same exact presentation with just one different flake color in it meant the difference in getting bit or not! However, generally speaking, presentation (along with location) rule the roost as far as finding a bite pattern goes IMHO.

[S. Sass]

3 hours ago, Catt said:

I let the bass tell me, hey dummy I don't like that color no mo! 

Spinnerbaits, crankbaits, buzzbaits, chatterbaits ect

I feel flash & vibration are more important than color...see the top three comments!

^^^ This all day long.

[Catt]

I aint talking one or two instances but dozens over yrs & various bodies of water.

[WRB]

If the majority of anglers fishing a specific body of water with green pumpkin-red flake then the majority of bass are caught on that color. The question is zgreen pumpkin-red flake the color preferred by the bass? You will never know if that is all you throw.

Nearly every lake I fish has a different color that out fishes other colors regarding soft plastics. Threadfin shad are the predominate baitfish in the lakes I fish, so that is the color to start with.

For me depth and location trumps everything, have to find bass first to catch them.

Tom

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

To me, changing colors (and some other details ) "correlation without causation ". There's no way to know if you would have caught the fish or not if you hadn't changed. 

[gobig]

I would go with contrast over color

[Molay1292]

29 minutes ago, gobig said:

I would go with contrast over color

Curious to know what it is you feel provides the contrast.

[DrMarlboro92]

I'm starting to feel like colors are close to irrelevant. I know I'm going to get blasted for this, but I normally try to imitate the primary food source and that's about it. I've never noticed that color massively effects my productivity, although on occasion I've noticed a darker yet similar color might work better when the water is muddy. 

However, there is one thing I know for certain: everyone thinks a certain color works best. For instance, I may spend all day catching fish on a red shad senko, then when I go to the bait shop to talk with the other guys one will say that nothing but a purple with blue flake will catch fish, another will say he's wrong and that only June bug works, and the third will say only green pumpkin can catch a fish on this lake. The same is true when I've talked to tournament fishers. Color conversations seem very anecdotal to me, so I normally just stay out of them. 

[king fisher]

I believe all fish use many different factors to find and catch their prey.  Movement, size, smell, sound, color, and any other advantage they can find.  If the prey they are feeding on is a certain size, and moves in a specific way, but its color doesn't stand out in any way then the fish would have a difficult time finding and catching the prey by keying in on its color.   The opposite would be true if size and movement were varied, with no distinct features to key in on, but all of the prey had a distinct color patch, or certain flash.  Then the fish would probably be concentrating on this aspect to find its food.  The smaller the prey, the more chance, of the fish keying in on a single trait to find it.  It would be much easier to notice large prey regardless of any particular  features.   Most of the time the best lure will match a combination of features.  If there is no particular prey that is abundant at the time, then a lure that is large, with lots of action, flash, and color might be the ticket.  If there are lots of one kind of prey that the fish are used to feeding on at that time and place, then match the hatch could be very important.  The same applies to a hunter. If a person is hunting for a well camouflaged animal, that tends to move around, then the hunter will be looking for a certain movement to spot the animal.  If the animal moves very little, but has a color that doesn't blend in then he will concentrate on looking for that color.  Just a theory, may be completely wrong, That is why I'm very good friends with the bait monkey I try everything.

[Jaderose]

The best I've always been able to come up with is "color don't matter....until it does"

[primetime]

Last few nights, pre Hurricane, Active Bass...Color didn't matter in fact white skirt with black and blue swimbait was working really well..I like using a contrasting skirt in front of swimbaits at night for a bigger profile and I like to have 2 colors that contrast...

I am not sure color mattered since my buddy was throwing an Electric Chicken Colored Sluggo and was catching them as well as any other lure we used...White is often good at night, shad never turn black, at least that is how I see it.

Color does matter but the issue is how do you really know the best color since you rarely try 30 different color worms in a day? The only day in my life I ever really out fished by older Brother growing up was one day I will never forget. I was catching Bass after Bass on a Pumpkinseed Culprit worm, and the normal tequilla sunrise we would always use was not getting him any strikes...When he asked to borrow one of my worms I was kind of surprised, and then we both started hammering them.

We were both so excited at how awesome the day was, so we went back to the exact same spot the next day and could not get bit on a pumpkinseed worm, same conditions, but they wanted the darker purple and red shad which were are standards....If I never had a pumpkinseed worm, I would have never known, but it for sure made one HUGE Trump sized Difference.

[whitwolf]

Color: A solution that's solved by the Individual. I have certain colors I prefer and while I have tons of different colors I usually relay on 5. I do have a feeling these colors work because I "believe" they will work and  to me confidence has as much to do with catching fish as color. 

I feel the manufactures produce so many different colors because we fisherman are pavlovian  in that the ability to see what we like makes us(fisherman) buy.  That being said I do happen to believe there are a few days here or there that color will make a difference but I know the five(5)  colors that are mainstays for me will cover this. 

In the end If you are fishing In the right place your chances of getting bit go up dramatically no matter the color.  Just and opinion from an ol' country boy.

[Raul]

1 hour ago, whitwolf said:

Color: A solution that's solved by the Individual. I have certain colors I prefer and while I have tons of different colors I usually relay on 5. .

Choose the COLOR YOU LIKE and fish it with confidence.

Where you put your bait and how you present it is much more important than of which color it is.

I know it ...... now if I could only convince the BaitMonkey of that ...... or maybe it´s the other way around, he knows but convinces me I need more .....

 

[Wind Knot]

The color of the bait doesn't matter as long as its green pumpkin 

[fishwizzard]

To keep myself sane, I try to limit myself to four colors per lure type.  I do a light and a dark, (so like a black/junebug and white) and a "natural" and "annoying".   The latter two depend on what the lure is trying to mimic.  I tend to start natural/dark, then move to light/annoying if I am not getting hits.  There is obviously some overlap depending on the lure, but it seems to be working ok so far, and I only end up with four bags of each plastic.  

The only way I have managed to "test" color is with schooling white perch.  I can catch fish after fish on a chartreuse spinner, but if I tie on a brown one the bite dies off, but then changing back to chartreuse it will pick back up.   

["hamma"]

My take on color is this:

I think it depends on the location you are fishing in relation to the sun. Case In point

 One day me and my old fishing bud, were out on his crawdad in a good largemouth bass lake. I was fishing the left side of the boat (deeper water) and he the right (or shoreline) as we rounded a mainlake point we started hitting them good. He was throwing a  red shad ribbontail powerworm, and I had green pumpkin with brown centerline zipperworm, what was odd was I was hitting them regularly, but he wasnt getting hit unless he cast to a spot with no shade.

 Now red shad is well known to he and i as a good sunny day color. As this had been proven over and over to us. And the green pumpkin just a good all around color. So it seemed as though things were in line and correct,.. what was apparently odd was his "hits" came on the shoreline facing side of the weeds, (in the weeds shade) and mine from the deeper weedline facing the sun.

 Being perplexed we switched casting directions, and the "hits" stopped abruptly. That red shad should have produced in the suns rays, but didnt, and my green pumpkin should have produced as well,...we changed sides again and we were back "on them".

Does color matter? In some instances,... I say yeah it does. And I beleive that its the correlation of the suns direction, to the backgound of the "covers color",.,... Meaning the green of the weeds and the brownish color of the shorelines bottom.

 Now, we had also determined other days, that any color we threw worked, no matter where, when, direction, conditions,... etc.

 So, in summary?,.. some days I say color does matter, and some it doesnt,  My theory is, the suns direction "may" play part in color selection as long as the water clarity, and cover present, provides the conditions condusive to allow such. Is there a "key" set in stone? I dont think so, as nothing is in bass fishing as we all know. But Im sure,... that sometimes color does matter.  We proved it to ourselves.

Keep ya line wet!

[scaleface]

Bass "can" live in a pretty drab world where color  is almost nonexistence . Maybe just maybe under these situations a color that stands out from the surroundings  triggers a basses curiosity   . We will never know for sure  but bass fishermen  through trial and error   have found productive colors for clear to muddy water . My first color choice is based on water clarity and then I will expand from there .