Yellow lures for largemouth bass?

[Outdoors]

I've never fished with any forms of yellow lures, but I recently was looking at the yellow-jointed jitterbug. How well is yellow for bass?

[RoLo]

 

One of my first lures, the Jitterbug has always caught bass, day & night.

Its better to fish the lure rather than the color, lots of colorblind fish out there  

 

Roger 

 

 

[Outdoors]

3 hours ago, RoLo said:

 

One of my first lures, the Jitterbug has always caught bass, day & night.

Better to fish the lure than the color, lots of colorblind fish out there  

 

Roger 

 

 

I think it was said somewhere that bass see red and green better, but I wonder where does yellow fall in at?

[RoLo]

4 hours ago, Outdoors said:

I think it was said somewhere that bass see red and green better, but I wonder where does yellow fall in at?

 

The visibility of any color hinges on the ambient lighting, which is ever-changing.

'Yellow' falls in the center of the light spectrum (next to green) and makes an excellent all-purpose color.

Think "chartreuse", which is the combination of yellow and green.

 

Red has the longest wave-length so it's the easiest color to be dispersed and thus the first color

to lose its identity in deep water. 'Violet' has the shortest, most penetrating wavelength,

so in theory it's the last hue to disappear.

 

Roger

 

 

 

[Raul]

Got a yellow Heddon Sonic that has been killing bass for 3 decades.

[blckshirt98]

Since the jitterbug is a topwater presentation, the fish will be seeing the silhouette against daylight from underneath and won't even know what color it is.

 

As for sub-surface, chartreuse is a popular color so yellow shouldn't be an issue.

[MickD]

Yellow used to be a very effective color for bass, seemed to have fallen out of favor.  They must have forgotten about it by now, so it will be proven very effective again and will enjoy a sudden resurgence in popularity, especially for expensive lures like whopper ploppers.

 

From my experience there are lots of fish out there that are not color-blind, too.

 

I also remember a chug bug my son had that was an ivory and black spotted pattern, sort of like a holstein cow, and it was much more effective than any other color either of us had.

 

 

 

[everythingthatswims]

A yellow/brown back back crank in stained water is one of my all time favorites

[tholmes]

18 hours ago, Raul said:

Got a yellow Heddon Sonic that has been killing bass for 3 decades.

 

I have a yellow Lazy Ike that's been doin' the same thing.

 

Tom

[Raul]

But as usual, I wouldn't say that particular lure kills them because it's yellow, got a green one that has done the same, the only way I could say this one has caught more than that one would be if I had an exact count and that ain't gonna happen, I don't count every fish I catch, only count those worth to be accounted, ya know, fish over 10 lbs , those are worth counting.

[jr231]

4 minutes ago, Raul said:

But as usual, I wouldn't say that particular lure kills them because it's yellow, got a green one that has done the same, the only way I could say this one has caught more than that one would be if I had an exact count and that ain't gonna happen, I don't count every fish I catch, only count those worth to be accounted, ya know, fish over 10 lbs , those are worth counting.

 

Lol if you lived in Michigan you probably would have never counted a single fish in your life

[king fisher]

In 1977 was 14 years old and obsessed with bass fishing.  I fished almost every day, and read everything I could on the subject.  I read and article by Doug Hannon about some research he had done on reaction of bass to different colors.  It was a long in depth article.  One point he made was yellow was a color bass did not like.  They were even repelled by the color.  He believed that green was a much better choice.  My confidence in the yellow lures I had used successfully before dropped to zero.  I went fishing with a friend a couple days later, and he was fishing a yellow spinner bait.  I put on a black spinner bait the same make and model.  It had been black with a yellow built in trailer,  I removed the trailer because I was sure the yellow would scare fish.  Of course my friend started catching bass, while I caught nothing.  It didn't help that I had told him not to use the lure because according to Hannon the leading bass expert, yellow would repel bass.  When my friend landed his 10 th. fish, I gave up and put on a yellow sonic.  I started catching bass.  I don't know if the color was the dominate factor, I'm sure other colors and lures would have worked that day.  I did learn that even experts can be wrong, and bass will hit yellow lures.  That said, to this day I will always try green first before yellow and when I buy chartreuse lures, I try to get the ones that are more green than yellow. I don't know why that article has stuck in my mind so long.  My friend still fishes yellow without any doubts.

[Fishes in trees]

It is possible to be a color bigot.   I am one.   I don't mind chartreuse, as long as it is identifiable as chartreuse.   I don't mind gold, as long as it is identifiable as gold.  I don't mind orange - as long as it is identifiable as orange.

I don't like yellow.   I don't like and won't use yellow baits.  I don't like and won't use yellow lines.   I won't wear yellow shirts, pants, socks or hats - or tolerate any yellow gear if I have a co-angler (which is seldom).  A buddy had a new yellow Siren hat once, and I insisted it stay in the truck, I loaned him a different color hat out of my fishing truck.

Not a fan of yellow.

 

I used to make an exception for corn and that even these days it has to be the only choice in the company cafeteria and I have to REALLY want some vegetable.

 

I understand that this is phobic and has very little relation to reality, but I'm good with it.  I remember reading that same Doug Hannon article and feeling like, "good, there is someone who feels the same way I do about the color yellow."

 

As a Mizzou grad, I am very familiar with the difference between black & gold compared to black & yellow.   I don't do yellow.

 

If not having yellow in the boat is costing me fish, I don't care.  It is probably gaining me fish because I don't have to worry if anything yellow in the boat is costing me fish

[scaleface]

27 minutes ago, king fisher said:

In 1977 was 14 years old and obsessed with bass fishing.  I fished almost every day, and read everything I could on the subject.  I read and article by Doug Hannon about some research he had done on reaction of bass to different colors.  It was a long in depth article.  One point he made was yellow was a color bass did not like.  They were even repelled by the color.   

 

 

LOL . I remember reading that article . 

[jtharris3]

Personally I consult my Color C Lector before I choose which color lure to fish!

 

 

[Bluebasser86]

Bull Bream Lucky Craft squarebill is one of my favorite squarebills.

[Big Swimbait]

I remember reading a while back that someone asked Tommy Biffle if he could have just one jig color - he said yellow and black.

[Catt]

@Fishes in trees what's your thoughts on yellow?

 

Totally understand! I don't do green pumpkin!

 

Yellow has been around since the beginning of lures, painting lures back then ya didn't have too many options!

 

If the spinnerbait bite is on chartreuse/white & it stops, I'll switch to yellow/white & pickup a few more.

[Outdoors]

 

5 hours ago, 1201vilbig said:

I remember reading a while back that someone asked Tommy Biffle if he could have just one jig color - he said yellow and black.

This one? The jig doesn't seem to be in the video, but he's mentioning.

 

 

 

[RoLo]

On 4/21/2017 at 0:20 PM, Fishes in trees said:

It is possible to be a color bigot.   I am one.   I don't mind chartreuse, as long as it is identifiable as chartreuse.   I don't mind gold, as long as it is identifiable as gold.  I don't mind orange - as long as it is identifiable as orange. I don't like yellow.   I don't like and won't use yellow baits.  I don't like and won't use yellow lines.  I won't wear yellow shirts, pants, socks or hats - or tolerate any yellow gear if I have a co-angler (which is seldom).  A buddy had a new yellow Siren hat once, and I insisted it stay in the truck, I loaned him a different color hat out of my fishing truck. Not a fan of yellow. I used to make an exception for corn and that even these days it has to be the only choice in the company cafeteria and I have to REALLY want some vegetable. I understand that this is phobic and has very little relation to reality, but I'm good with it.  I remember reading that same Doug Hannon article and feeling like, "good, there is someone who feels the same way I do about the color yellow." As a Mizzou grad, I am very familiar with the difference between black & gold compared to black & yellow.   I don't do yellow. If not having yellow in the boat is costing me fish, I don't care.  It is probably gaining me fish because I don't have to worry if anything yellow in the boat is costing me fish

 

 

   But don't forget, you're fishing in trees 

[Turkey sandwich]

Man, anywhere with perch or golden shiners some variation of yellow should be a staple.  Up north, bass love perch, and golden shiners are pretty much everywhere.  Is it sunny/clear water conditions? Throw perch or yellow with a brown back (root beer).  Is the water more stained/darker outside? Throw firetiger or clown colored baits.  There are reasons why bass, walleye, and pike fishermen all love firetiger.

[Outdoors]

For visual purpose, this is what I'm looking at.

 

[Catt]

16 minutes ago, Outdoors said:

For visual purpose, this is what I'm looking at.

 

 

As classic as the Jitterbug

[Raul]

22 hours ago, jtharris3 said:

Personally I consult my Color C Lector before I choose which color lure to fish!

 

 

 

The Heddon Sonic I was talking abou, the yellow one, IS Color CLector APPROVED ! You don't think it catches fish just because do you ?

17 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Bull Bream Lucky Craft squarebill is one of my favorite squarebills.

 

That thing ain't yellow enuff !

[jtharris3]

Speaking of yellow, where's Skeet Reese when you need him?!