Some things that confuse me...

[freelancer27]

Hi all,

even given the risk that I am making a fool out of myself, I would love to post some topics that confuse me, to see if others have a plausible explanation, answer to it.

So here it goes...
 

1. Coloring braided line to avoid visibility

I am seeing a lot of videos out there where guys are taking a black marker to color the last part of their braided line with it. That confuses me because of two reasons:
1: Why would somebody make a green (=grass = natural) line go black? Because at the same time people say that the color black is one of the most visible colors to Bass, hence to suggestion to go with dark lures in stain water.

2. Scent: Coloring the line with a sharpie sounds fake to a human, I can just imagine how bad it must smell to a bass. 


 

1. Big baits vs small baits
   
   On the one hand I am hearing that contradicting suggestions on when to use big/small baits. 
   For Winter and Summer I am hearing people say: For winter/summer use big baits. Winter: they will only move if they bait is worth to put the energy in. For Summer: Because of the fish's high metabolism they prefer bigger baits.
   
   And then the exact opposite for small lures for the exact same seasons...
   
   
   I am easily confused...

[NHBull]

As far as braid, folks choose color for many reasons.

some like high vis as they really want to watch the line. Others god to the teens as they are less visible to fish.

the black manic market is usually used when the line fades and one believes the black is better than the lighter line.

 

i use moss green for everything 

i never use a black marker.......it just doesn't matter

[scaleface]

Small bait vs big bait ? I just try too make good decisions based on the conditions.  Could be small or big but mostly medium .

[BigAngus752]

@freelancer27 I'm totally with you on the whole lure size thing.  I really struggle even putting some of these huge buzzbaits, etc. in the water.  Probably because I've never caught a fish large enough that I thought it could handle a buzzbait the size of my hand.  But perhaps I've never caught a huge fish because I fish only medium lures!

 

You know what women say when a guy has big feet!  He wears big shoes!

[offsidewing]

Lure size?  Elephants eat peanuts.

[Fishin Dad]

I don't understand the coloring either.......buy a green sharpie!!!

[OkobojiEagle]

Line visibility lessens when the line color closely mimics the background color... from the bass' perspective.  Mid to dark brown/green when seen against a weed bed, pale light color when seen from below against the bright/cloudy sky.  Probably a more important factor to line visibility is line diameter.  Very thin lines of any color are less visible than larger diameter lines.  I catch more bass using 6lb test hi-vis yellow PE line than when using a 10lb test mono leader tied to twenty test braid...

 

Preferred bait size and silhouette varies from season to season, as well as from bass size to bass size.  I try to fish a bait size comparable to the currently preferred bait size... in a likely location... with a slightly more visible color or action.   

 

Sometimes I can't buy a bite!

 

oe

[MickD]

When you use a black sharpie you don't simply color all of the last few feet, you make the line look mottled which works like camo.  I'm not sure it really makes a difference on the positive side, but I've never seen or heard that it hurts.

 

Lure size depends on what the fish wants.  The tiny Ned rig has taken some very large fish.  I caught a 6 inch smallmouth the other day on a 3 inch glide rap.  It's not unusual at all to catch largemouths of 10-15 inches on an eight inch worm.