Tackle Colors

[Andrewphe]

Hi,

I have heard a lot about color selection on cloudy days vs sunny days, as well as color clarity with dirty, stained and clear water. I have mostly heard darker water darker colors and clearer water more natural or brighter colors. To me, this is somewhat counter intuitive. Can someone explain it to me? I've heard it was about contrast but it seems the opposite of what one might think. Thanks! 

[Brett's_daddy]

Muddy/Dirty Water = Bright (think chartreuse), gives the bass something to hone in on.

 

Clear Water = Light (think white, light blue, light green etc.) or Natural (perch, bluegill, shiners, shad etc.) as the bass can see much better and it should look as natural as possible.

 

Dark/Overcast = Dark (think black, dark blue, dark green, brown) as the bass are better able to see a dark shape in these conditions than a lighter shade of color.

 

I'm sure others more knowledgeable than I will chime in with better insight but this is what I was taught.

[WRB]

The old theory is bass looking up against the sky the surface looks light so you want to use dark colors to contrast agianst a light background. The darkest color being black agianst the water surface is easiest for the bass to see.

 In clearer water, lures that are under the water, a natural color works better than dark colors.

Lots of anglers believe in the above, I don't. My theory is anything that stands out in nature doesn't survive very long, there is a reason for prey to blend into the background, it's called survival.

Natural colors that contrast are good in clear to off colored water and un natural colors with bright contrast work good in off color to very low light conditions, sometimes the reverse works. Bass can find any color lure you use, getting them to strike the lure takes trail and error.

Tom

[BuzzHudson19c]

This is how I approach it at a very basic level.

 

Topwater - Clear water=White, Anything else=Black (Obviously there is wiggle room, but this is keepin it simple.)

 

Cranks - Clear water=Natural patterns, Anything else=Black contrasted with another color.

 

Jerkbaits - Others will disagree but I don't break them out unless the sun is shining and the water is clear.

 

Plastics - Kind of the same as cranks. Watermelon and pumpkin in clear, black and chart in anything else.

 

Smallmouth are a whole different ballgame. They have a thing for destroying bright, ridiculously colored lures. I don't care how clear the water is, Chart/Black is my go to crankbait color. I always get the feeling that color is less important with smallies than with lmb.

 

Again, others may disagree, but that is my method.

 

 

[Bankbeater]

In clear water I start with greens, browns, grays, and blues. In muddy water I start off with orange, chartreuse, and black. 

[Cgolf]

I think it really varies by lake, and I have one clear water lake that the bass are really sensitive to soft plastic color. 

 

Overcast any wind or bright with a chop - Water red and water candy have been my go to baits. 

 

Bright and calm - smoke purple or smoke red. 

 

My guess is the main forage is gills and in the overcast or choppy conditions there isn't much light and the gills look more greenish. When the sun penetrates the surface and brightens things up the gills will look more silverish. With those two options it is an either or situation.

 

I have found two colors that so far have worked everywhere, Kalins Ron's Craw and Motor Oil red. 

[RPreeb]

5 minutes ago, cgolf said:

I think it really varies by lake, and I have one clear water lake that the bass are really sensitive to soft plastic color. 

 

Overcast any wind or bright with a chop - Water red and water candy have been my go to baits. 

 

Bright and calm - smoke purple or smoke red. 

 

My guess is the main forage is gills and in the overcast or choppy conditions there isn't much light and the gills look more greenish. When the sun penetrates the surface and brightens things up the gills will look more silverish. With those two options it is an either or situation.

 

I have found two colors that so far have worked everywhere, Kalins Ron's Craw and Motor Oil red. 

At the risk of looking stupid.... what's a "gill"?

[scaleface]

 I shy away from solid colors like a completely chartreuse crankbait  . I like the baits to have patterns like shad  , baby bass , bluegill. fire tiger ... 

[Cgolf]

13 minutes ago, RPreeb said:

At the risk of looking stupid.... what's a "gill"?

 

Bluegill

11 minutes ago, scaleface said:

 I shy away from solid colors like a completely chartreuse crankbait  . I like the baits to have patterns like shad  , baby bass , bluegill. fire tiger ... 

As far as WI waters you can't go wrong with Firetiger even in gin clear waters. It has a little perch and bluegill colors in it. If I had to go with only one crank color that would be it. 

[GreenGhostMan]

To pick a starting color for soft plastics, I normally follow the below.  But if that color doesn't work, I just start going thru the colors I have.  There are times where the color they bite doesn't make any sense (at least to me).  For example, I was fishing a small lake that was ultra clear with a bright sun and the only color I could get bit on was junebug.  

 

Clear water w/ sun:  shade of watermelon

clear water w/ lowlight:  green pumpkin

stained water w/ sun:  junebug

stained water w/ lowlight:  black

[Spankey]

I know I can spin myself into the ground when I overthink colors. I try not to. I fish water that has a stain to it the majority of the time. I'm all about the color patterns mentioned above and the theories behind it. But I throw a lot of natural colors in stained water and they produce. I think firetiger craw color is a great pattern but if that was all i threw there would be many day I'd be trailered up going home without a fish caught. 

 

Two very productive crankbait colors that I've thrown over the years in stained and in clearer water is a solid black and a dark olive green Bandit 200. They both have been very productive over the years. Bandit doesn't put out colors like they use to. Bandit must have been bought out, they are not what they use to be.