Popular Colors That Don't Produce for You!

[Brett's_daddy]

Okay, we've all heard the recommendations and seen other guy's photos of their catches...Bone and Black are considered the premier fish catching colors in just about any type of lure from hard topwaters to swimbaits to soft plastics...as long as you have a variation of white and black you should be able to catch fish. That may be all well and good for most people but for me personally I have never caught a single fish on Bone or Black colored lures...not one! Most of my catches have been from lures either in a natural forage color or Green Pumpkin/Watermelon Red Flake. What are colors that you have never had any luck with despite them being extremely popular color choices nationwide?

[Dorado]

Pink Trick Worm. Guess the fish I target don’t do drag ?

[Mike L]

I don't use colors that don't produce. 

To your point, once I find a color that I have success with I don't change. 

 

I use 3 for plastics..June bug, dark green pumpkin, or a red shad. 

 

Frogs I use 2...Black and anything predominantly green. 

 

Spinnerbait/chatterbait..Whitechartreuse or Junebug 

 

If none of that works I'll go home. 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[Dens228]

Black/blue tends to not work for me.

 

That being said I wasn't catching anything in the crystal clear water of a quarry on my normal swimjig/paddletail color combo so I switched to a purple/black skirted swimjig with a blue paddletail and started catching them for the first time in that color........I guess the bass don't read fishing articles. 

 

[mattkenzer]

Watermelon with Red Flake .... not from lack of trying.

[Deleted account]

Some colors work better than others under certain conditions, but I'm certain I could catch on any color if need be. I keep the color thing simple, but I'm color blind so it's easier. I don't think there is a color I own or have used that I haven't caught on.

[Troy85]

I know red shad is a pretty popular soft plastic color.  I've tried it several times and never had a bite.  

[Brew City Bass]

Never had much luck on chartreuse. I have my best luck on extremely natural colors.

[Munkin]

Black and blue for some reason? Solid black works great, so does black/any other color but not blue. Same thing for blue back Rapalas never work.

 

Allen

[scaleface]

Red fire-tail  on plastic worms .  I hate those things . Seems like every-time I use them bluegills peck at the tail .

[NHBull]

Some versions of June bug have made it in the first plano

 

Also added perch to to hard bait colors, and don't discount chrome.

 

 

 

[Log Catcher]

Watermelon red flake does not work for me. I have also found that just because a color works really good on one type of bait it may be worthless on another one.

[haggard]

- soft plastic paddletail, green with white stripe (underbelly)

- soft plastic worm, green pumpkin with chartreuse tail tip

 

They worked far better in my mind when I looked at them in the store... than they did in reality. 

 

[Bluebasser86]

Watermelon seed, I've caught some.on it, but nothing like all the variations with colored flakes in it.

[N Florida Mike]

I dont do well with white. I do well with the various watermelon colors, except with watermelon majic, which I rarely ever get a bite on.

[Dens228]

3 hours ago, Log Catcher said:

Watermelon red flake does not work for me. I have also found that just because a color works really good on one type of bait it may be worthless on another one.

That just shows how different things are.  I absolutely slay bass on a watermelon red flake Ragetail on a brown skirted jig.  Biggest bass this year was on one. 

[islandbass]

First, let me say that I want it to work and wish it would work for me, and each time I see a big bass caught on a black and blue jig, it makes me want that even more but still kinda hurts, lol. 

 

I have even seen pics of bass caught in my state with it, but just not me. 

 

I will not, however, give up on it, and I’ll keep at even if I turn black and blue. 

[CroakHunter]

Although i caught my pb on a green pumpkin worm, I haven't had much more success with it besides that one time. 

[ItsHardwick]

1 hour ago, islandbass said:

First, let me say that I want it to work and wish it would work for me, and each time I see a big bass caught on a black and blue jig, it makes me want that even more but still kinda hurts, lol. 

 

I have even seen pics of bass caught in my state with it, but just not me. 

 

I will not, however, give up on it, and I’ll keep at even if I turn black and blue. 

 

Black and blue is my favorite/go to color. Caught my pb about a month ago on a black and blue jig. Water clarity is always on the dirty side where I do most of my fishing though. If it’s clear/clearish meaning I can see 12” or more down I’ll switch to something in the green family. Reluctantly lol. 

[islandbass]

3 minutes ago, ItsHardwick said:

 

Black and blue is my favorite/go to color. Caught my pb about a month ago on a black and blue jig. Water clarity is always on the dirty side where I do most of my fishing though. If it’s clear/clearish meaning I can see 12” or more down I’ll switch to something in the green family. Reluctantly lol. 

I hear you and surprisingly, I’ve put the black and blue in water you described. It just means there were probably no bass there. I’ll keep at it because I really like how the black and blue combo looks and know it’s a great color combo. Catching a pb on it must have been sweet. ?

[ww2farmer]

7 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Watermelon seed, I've caught some.on it, but nothing like all the variations with colored flakes in it.

Same.... and add white soft plastics and jigs to my list. I catch them just fine on white crankbaits, white spinner/buzz/chatterbaits, white frogs, white swim jigs, but a white worm/creature/craw, or white flipping/finesse/football jig hauls water for me. The only white soft plastic that's ever really produced for me has been soft jerk baits, but I catch 10x more on bubble gum, or a natural color that I don't even bother buying white ones anymore. 

 

As for variations of basic colors that I don't like:

Black w/red flake...black/blue, or black/purple flake are go-to colors for me

Green pumpkin w/ blue or red flake, and green pumpkin magic don't seem to catch much for me... straight green pumpkin, green pumpkin candy, green pumpkin with purple flake are Staples in my boat.

Plain watermelon, watermelon magic, various versions of "Mardi gras", or "baby bass" are duds for me. Watermelon candy, and watermelon red are both go to colors though.

Not a fan of June bug w/red flake, love straight June bug.

And I also don't like laminate colors much like : sprayed grass, summer craw, morning dawn, black shappire, etc...the only laminate I really really like is bold bluegill. I am also a fan of chartreuse or orange dipped tails/claws/etc... but factory made chartreuse tips/tails/claws or other colors on soft plastic's seem to not catch them really good for me.

[thinkingredneck]

I fish stained and muddy water.  Reds are not consistent for me.  Trying to find something as good as June Bug.

[Catt]

Green Pumpkin ?

[TOXIC]

Back in the day.....before Yamamoto refined their injection process, as pro-staff I was able to get "mistakes" or plastics that didn't pass the strict Yamamoto QC standards.....a little bleed of color where it shouldn't be......a little too much or not enough flake.....color not exactly right and a host of other reasons.  I would get them in 100 count bulk bags.  I caught more dang fish on the "mistakes" than you could imagine.  One year I caught 5 citation fish (over 8lbs) on one color of "mistake".  I have the remnants of an old bag of "mistakes" in a purple/red laminate that are tearing up the bass on the Potomac this year.  When that bag is gone, there will be no more.  I have greatly relaxed my pickiness on color as a result of fishing these cast offs.  

[WVU-SCPA]

15 hours ago, reason said:

Some colors work better than others under certain conditions, but I'm certain I could catch on any color if need be. I keep the color thing simple, but I'm color blind so it's easier. I don't think there is a color I own or have used that I haven't caught on. 

If it wasn't for the description on the package I wouldn't know there is a difference in many of the plastics.  I'm often told my trailer doesn't match the jig.....but they still catch fish.

 

Did have a pair of the Enchroma colorblind glasses,  it was crazy seeing the difference in some plastics I thought were very similar.