Colors

[Mobasser]

Well, my wife has been gone on a trip to visit her sister in Arizona for a week and a half, so I've been fishing every night after work. I've also been doing a test on various colors of plastic worms. I chose the standard Zoom trick worm, in 5 colors, ranging from light to dark. These 5 are watermelon, light purple, green pumpkin, grape, and solid black. I've been giving each bait 30min fishing time, then changing regardless of if I caught fish or not. Guys used to talk about " dark days, dark bait, bright sunny sky, lighter baits. I've doubted this for several years now. On the overcast evenings, which were pre frontal the fish would strike most of the colors I threw. Other nights they became more picky. The overall winner in this was grape, followed by the lighter purple. Even with a bright sunny sky, grape outfished all. The grn pumpkin, which seems to be a very popular color these days, caught the least fish the entire time. Despite much research over the years, we still don't know why bass may choose one color over another. As for now, I'll keep doing what I've been doing for years, which is to keep several colors on hand, from lighter to dark. Sometimes, throwing a changeup in color can draw a strike. Others may disagree of course, but I think color is an important factor in bass fishing. Any thoughts or opinions here? How important is color to you? For those interested, I did my test with standard bass tackle. 6'6 med/ivy casting rod, 1/4 oz bullet weight and 12 lb Trilene Big Game mono line. I tried to duplicate a slow hop retrieve as best I could, to eliminate action being a factor in drawing a strike. And bear in mind, this test is not really very scientific, but it's about as scientific as I can get, bank fishing a small lake near my home. Any opinions? Do you think color is a big factor? How many colors do you carry in soft plastics. I think it's important, and can sometimes make a big difference at times.

[Dens228]

When it comes to plastics I'm generally using one of three colors.......

A lighter color, usually Watermelon/Red Fleck  80% of the time

A darker coler, usually A Black/blue 15% of the time

A natural color, usually a Green Pumpkin  5% of the time

 

The only other color I use is a Melon/Pearl laminate stick style bait,,,,,,,,,,,It is absolutely my go to confidence color for stick baits no matter what the water/wind/sun conditions.

[evo2s197]

What was the actual names of the worms, they make a Old Purple, and Black grape which is almost black.

 

But none of them go by the color name,  Grape or Light Purple. 

[Mobasser]

44 minutes ago, evo2s197 said:

What was the actual names of the worms, they make a Old Purple, and Black grape which is almost black.

 

But none of them go by the color name,  Grape or Light Purple. 

Old purple and Black grape

[evo2s197]

If you liked how those trick worms worked out try the Mann's jelly worms in grape which matches Zooms old purple, and black grape that matches zooms black grape, they are more buoyant and have more fluidity in the water.

 

Mann's make a solid producing watermelon red also but your limited on sizes in that color.

[Fishes in trees]

The only conclusion that can be drawn from that experiment is "that's what worked for you then."If I were going to try to replicate your experiment, first I'd have to go buy black, black grape & old purple trick worms.  I've got over 50 different bags of trick worms (many more counting Netbait and other manufacturers versions of trick worms) but I'm pretty sure I don't have those three colors.  I do have many different variations of watermelon & green pumpkin.  Plus I fish all those baits on shakey heads, trick worm isn't really a tx rig bait to me, a little too skinny.

 

Anyway, I remember back in the early to mid 80's, back when the Color-C-Lector was a thing.  I had access to one.

 

  It would reliably tell you which color the bass could see, in any given situation.  The issue would become, move 5 feet, drop the probe and it very likely would tell you some other color.  Move again, same result, maybe the same color, maybe not, but definitely not predictable.    Bottom texture, water clarity, clouds, sun and a plethora of other conditions made it difficult to get a predictable result, move and that result could change.   When the Color-C-Lector evolved to become the Combo-C-Lector, measuring PH along with light it became even more confusing.  PH in a given body of water isn't constant, even relatively close to different sampling points.  The guy who conducted the experiments that led to the marketing of the Color-C-Lector was a professor at Oklahoma or Okie State (I forget ) named Loren Hill.  Overall the best thing that I got out of the color chooser toy was it motivated me to buy a solid purple/ more lavender than purple, deep diving Bagley crank bait.  It caught a few fish before the bottom of some nameless pond re-claimed it and I've never seen that color again.

 

I think that the only reliable color theory is trial & error, combined with memory, i.e. "What color has worked in the past under similar circumstances". It's part of the charm of bass fishing.

 

Then, I think we've all seen situations where a color worked for one guy and it wouldn't work for you.  I have a bud whose favorite jig color is solid blue with a white trailer.   I can't buy a fish using that color.   Another instance, a different fishing buddy favors black & blue dingers as his favorite pitching bait (primarily because he goes through many of them and that is a color that is readily available at Walmart.   I can tie on a black & blue dinger, same hook, same tungsten weight, same line test, and get out-fished 5 or 6 to one.   There is no rational explanation for this ( I'm on the trolling motor and I get first pitch at most targets ).  Tie on a different color bait and the catch ratio evens out some.  Drawing conclusions from those fishing episodes, to me the most logical explanation is that he's just better at using that bait than I am.

[roadwarrior]

Big O explained it to me this way:

 

So, you are having a good day on the color you are fishing, but it might be a great day on the RIGHT color. 

[Heartland]

Baits rarely appear the same color underwater as they do in the hand unless the water is very clear.   Color is the reflection of light. Dirty or stained water does not allow much light to penetrate so many wavelengths of light are filtered out the deeper you go.   With the water filtering light, many baits will appear as a greyscale color.   This is the method humans use to see color, many fish have similar components to their eyes (rods and cones).  But until fish can talk it is really an educated guess as to what they truly see.

 

[roadwarrior]

Seriously...Fish your favorite color and you will do just fine.

 

[WRB]

Force feeding bass your favorite color may work some of the time, giving them the color they prefer works all the time. What color do bass prefer....trail and error is the only way to know at any given time.

Tom

[Fishingchucknj]

I know it’s not quite on topic. But I used to wear them out on a grape slider worm 20 years ago.

[Boomstick]

I go by the light/dark/darker theory myself. The fish can't see the color but they see the hue, so white for clear water, brown for dirty water or low light conditions and black for night or really dirty water

[Catt]

Well how y'all know for certain it was color that caused the reaction?

 

[scaleface]

I like purples greatly . Its my lucky color and has been for decades . Worms , craws and lizards in all water conditions . I use other colors but purple's are number one . That includes electric blue .

[Mobasser]

20 minutes ago, Catt said:

Well how y'all know for certain it was color that caused the reaction?

 

Catt, this is all I've been able to figure out with this test. Still not sure if it was a certain color, or my retrieve that drew the strikes. Only the fish know this

[greentrout]

44 minutes ago, Catt said:

Well how y'all know for certain it was color that caused the reaction?

 

how would you know it wasn't?

?

 

[jbrew73]

Are the lakes still frozen?

[The Bassman]

Fifty+ years ago Homer Circle admonished readers to fish any color as long as it was purple.

[Mobasser]

7 hours ago, scaleface said:

I like purples greatly . Its my lucky color and has been for decades . Worms , craws and lizards in all water conditions . I use other colors but purple's are number one . That includes electric blue .

 

46 minutes ago, The Bassman said:

Fifty+ years ago Homer Circle admonished readers to fish any color as long as it was purple.

Purple and grape have long been favorites of mine too.

[Catt]

7 hours ago, Mobasser said:

Catt, this is all I've been able to figure out with this test. Still not sure if it was a certain color, or my retrieve that drew the strikes. Only the fish know this

 

7 hours ago, greentrout said:

how would you know it wasn't?

?

 

 

It's impossible to know for certain!

 

Could have been color

Could have been retrieve 

Could have been the bass's attitude changed

 

We like to think we're that smart, but until we can actually sit down & interview a bass it's all guessing!

[Mobasser]

Just now, Catt said:

 

 

It's impossible to know for certain!

 

Could have been color

Could have been retrieve 

Could have been the bass's attitude change

 

We like to think we're that smart, but until we can actually sit down & interview a bass it's all guessing!

Catt, I'm 61 now. I may never know the answer to this, at least not in my lifetime

[TOXIC]

There are "General" theories to color and then there are "specifics" for example, on the Potomac a lot of colors work but they work better if there's a little red fleck in it.  Not to mention there are exceptions to the general rules by location.  On Lake St Clair for example, the smallmouth bite better on the darker 297 Senko (Green Pumpkin/Black Fleck) when the sun is out but let it get cloudy and they react better to a lighter 305 (Baby Bass).  

[Catt]

42 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

a lot of colors work but they work better if there's a little red fleck in it

 

Toledo Bend is the same way, Watermelon Neon (red flake) works better than Watermelon Black Flake.

 

Spinnerbaits with a red head is better than any head color.

 

[scaleface]

A color that is  hard to find ,I have only had two packs of them in my life , is bright lime green . I had a pack of fliptail worms that color and went through them in like an hour . Then I found a pack of some off name brand in a clearance bin once and went through them in one day . Its a small sample size but they worked  well . 

[KP Duty]

14 hours ago, Fishingchucknj said:

I know it’s not quite on topic. But I used to wear them out on a grape slider worm 20 years ago.

26 years ago I was introduced to the slider worm in a club tourney (I was 15).  My boater was crushing it on what I thought was a weenie worm.  I busted out my trusty kalin's on a jighead and he said 'that wont work the same'.  He tossed me a camouflage color slider worm rigged on an original slider head.  He finished 1st and I took 2nd.  Now I almost always have one tied on.