Colors

[Black Hawk Basser]

54 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

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).  

I find that you can start fishing using the general color theories, then refine from there.  When you fish enough at a particular body of water, you can really hone in on what seems to work best.  This obviously applies not just to color choices.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

4 hours ago, Catt said:

 

 

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!

Correlation without causation is always a possibility with so many variables and uncontrollable aspects. Anecdotal evidence is not without merit but is what it is. 

[WRB]

Color matters when it maters a ole Catt once said.

When bass are on a specific color and you don't have it's a long frustrating day on the lakes I fish. Florida strain LMB can be very selective about colors and lures.  We call northern strain LMB "easy bass" because they are more aggressive and less selective about lures or color.

It's difficult to explain how tough FLMB can be vs NLMB until you fish lakes with only FLMB or NLMB strains. When I had a opportunity to teach a freind to jig fish we always fished a lake with NLMB because they are so much easier to detect strikes and catch.

Tom

[fin]

10 hours ago, Catt said:

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

I interview almost every fish I catch, unless there's people around.

[Bankbeater]

Grape / purple has been my go to color for years. 

 

[scaleface]

15 hours ago, Bankbeater said:

Grape / purple has been my go to color for years. 

 

It seems purple is popular with us Missouri anglers .

[thinkingredneck]

All I know is on most days on the rez, either Junebug or Candybug work better than Green pumpkin, watermelon red flake or black.  Same bait or retrieve.  I generally start with one in trick worm, when it works, I then change worm shapes to see which shape they like, such as ribbon, u vibe etc.  Probably BS and I should just throw trickworms.  I dunno.  Keeps me entertained.  I think flakes matter in dingy water.

[Deleted account]

On 5/12/2019 at 8:04 AM, Mobasser said:

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.

Were you fishing in the same spot or moving around while giving each color 30 minutes?  The number of bites may have nothing to do with color. I will say though that purple is one of my favorite worm colors.

On 5/13/2019 at 11:53 AM, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

Correlation without causation is always a possibility with so many variables and uncontrollable aspects. Anecdotal evidence is not without merit but is what it is. 

So coffee, bourbon, cigars, and multiple sex partners don't actually cause.....  

[Jigfishn10]

Fishing in FLA back in late February in Disney. I went out with a guide for 2 hours and started at 1:00 pm. Mostly sunny skies and was warned that the bite was very slow. Only 1 was boated the whole day.

 

I got 10 fish. I'm going from memory here, but 1 was on a white fluke fishing over weeds, I think it was hydrilla (I'm botanically challenged), the other 9 were on a hump covered with the same vegetation. The 9 were caught on 5 different colored swim senkos. Smoke, black blue, pumpkin, a motor oil type color (not sure what Yamamoto Baits calls it) and watermelon. My guide caught 4 on fluke, spinnerbait and lipless crank.

 

My retrieve was a slow, worm hopping type retrieve, letting it fall into pockets in the vegetation. I don't know how my guide was retrieving his lures, but I'm guessing it wasn't a steady retrieve.

 

Was it the color? Was it the presentation? Was it the location?

 

Color didn't matter that day. I'm guessing the combination of location and presentation won out. I could have just caught it right when the fish went into feeding mode, who knows. I think color matters on some days, presentation on others and location on all days. Sometimes it's a combination of 2 of 3 or all 3.

 

Personally, I really like the dumb luck days. Very relaxing to me.

[Mobasser]

3 hours ago, BassWhole! said:

Were you fishing in the same spot or moving around while giving each color 30 minutes?  The number of bites may have nothing to do with color. I will say though that purple is one of my favorite worm colors.

So coffee, bourbon, cigars, and multiple sex partners don't actually cause.....  

I stayed on the move, moving to several spots to try the colors. Sometimes it made a difference, sometimes not. And yes, purple/ grape has always been good for me too

[Catt]

@Jigfishn10 I see that a lot on Toledo Bend, some days you can go all day on a single color & the next day ya gotta change 2-3 times.

 

Why?

 

I aint got nuthin! ?

 

It's one of dem things ya can't control so I just roll with it. 

 

Toledo Bend it's Reds, Plum Apple, Candy Apple, Red Bug, Red Shad; on any given day.

[Todd2]

13 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

It's one of dem things ya can't control so I just roll with it. 

 

Until somebody learns to speak to these things or they start reading Bass articles to learn what to bite..that's all you can do.

 

We worked a channel bank back in April...3 in a boat. Throwing green pumpkin, water melons and had made a couple of passes because we were kind of stuck in an area because of wind. I switched to a Watermelon Red and I started catching. My buddies told me it was because I was in front. So I went to the middle, kept catching, caught a couple more and had to give it up....lol...That red flake had to be the difference that day.

[Big Rick]

Zoom makes limited color runs. One of those is Candy Bug. And it is AWESOME. Its June bug with some different flakes in it. 

[yosef]

I would think color matters more when the sun is out and shining but I’m no expert . 

[WRB]

1 hour ago, yosef said:

I would think color matters more when the sun is out and shining but I’m no expert . 

Definately matters to the human eye and brain, bass........you need to ask them.

Tom