Jig skirt colors

[TriStateBassin106]

Hey all.

 

Gonna be buying some dirty jigs football heads in the next couple of days but I'm really confused on what type or colors I should get for the skirts. (There's so many different variations) I've seen colors that imitate bluegills and crawdads, but I've always kept it simple towards color selection on my soft plastics.

 

-Watermelon/Green pumpkin for clear water.

 

-Green Pumpkin/Junebug/Black and Blue for those 50/50 clarity waters.

 

-Junebug/Black&Blue for heavy stained and dirty water. 

 

(I've had a lot of sucess on all these colors this year)

 

Should I still keep this setup for my future jig arsenal? Or should I try to get colors that imitate bluegills and craws more? 

 

 

[JK Jake]

Those colors all sound pretty good. I’ve had many bass slam one of my trusty brown/orange craw colored jig before. It just depends on what the crawfish/bluegill in your local waters look like. I like bluegill patterns for some of my swim jigs. I understand what you are saying, it can get overwhelming, but just try to not overthink. Green pumpkin is always a great choice.

[MIbassyaker]

Why not just get a few of your old stand-by colors that you have had success with already, and also get a few new ones to try? 

 

Jig skirt color is a pretty low-stakes decision -- pretty much any color you try will get bit anywhere you throw it.  any of the colors you mention above can imitate craws or bluegill well depending on how and where you fish them.

 

If you want to know if one specific pattern is better than another for your specific waters, that's something nobody can answer unless they also know your waters....it will require some trial-and-error on your part.  So just get a few to try that look good....

[TriStateBassin106]

3 minutes ago, MIbassyaker said:

Why not just get a few of your old stand-by colors that you have had success with already, and also get a few new ones to try? 

 

Jig skirt color is a pretty low-stakes decision -- pretty much any color you try will get bit anywhere you throw it.  any of the colors you mention above can imitate craws or bluegill well depending on how and where you fish them.

 

If you want to know if one specific pattern is better than another for your specific waters, that's something nobody can answer unless they also know your waters....it will require some trial-and-error on your part.  So just get a few to try that look good....

Thanks man, i'll probably just get my already specific colors, besides it's only the skirt, the trailers is what really matters 

[Black Hawk Basser]

I've found that as long as the skirt is primarily in the darker color realm, that's all that has mattered for me.  My best colors, no matter what the water clarity is are green pumpkin w/chartreuse highlights, black with blue flake, and one called New Missouri Craw that I found on eBay.  It's basically black with some chartreuse and brown.

[Log Catcher]

For jigs black/blue and pb&j are about all I use.

[WRB]

The 1st jig I can remember was a black Doll Fly hair jig, the second was brown,the 3rd was purple. All solid hair jig colors and they caught bass. 

The next generation was vinyl skirts and you guest it black, brown and purple in solid and mixed colors and they caught bass. Vinyl skirts expanded to add pearl white, charteuse and blue that also came in mixed colors popular as spinnerbait skirts. The blue and black combo vinyl became a popular jig skirt in the late 60's and continues to this day as the most popular jig skirt color sold.

Silicine skirts with colored flakes came out in the 80's along with living rubber skirts in solid colors and vinyl became obsolete although still very effective skirt material.

There isn't any reason to limit skirt color combinations they all will catch bass under specific conditions.

I started making my own hair jigs in the early 70's and came up with black/purple/brown combination that is my most productive jig color to this day, I called it "anywhere anytime" because it work everywhere.

My 5 top colors;

1. Black/purple/redish brown

2. Dark brown/ green/light brown

3. Black/dark green/white (Shad color)

4. Brown/red/chartreuse (Smallmouth)

5. Black/blue

Tom

[Catt]

My jig selection is based on what they are eating not water clarity.

[Mobasser]

Over the years, I've caught the most fish on blk/ blue, brown/ orange, solid black, and recently a PBJ color. Green pumpkin hasn't worked well for me

[ChrisD46]

Football Jig Skirt Colors :

 

1) Green Pumpkin

2) Black & Blue

3) Brown & Orange

4) PB & J

5) Bream / Bluegill

 

*I'm not imitating a shad on the bottom with a football jig; only craws , bluegill and other bottom dweller crustaceans .

*For the first three skirt colors you can branch out into different color skirt sub - themes (i.e. flake colors)

*For a good example of a football jig / skirt color selection : https://www.siebertoutdoors.com/Grid-Iron-G2-Jig-471.htm

[papajoe222]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it, but don't forget good ole white.

[Munkin]

Black, brown, and green Pumpkin are my 3 primary colors. I add some accent colors when I feel like it will help. 

 

Allen 

[bassh8er]

Halloween from Siebert Outdoors is the first jig I ever caught a bass on and is my favorite.

 

I’ve got 3 jig colors in various weights and have a bunch of them instead of going crazy on colors.  I have separate colors for swim jugs though.

 

Keep it simple though.  If you make a nice presentation in an area where there are bass located, I find it hard to believe that a slight color change would have made a difference.

[WRB]

Keep in mind the OP is using football jigs, not heavy cover or verticle presentations, he is casting and retreiving along the bottom structure. 

Crawdads should be the critters these jigs replecates. Very few bluegills are located on structure areas however the op apparently lake bluegill covers. 

My suggestion for the op would be the June bug black blue combo using a green pumpkin trailer. Me, I would use PB &J with a crawdad redish brown or June bug color trailer.

Tom

[Catt]

6 hours ago, WRB said:

Very few bluegills are located on structure areas

 

Keep in mind the bass don't know the bluegill aint supposed to be there. It's kinda like throwing crawfish colors in waters with no crawfish.

[Munkin]

 

The top color "Crawdad" is the main skirt I use on football jigs paired with a GP trailer. 

 

Allen

[WRB]

6 hours ago, Catt said:

 

Keep in mind the bass don't know the bluegill aint supposed to be there. It's kinda like throwing crawfish colors in waters with no crawfish.

With hundreds of crawdad colors and dozens of bluegill/sunfish species it would be hard to use a color that doesn't work.

Just suggesting a color the OP likes so he will use it!

Tom

[Tennessee Boy]

I look at the water clarity,  the water temperature, the barometric pressure, and the main forage in the lake.  Then I tie on a black and blue jig and start fishing.