Smoke Colored Soft Plastics

[Finessegenics]

I wanna begin by saying I know color should be the last variable to consider when targeting bass. Do any of you guys use smoke colored baits? I was just wondering when a smoke, or smoke purple/black colored bait excels? Which forage do you try imitating ? I've also noticed some smoke baits are opaque with translucent appendages, while others are completely translucent. Can the opaque ones be used in muddy water as an alternative to black&blue? I was thinking of picking up some creature/beaver baits to use on swing heads or as swim jig trailers so my question is more directed towards that style of baits. Thank you!

[scaleface]

I havent had much luck with smoke but I rarely fish in clear water .

[Finessegenics]

9 minutes ago, scaleface said:

I havent had much luck with smoke but I rarely fish in clear water .

Out of curiosity, which baits?

[WRB]

Translucent clear plastisol is the base for all soft plastics before dye colorant is added.

Smoke is clear with slight amount of black added to look a very light gray. Smoke is a staple color fore baitfish like Threadfin Shad and Silversides. Hand pours add highlite colors to smoke like blue neon, silver/gold/black flakes, translucent purple and chartreuse for examples. The Colorado River lakes smoke with red flakes is a good color choice for spider jigs in clear water and smoke with black/purple  in off color water.

Tom

[OCdockskipper]

There is a local company here that makes a soft jerkbait called the Jerkit and they have smoke as a color.  Shortly after the spawn into the summer, I rig them weightless and have great success with them up shallow.  I suspect they look like bass fry or small minnows that are found near the shoreline.

 

My lake is very clear and has no shad as forage.  I believe that combination makes the smoke color effective.

[scaleface]

42 minutes ago, Finessegenics said:

Out of curiosity, which baits?

Soft plastics like grubs and tubes .I have used them and caught fish with them but have better luck with other colors in stained to dirty water .Now in the winter when the water is low and clear I have  better success .

[Columbia Craw]

Kalin grubs in smoke or smoke/blue flake in clearer waters have been effective for me.  I have a pseudo smoke color Robo worm that also has been effective.  I don't have any other baits in smoke.

[keagbassr]

Wow flashback! About 100 years ago [25ish acually] I would buy these smoke shad colored soft jerkbaits from a company called kadco mfg. in port orchard washington. The bass absolutely killed them around here. Had I known that business was gonna go in the tank.i would have bought a 1000 of them. @OCdockskipper thanks for posting about those jerkits  I'll have to check them out. 

[Log Catcher]

The only one I have tried is the Zoom Baby Brush Hog in smoke purple red. It has been very good in clear and murky water.

[WRB]

Note; Iovino Little Sluggers 3 1/4" hand pour sluggo in lightning Shad should work.

Tom

[papajoe222]

Smoke is my #2 color for tubes and is likely to take over first place this year.  I purchase the 3.5in. ones in 100pk. The larger ones in 10-20 packs when needed.

I've found that they excel on overcast days and in stained water.  I'll use them in deep, clear water on sunny, cloudless days on the business end of a split shot, or C-rig as a hybrid 'power-finesse" presentation. I don't know if it's the fact that the fish don't see tubes presented that way regularly, if ever, or if the color has more to do with its success for me.

Funny thing is, I don't throw any other baits in this color, just tubes. 

[Cgolf]

I generally fish smoke purple, smoke purple gold, and smoke red tubes. The first two for sure remind me of a bluegill in bright sun, so they work great when sun penetration is good on clear water. Not sure what smoke red represents but it also cleans up in clear water. I have also used sand colored tubes and while they get less hits, the bass choke them when they do hit them.

 

Once the sun goes under or it gets too wavy cutting light penetration the smoke purple based baits lose their effectiveness and water red cleans up.

[JoePhish]

Love a Smokey Shad Strike King Shim-E-Stick. 

 

[Finessegenics]

1 hour ago, papajoe222 said:

Smoke is my #2 color for tubes and is likely to take over first place this year.  I purchase the 3.5in. ones in 100pk. The larger ones in 10-20 packs when needed.

I've found that they excel on overcast days and in stained water.  I'll use them in deep, clear water on sunny, cloudless days on the business end of a split shot, or C-rig as a hybrid 'power-finesse" presentation. I don't know if it's the fact that the fish don't see tubes presented that way regularly, if ever, or if the color has more to do with its success for me.

Funny thing is, I don't throw any other baits in this color, just tubes. 

Interesting...when you say stained water, how visible are we talking? 2-3 feet? My section of the river is  at best 2-3 feet visibility. I realize it’s all relative to our waters. 

[Finessegenics]

1 hour ago, cgolf said:

I generally fish smoke purple, smoke purple gold, and smoke red tubes. The first two for sure remind me of a bluegill in bright sun, so they work great when sun penetration is good on clear water. Not sure what smoke red represents but it also cleans up in clear water. I have also used sand colored tubes and while they get less hits, the bass choke them when they do hit them.

 

Once the sun goes under or it gets too wavy cutting light penetration the smoke purple based baits lose their effectiveness and water red cleans up.

Good point on the sunfish imitation, I never thought about that. Sunfish  aren’t the main forage in my watersheds but I feel like a smoke gold/black flake would be really good at imitating shiners. Oddly enough, the only soft plastic colors that are truly productive for me are pearl and green pump orange. I’ll try using some smoke during bluebird skies. 

[Bluebasser86]

I have bags upon bags of smoke no flake Yamamoto 4" single tail grubs. Scrubbing a grub at Table Rock (and Bull Shoals, Stockton, or Beaver), is a simple but extremely effective technique.

[Glenn]

1 minute ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I have bags upon bags of smoke no flake Yamamoto 4" single tail grubs. Scrubbing a grub at Table Rock (and Bull Shoals, Stockton, or Beaver), is a simple but extremely effective technique.

So YOU'RE the reason why my orders are always back-ordered!

 

[Bluebasser86]

17 minutes ago, Glenn said:

So YOU'RE the reason why my orders are always back-ordered!

 

Nope ?, they were on Outlet Bait and Tackle for $1.50 a bag a couple years ago. Pretty sure I bought about 20 bags of 4" and several bags of smoke large red flake 5" grubs.

[Glenn]

I'm still going to blame you.  

 

[papajoe222]

3 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I have bags upon bags of smoke no flake Yamamoto 4" single tail grubs. Scrubbing a grub at Table Rock (and Bull Shoals, Stockton, or Beaver), is a simple but extremely effective technique.

I've never heard of scrubbing a grub. Care to explain?

[papajoe222]

5 hours ago, Finessegenics said:

Interesting...when you say stained water, how visible are we talking? 2-3 feet? My section of the river is  at best 2-3 feet visibility. I realize it’s all relative to our waters. 

Many of the lakes in Wisc have a combination of stained water and light colored bottom. Rather than try to match the bottom color, a smoke/purple flake seems to work better in water 10ft. and under. I can't see bottom at that depth, but the fish seem to be able to.

[Bluebasser86]

11 minutes ago, papajoe222 said:

I've never heard of scrubbing a grub. Care to explain?

Reeling a grub painfully slow, scrubbing it along the rocks. You can use a swimbait too. It's how I caught most of my fish at Table Rock in April a couple years back, like this skinny little fella.

[Catt]

My most productive color at night is called Starry Night, it is smoke colored on top & clear on the bottom with a ton of silver glitter.

[Finessegenics]

12 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Reeling a grub painfully slow, scrubbing it along the rocks. You can use a swimbait too. It's how I caught most of my fish at Table Rock in April a couple years back, like this skinny little fella.

Works wonders here too, but pearl is usually the color of choice. 

[papajoe222]

Bluebasser, is that a spot, or a LM?  I know there's a way to distinguish by looking at the dorsal fins, but we don't have them in our waters up here and when I do go south, I can never remember.