Green/blue baits--a theory

[WRB]

Green weenie w/blue flake was the hottest color out west during the 80's. 

Iovino's Smallmouth Killer lime green blue is one of my go to colors.

Tom

[Bluebasser86]

Solid blue with blue flakes is one of my go to colors. Sapphire blue, backwater blue, swampwater blue, whatever the company calls it, that color catches me a ton of fish.

[Bass Rutten]

Not trying to be a smarty pants but research has found that largemouth bass can only discern the colors green and red and blue and black look the same to them as does chartreuse and white.
 

https://www.gameandfishmag.com/editorial/what-colors-do-bass-see/372341

 

 

[Bluebasser86]

7 minutes ago, Bassjam2000 said:

Not trying to be a party ? but research has found that largemouth bass can only discern the colors green and red
 

https://www.gameandfishmag.com/editorial/what-colors-do-bass-see/372341

 

 

Those are the colors they can see well. They may not see a distinct difference between black and blue for instance, but there's still a difference in the darkness of one versus the other, which causes contrast and can help a fish pick out a bait from the surroundings.

 

Been too many times I've been fishing one color and been tearing them up, ran out of that color and switched to a different color of the same bait, and it was like someone turned the switch off. Or been in the boat with someone fishing the same bait in a different color and one person is getting all the bites while the other isn't. They may not see them the same as we do, but there's certainly times that color makes a difference, and not just red and green.

[Bass Rutten]

6 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Those are the colors they can see well. They may not see a distinct difference between black and blue for instance, but there's still a difference in the darkness of one versus the other, which causes contrast and can help a fish pick out a bait from the surroundings.

 

Been too many times I've been fishing one color and been tearing them up, ran out of that color and switched to a different color of the same bait, and it was like someone turned the switch off. Or been in the boat with someone fishing the same bait in a different color and one person is getting all the bites while the other isn't. They may not see them the same as we do, but there's certainly times that color makes a difference, and not just red and green.

Weird, when i posted the comment it said “hidden” which is why i edited it, guess it wasn’t hidden. Contrast is likely the factor rather than color.

[Todd2]

14 hours ago, RoLo said:

 

During his heyday, Roland Martin's favorite color was 'Blue'

So I read the whole section from the 1980 Bassmaster hardback book..Purple was considered number #1 and Black and Blue were tied for #2.  The funny thing is if you read the whole section on worms, not much has changed in 40 years. No mention of tungsten and fluoro of course but the basics haven't changed in regards to the Texas rig at least.

[Mobasser]

22 minutes ago, Todd2 said:

So I read the whole section from the 1980 Bassmaster hardback book..Purple was considered number #1 and Black and Blue were tied for #2.  The funny thing is if you read the whole section on worms, not much has changed in 40 years. No mention of tungsten and fluoro of course but the basics haven't changed in regards to the Texas rig at least.

I agree. As much as everything changes in fishing the t rig remains the same. Weight, hook, and plastic worm. I was told about purple being a good color here in Missouri many years ago. It's been the best, with blues a close second, both plain and with glitter added. Lately, we've been catching fish on the Roboworm Folkestad Special, which is purple all the way.But over the years we've caught them on Creme, Culprit, Manns, Fliptail, and Ditto Gator Tail, and the purple Lucky Strike worms from Wal Mart. All have worked at one time or another, with these companies version of purple being the best color overall. Why purple? That I don't know....

[plawren53202]

10 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Been too many times I've been fishing one color and been tearing them up, ran out of that color and switched to a different color of the same bait, and it was like someone turned the switch off. Or been in the boat with someone fishing the same bait in a different color and one person is getting all the bites while the other isn't. They may not see them the same as we do, but there's certainly times that color makes a difference, and not just red and green.

This has been my experience as well. Granted, I firmly believe that the factors in order of importance are (1) location--both geographical and structure or cover (can't catch fish where there aren't any); (2) presentation/bait type (like crankbait vs. soft plastic); and then (3) color. 

 

I've fished at times where color made little or no difference at all. Memorial Day weekend, at one of my extended family's farm ponds, I was catching fish after fish on a Nirvana (green pumpkin/blue) 6th Sense Divine Shaky head worm. So many in fact that I ran out of that color. Switched to Junebug, made absolutely no difference at all and continued to catch them. Location and presentation were the same, and color obviously made no difference that day.

 

However, much more of my fishing is bank fishing in highly pressured public waters, and usually I find that color (along with location and presentation) seems to have much more importance. Couple of weeks ago I was fishing at one of these places, lots of pressure and clear water. Was catching several on a green pumpkin/blue that was also a little translucent. Ran out of that color, switched to the exact same presentation and worm except in a watermelon green with red flake b/c it was the next closest I had. Different in that no blue, had the red flake, and also this worm was not translucent so colors were a little bolder. Didn't get a bite the rest of the day.

 

I used to race dirt track stock cars. There were lots of little tweaks that I would do to my car, any one of which probably didn't make much difference. But a collection of 10 or 15 of them did make a difference. I view bait color in that same way. So that is the context for my observation about the green/blue combination. I think where I'm fishing, what cover I'm fishing, and what presentation I'm using are more important. BUT...if adding a swatch of blue to my plain green pumpkin worm increases the number of bites even by a little, and I'm speculating that it's because it makes that worm look more like the head region on the bluegill in my area, then I'm going to do it.

[RoLo]

2 hours ago, Todd2 said:

So I read the whole section from the 1980 Bassmaster hardback book..

 

I believe Roland also mentions blue as his favorite color in his book: “101 Bass-Catching Secrets”.

It’s the most disorganized book I’ve ever purchased, and I wasn’t able to locate it.

I did find the following interesting quote by Roland (circa 1970s):

 

<Quote> “A poll of plastic worm manufacturers revealed that out of all their worms sold, nearly 40 percent are 6-inch purple or dark grape. The second choice is 6-inch black. Black is an extremely popular color during the spawning season. Third most popular size and color is the 6-inch blue worm. Blue seems to be a particularly good hot weather color after the fish have spawned and moved to deeper water” <Unquote>.

 

Remarkably, Roland’s personal favorite worm color was blue, and during that same era (1970s),

blue was also the favorite worm color of Bill Dance.

 

Roger

[Derek1]

I feel like color and type of presentation, matter now.  that there are so many people fishing. Been trying hard to throw something completely different then they’ve seen all day. Some times it works sometimes it don’t. 

[Hower08]

You guys keep using those colors. I'll keep using black with red since it's the only color that works ...... ?

[scaleface]

20 hours ago, RoLo said:

 

I believe Roland also mentions blue as his favorite color in his book: “101 Bass-Catching Secrets”.

It’s the most disorganized book I’ve ever purchased, and I wasn’t able to locate it.

I did find the following interesting quote by Roland (circa 1970s):

 

<Quote> “A poll of plastic worm manufacturers revealed that out of all their worms sold, nearly 40 percent are 6-inch purple or dark grape. The second choice is 6-inch black. Black is an extremely popular color during the spawning season. Third most popular size and color is the 6-inch blue worm. Blue seems to be a particularly good hot weather color after the fish have spawned and moved to deeper water” <Unquote>.

 

Remarkably, Roland’s personal favorite worm color was blue, and during that same era (1970s),

blue was also the favorite worm color of Bill Dance.

 

Roger

I dont know why blues popularity has declined . It once was an extremely popular color .  Most people now only use it in conjunction with black not on its own . Fine with me . I'm presenting an effective color to bass that havent been exposed much to it .

[Todd2]

20 minutes ago, scaleface said:

I dont know why blues popularity has declined . It once was an extremely popular color .  Most people now only use it in conjunction with black not on its own . Fine with me . I'm presenting an effective color to bass that havent been exposed much to it .

Later today in the Blue Worm aisle...?

 

[OnthePotomac]

Green and blue is the color of a lot of crawfish.

[RoLo]

On 7/2/2020 at 8:50 AM, scaleface said:

I dont know why blues popularity has declined . It once was an extremely popular color .  Most people now only use it in conjunction with black not on its own . Fine with me . I'm presenting an effective color to bass that havent been exposed much to it .

 

Back in the 60s & 70s, I don't recall seeing Black-&-Blue worms, not until the multi-colored worms appeared

like Fire & Ice & Tequila Sunrise ~ ~ The first worms were monotone colors like purple, black, strawberry,

blue, plum & grape. If Black & Blue were available at the onset, I believe it would've have bumped plain blue early on.

A Black & Blue worm plays right into my hands, because my favorite worm color is 'black',

but most of my worm fish were probably boated on a blackish worm with bluish highlights.

 

Roger

[Manifestgtr]

Guntersville craw and milfoil craw have been really good for me this year. I can only assume it has something to do with bluegill and craws...but I also don’t think a TON of guys throw that pattern around me. There’s a lot of straight watermelon and black/blue around here. 
 

It’s tough to tell though...sometimes I wonder if the bass I just caught would’ve just as readily hit pumpkin. 

 

[scaleface]

The hot worm for me this summer is 

[TnRiver46]

On 6/30/2020 at 4:41 PM, Todd2 said:

I found this gem in my 1980 Best of Bassmaster that my older brother gave me years ago.?

Amen!