When did green pumpkin become a thing?

[Team9nine]

Ed Chambers with Zoom Baits is credited with creating and naming the color "green pumpkin" about circa 1989. Seemed to really start catching on around the late 1990s - early 2000s, but has grown incrementally since until just a few years ago, at one point accounting for half their production and sales.

[fin]

I have some Mann’s worms from the late 70’s to early 80’s that were a green pumpkin shade, but they were transparent, where Zoom is opaque. The worms aren’t in the original packaging though, so I don’t know what that color was called.

 

There is no magic color, only magic colors for certain conditions.

 

That study is often misconstrued. It’s not that they can see green better, it’s that they can differentiate between green and red better than other colors. They don’t need a talking fish to get test results. They explain in that study how they do it. But anyway, yeah, it’s all pretty irrelevant to the fisherman.

[gall]

For me gp us a staple with brown bass. The crayfish have a gp hue to them and for some reason the clear water river and creeks it just produces. Especially with a little chartreuse 

[Columbia Craw]

6 hours ago, Team9nine said:

Ed Chambers with Zoom Baits is credited with creating and naming the color "green pumpkin" about circa 1989. Seemed to really start catching on around the late 1990s - early 2000s, but has grown incrementally since until just a few years ago, at one point accounting for half their production and sales.

 

That's it. My first Brush Hogs were green pumpkin.  It's a staple in my boat.

[waymont]

I don’t believe color matters as much as where, and how you are fishing your bait. Any dark natural color is ok by me, and the fish. Brown, green, black, purple, and any mix of them. My 2 cents.

[Catt]

16 hours ago, TOXIC said:

I have been throwing Senkos for over 35 years and even developed a couple of colors for Yamamoto.  Here’s my take......297 (green pumpkin/black flake) has proven to catch fish in the most water conditions.  I’ve caught them in tannic Florida water, gin clear lake st Clair, muddy Potomac water and all shades in between.  I’ve literally thrown it coast to coast, north to south and in every water condition and have caught fish on it. That being said, I have also found other colors that work better in certain conditions and there are some bodies of water that have better color choices specific to them.  297 is Yamamoto’s #1 selling color and it’s not just because Roland uses it or somebody won a TX with it.  It’s because it takes a lot of the guesswork out of color choice if you are in a new place or maybe not as experienced analyzing color choices.  

 

I've done the same thing with Cinnamon Pepper Neon Junebug Laminate (Camouflage).

 

It's confidence...not color ?

[Mobasser]

I remember when electric( glitter worms) first came out years ago. Guys started fishing them and catching fish, especially on electric blue and electric grape. They had they're day, and are no big deal anymore. Green pumpkin has been popular for a while now, but I think something else will come along and become the new "hot" color at some point.  It is about confidence.                                          I'd take motor oil over green pumpkin, but my confidence is in grape, purple, blue and black. 

 

[BlakeMolone]

Green pumpkin just works and it works in a lot of situations for me. Unless we are talking about swimbaits if I decide to try a new style or new bait I always buy a bag of green pumpkin just because I know it works and once I start learning the technique I will try different colors in different situations.

[lo n slo]

13 hours ago, gall said:

For me gp us a staple with brown bass. The crayfish have a gp hue to them and for some reason the clear water river and creeks it just produces. Especially with a little chartreuse 

the spots really love it too.

[Armtx77]

Water clarity thing for me when it comes to green colored lures. The clearer the water is, the better the 'green' lures work for me. 

 

I recently waded the upper Bogue Chiito River, in S Mississippi. It had not rained in about 7 days and the water was Gin like.

 

I threw a Yum Crawbug in Green Pumpkin and ran through 2 packs of them on about 35 Spotted Bass. I tried a couple of other colors and didn't get anything, including Carolina Pumpkin, Crawfish, and Chartreuse Pumpkin...not even a pick up or a strike and I'm one of those idiots that will get on a hot streak and change JUST THE COLOR of the lure to see what is shaking. So I went in and out of Green Pumpkin a few times...is it a confidence thing?

 

 

[river-rat]

On 9/22/2020 at 4:13 AM, Catt said:

Like any other color or lure Joe Pro won a couple bucks on it, everyone jumped on board.

 

Green Pumpkin is my least productive color ?

 

Same here. I can count on one hand the number of fish I've caught on green pumpkin.

[whitwolf]

On 9/23/2020 at 7:14 AM, Catt said:

 

 

 

It's confidence...not color ?

Exactly how I feel.

 

As for the topic at hand I've never thrown many Green Pumpkin plastics simply because I caught plenty of fish on my confidence baits.

[roadwarrior]

Green Pumpkin is by far "The Favorite Color".

Funny too, it isn't green, but much closer to dark brown.

 

[BASS302]

On 9/22/2020 at 2:09 PM, Team9nine said:

Ed Chambers with Zoom Baits is credited with creating and naming the color "green pumpkin" about circa 1989. Seemed to really start catching on around the late 1990s - early 2000s, but has grown incrementally since until just a few years ago, at one point accounting for half their production and sales.

https://storage.westernbass.com/mag_wb/wb_mag_summer_2019/page45/index.html

[Boomstick]

On 9/22/2020 at 9:21 AM, J Francho said:

Green Pumpkin with some colored flake, usually red or black produces well during algae blooms.  I'm not sure why, since it basically matches the water.

I always thought this is why green pumpkin generally worked so well for me, similar to how darker colors work at night or in very dirty water. Most water I fish in is typically very clear.

 

I've generally found that if some oddball color say pink that the fish haven't seen before is working on the particular day and spot I'm fishing, it usually works pretty well. But when those oddball colors fail to produce it's time to switch to something green pumpkin, watermelon or some other green or brown variant.

On 9/23/2020 at 11:45 AM, Armtx77 said:

Water clarity thing for me when it comes to green colored lures. The clearer the water is, the better the 'green' lures work for me. 

Exactly my experiences as well

[Jonas Staggs]

Green pumpkin has worked very well for me 

[DitchPanda]

I never really thought about it. For years all I threw was motor oil or grape worms and caught plenty of fish. At some point green pumpkin became my go to and it is for sure my most used color in jigs and soft plastics by alot. Is it a better color? Yes for me it is..I have more confidence in it.

[schplurg]

On 9/22/2020 at 10:52 AM, kayaking_kev said:

If you watch Roland Martin on Youtube at all, he is always talking about #297 Senkos Green Pumpkin with Black specs. He convinced me to buy some, but I throw a lot of Black/Blue, Junebug, and Black also.

"Any color Senko will work as long as it's a #297 Green Pumpkin" -RM

[J Francho]

On 9/26/2020 at 8:31 PM, Boomstick said:

I always thought this is why green pumpkin generally worked so well for me, similar to how darker colors work at night or in very dirty water. Most water I fish in is typically very clear.

Could be.  Then again, bright colors work at night, too.  Water here runs the gamut from crystal clear to algae bloom, tannin stained, sometimes muddy.

[Catt]

39 minutes ago, J Francho said:

On 9/26/2020 at 7:31 PM, Boomstick said:

I always thought this is why green pumpkin generally worked so well for me, similar to how darker colors work at night or in very dirty water. Most water I fish in is typically very clear.

Could be.  Then again, bright colors work at night, too.  Water here runs the gamut from crystal clear to algae bloom, tannin stained, sometimes muddy

 

One of my deadly colors at night is called Starry Night, it's a translucent smoke color, darker on top, clearer on the bottom, with tons of silver glitter.

 

It's a color that doesn't fit any color chart ?

[J Francho]

Monet approves.  It's a little known fact that he was an avid bass fisherman.

[Boomstick]

7 hours ago, J Francho said:

Could be.  Then again, bright colors work at night, too.  Water here runs the gamut from crystal clear to algae bloom, tannin stained, sometimes muddy.

That's true but that makes sense as they have more of a chance of seeing a brighter color so maybe a better analogy would be how in clearer waters, bright colors are usually less effective during the day, where the green pumpkin blends in and doesn't stick out like a haystack on a needle.

6 hours ago, Catt said:

 

One of my deadly colors at night is called Starry Night, it's a translucent smoke color, darker on top, clearer on the bottom, with tons of silver glitter.

 

It's a color that doesn't fit any color chart ?

What baits do you get in that color? That does seem like it would blend in nicely though.

[J Francho]

I don't know, I also throw some colors that don't blend in, and get bit.  Some are entirely unnatural.  I just never found any trend in color, let alone any set rule.  

[FishTank]

297 is only numbered senko color I remember.  It has caught a lot of fish for me.  The popularity of this senko color is why I think Green Pumpkin has become such a popular name for whatever sort of brownish/greenish bait with black flakes that come out.  It's seemed it was June Bug that played the popular name game before that.  

 

Black with blue flake is still my favorite though. But if it's not working, 297 does. It's just weird like that.  

 

 

[WRB]

I don't believe a better worm then Green weenie w/blue flake worm exist the replicates blue gill better. It's a killer color combination.

Tom