Bass and Crappie Colored Lures???

[HaydenS]

Hey guys,

I am wondering when you should use bass or crappie colored lures?  I see that the vast majority of lures come in a crappie or bass color, and I'm wondering if these color patterns are mostly for targeting bigger fish, who would be snacking on big crappie or small bass?  I have thrown lures in these patterns, but I've never had any luck on them, have you?

Any advice or thought would be appreciated!

 

[jimmyjoe]

   I notice you're in the Midwest. So am I.

   Baby Bass is probably my #2 color, behind shad. And a Bandit 200 in Crappie is a lure that I have to have in my box all the time.

   Both are very productive. The Baby Bass is productive because bass are cannibalistic. The Crappie pattern is productive because in some lakes the crappie spawn produces fry so  numerous that the result is a veritable feast.

   The Baby Bass is productive all year long. The Crappie pattern is usually most productive in the late summer and early fall. 

   These "rules" are for smaller and mid-sized bass, not the "big mamas". Mid-size bass move around and move in to attack lures. Big mamas are masters of ambush and patience.   

   Targeting bigger fish takes knowledge of where they are and which presentation to use. That's something I'm still trying to learn. 

 

   jj

[Sphynx]

I generally will lump most of those colors together with perch colors, sunfish colors, all the "non-shad" baitfish, one works as well as another mostly and if they are the primary forage for bass when/where I am fishing I will throw one, the dirtier the water the more bold a color pattern I like to use unless the fish are telling me something different 

[scaleface]

I have a crappie Deep Wee R  that works real well  .Bomber Model A in Baby Bass is another favorite .I dont think bass are mistaking them for crappie or bass  they are just eating them . 

[Hammer 4]

I always have flukes in baby bass, and yup, they catch fish. I also have small swimbaits in crappie, and bluegill. And to throw a curve ball in there, I also throw a number of different baits in rainbow trout, all of which work very well,

Keep in mind, you can use a number of different colors, ect. But the bass need to see them. So finding the bass should be anyone's first priority, before color.

I would keep throwing those color/patterns you will catch em sooner or later.

BTW, a lot of the ponds/ lakes I fish do not have trout in them, but they still work.

[Mobasser]

One of my better colors for topwater is Heddons baby bass. Bass color on top of these baits, with white on the bottom. I think most times it's the white underside that makes it work.

[Spankey]

In a hard bait they are not my first to have tied on but in the Bomber and Bandits they’ve proven to be pretty effective. Rapala bass has been productive over the years also. Bomber has or did have a nice selection of bass variations. 

[BlakeMolone]

So a crappie pattern or a bass pattern probably doesn’t make a fish say “oh that’s a baby bass” they just sense a food like object blowing past them and they eat it.

[jimmyjoe]

1 hour ago, BlakeMolone said:

So a crappie pattern or a bass pattern probably doesn’t make a fish say “oh that’s a baby bass” they just sense a good like object blowing past them and they eat it.

 

   I think you're probably correct ....... if it's moving fast and the visibility isn't good. However, I also think (this is an opinion, mind you) that the slower you retrieve a lure and the clearer the water, the more difference patterns make. The vast majority of my fishing is done in water that resembles mud, and I count on contrast and water displacement, not color or pattern. That's why "shad" is my number one. But the most difficult fishing I face is clear water, because I see it so seldom around here. That's when patterns seem to stand out.

   jj

[Dens228]

8 hours ago, Sphynx said:

I generally will lump most of those colors together with perch colors, sunfish colors, all the "non-shad" baitfish, one works as well as another mostly and if they are the primary forage for bass when/where I am fishing I will throw one, the dirtier the water the more bold a color pattern I like to use unless the fish are telling me something different 

I do pretty much the same.

Shad and non shad.......some of the non shad are along bluegill colors, some crawfish.  

I am of the school that a bass comes up on the movement of a bait, it doesn't come up to strike the bait thinking it's a shad and then change it's mind because it says to itself, "Oh darn that's a bluegill" and turn back. 

[galyonj]

11 hours ago, jimmyjoe said:

Big mamas are masters of ambush and patience.

 

Big fish don't get big by burning calories racing around after food.

[Dens228]

44 minutes ago, galyonj said:

 

Big fish don't get big by burning calories racing around after food.

And exactly the reason they don't turn down a moving bait going right past them that is a color different from what the articles say it needs to be.  

[J Francho]

I had a bass patterned Rebel Deep R in the 80s that caught so many species.  Clearly, it's not just bass that like to eat bass.

[jimmyjoe]

1 hour ago, Dens228 said:

And exactly the reason they don't turn down a moving bait going right past them that is a color different from what the articles say it needs to be.  

 

   Aha! You're working for the Bait Monkey, aren't you?  I can see $ going bye-bye.     ???       jj

[MAN]

I agree with what someone else mentioned above. A bass generally won't be able to decipher the lure pattern while its running past them. The profile is what matters. But just having 1 silver colored minnow just isn't as fun as having 8 different silver shad patterns in your tacklebox.    

[Dens228]

1 hour ago, jimmyjoe said:

 

   Aha! You're working for the Bait Monkey, aren't you?  I can see $ going bye-bye.     ???       jj

Actually the opposite.   When I find what I like I generally have it in two colors. Two of each color for when I lose one......lol  So a given lure I usually have four of. 

[scaleface]

If you throw a gold fish into a lake its going to get eaten even though no gold fish exist in that water .

[MAN]

45 minutes ago, scaleface said:

If you throw a gold fish into a lake its going to get eaten even though no gold fish exist in that water .

Thats my go-to bait in my neighborhood lake!  Goldfish from Petco.  They work all the time, everytime. 

[ajschn06]

I had a custom Baby Bass DT-6 that I had painted to chase big pike.  I caught very few pike on it, but I caught more quality bass on it than I have any other crankbait..

[plawren53202]

Last fall I caught a bass in my subdivision pond that had a tail sticking up out of its throat. I pulled it out far enough to see what kind of bait it belonged to, and yup, sure enough, it was a baby bass.

 

I throw bass pattern baits (usually a trap or a fluke) and they have caught fish for me. I suspect that in a pond like my subdivision pond, baby bass make up a not insignificant portion of a bass's diet. Having said that, I also agree with the posters that say that you could take a baitfish-type bait representing a fish not present in a particular body of water and bass would bite it. I catch fish in my subdivision pond on shad mimicking baits frequently and there are definitely no shad in that pond.

[WRB]

The most realistic bass and crappie lures were original Bagley balsa Small Fry and they worked good.

The ugliest baby bass was Bomber 7A but worked good.

Heddon Pumpkin Seed lure worked good.

My favorite post spawn early summer top water lure is Owner Cultiva Baby bass Zig n Ziggy, works great.

Black Dog Crappie wooden Shell Cracker excellent bass pre spawn lure when crappie are spawning.

So yes bass and crappy colorsxwork.

Tom 

[TOXIC]

If you don’t have a SPRO Little John crank in the Cell Mate (Crappie imitator) color, you are missing out.  It catches everything that swims.   

[scaleface]

14 hours ago, WRB said:

The ugliest baby bass was Bomber 7A but worked good.

I never considered it ugly but yeah I have one in baby bass and smallmouth   and have caught some nice bass on them over the decades .

[MIbassyaker]

A few years ago I wanted a bladed jig in a baby largemouth color and couldn't find one.  So I made my own, and it works really well -- my secret weapon:

 

[OkobojiEagle]

I often responded to my children's bad behavior by telling them animals in the wild ate their young for less annoyance... to this day my wife wonders where 4 year old Billie wandered off to.

 

oe