Lure selection

[Cranketybait0315]

I’ve fished for largemouth all my life and in my youth would always get a few baits here and there as I could and would always select a lure I just “felt would work”.    Now I’m at a point in my life where I can afford to buy large quantities of lures at one time to start really amassing a respectable collection.   
 

I pretty much stick to fishing the same local personal lakes/ponds and pretty much all of them are clear to ultra clear water.  With that, I’ve decided to start buying lures better suited for clear water conditions (natural colors as opposed to flashier bright colors).

 

That being said, a lot of lures have color selections with minor differences.  For instance, a jig that pumpkin with green flakes and another that’s pumpkin and red flakes.  Let’s just say you planned on spending $100 (to make it simple) on jigs.  Is it worth it to get both color options to have or would you be better off saving the money to put toward a different color you didn’t plan on buying because it’s not a “natural color” given that you mostly fish clear water.

 

 

Also, do you buy multiple sizes of the same color lures like jigs that often come in 4 or 5 sizes per color?

 

Hopefully you all get what I’m asking here.

 

thanks.

[LrgmouthShad]

My humble opinion is that profile including size, rate of fall (where applicable), and something Ill loosely refer to as “action” meaning how the bait moves (sorta fitting in with profile) are more important to bass than color. 
 

So for your example of jigs, I would rather own a few different weights and sizes of jigs with 2 or 3 basic colors than own only one size of jig in two weights with 6 different colors. Trailers are another matter. 
 

Develop confidence in colors that you prefer and then stick with those. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

1. Size/profile

2. noise/method of attraction 

.

.

.

3. nuanced color selection 

 

 

That's my order of importance when picking a bait.     When I'm looking for a Shad bait, I want it first and foremost to be the size Shad I think the big Bass or whatever is targeting at that time of year.  "Gizzard Shad" "GG Threadfin" "Sexy Shad" "4k Shad" "Shad Scales" etc. are all names from various companies who offer different shades of Shad colored baits.  To me outside of the flash qualities, color isn't nearly as important.   

 

Now for night fishing I'm much more into color selection.     Blacks, Pinks, Purples, and mixes of those three far out produce other colors in my experience.   

[WRB]

Soft plastics like worms, grubs, creature baits the natural colors are popular.

Faster moving moving lures contrast and flash are popular.

Top water lures mostly frog colors.

Swimbait that closely look like actual prey fish are popular.

All the above are popular with bass anglers.

The big question is what do the bass prefer.

Welcome to the bait monkey forum?

Tom

[softwateronly]

I think you can get by with 2; a white/green pumpkin combo and a black/brown combo.  Here's some of each kind that I have confidence in for clear water.

 

 

Those are my green pumpkin/white combos.

 

.

 

My black/brown combos.

 

I do have all 5 colors, but one of each category is probably all I really need.  If I'm swimming or stroking a jig, I lean toward the panfish colors.  If I'm dragging, I lean toward the crawfish colors.  But I mix and match trailer color variations and also go against those tendencies I just listed. 

 

The others above are correct, profile and action are more important. and the bait monkey never loses.

 

scott

[Catt]

Seen times when color made all the difference.

 

Seen times when color made absolutely no difference.

 

Seen times when I had to change colors to continue getting bit.

 

I don't believe in certain colors for certain water clarities. If you do believe that explain Merthiolate?

[Mike L]

@Catt Makes a good point!

How does a hot pink stick worm get bit?

The ONLY time I stick to one color for a certain anything is white and only when sight fishing a bed. 
 

I have a rotation of only 3-4 colors that I can use, but only cycle through them as a last resort before moving on.

As long as a bait is chosen for where and how I’m fishing, somewhat along the lines as @WRB outlined, color could make all the difference….Or Not. 
 

Ma bass will let you know 

 

 

 

 

Mike

 

[Captain Phil]

A lure's color is the least significant factor in LM bass fishing. I have fished with every worm color made from white, to blue, to Merthiolate, to pink, to red and beyond.  A few years ago, I threw away a large garbage can full to the top with old worms. Some of them were 30 years old. Today, I fish with mostly dark purple worms.   In clear water I use shades of green.  If you have confidence in a lure color, you will throw it more and you will catch more fish on that color.  You will be convinced that color works better than some other color.  Bass don't care.

[Catt]

To paraphrase Rick Clunn & Gary Klein, we're giving to much credit to the lure & not enough credit to the angler. If you're good with a worm or jig, color & make ain't that important.

 

@Mike L Have looked at Mr Twister's new 8" Buzz Worm?

[LrgmouthShad]

3 minutes ago, Catt said:

@Mike L Have looked at Mr Twister's new 8" Buzz Worm?

I've seen it. you think that should be on my "must try" list for 2023?

[Deleted account]

3 hours ago, Catt said:

Seen times when I had to change colors to continue getting bit.

All the decent crappie anglers are like "Duh!"...   The funny part is that you can just rotate just a few colors, and keep them interested, so it's the change, not the color that makes a difference. 

[Jar11591]

For jigs I like to have some

of each weight up to 3/4oz, in natural colors (greens, browns, oranges), dark colors (black, blues, reds,) and bright colors (silvers, white, chartreuse, pinks, purples).  
 

I do agree though with those who say color importance is overstated. I don’t think it’s meaningless, but I think other factors are more important and make a difference more often than color does. 

[Catt]

4 minutes ago, LrgmouthShad said:

I've seen it. you think that should be on my "must try" list for 2023?

 

Uhh! Yeah ?

 

I throw Zoom's Ultravibe Speed Worm alot, so does Mike, just another option.

 

3 minutes ago, Deleted account said:

it's the change, not the color that makes a difference

 

And what exactly is being changed?

[Mobasser]

I have been fishing and things slowed down. I've changed worm color and drawn a strike. I'm still not convinced that color made any difference. It could have been anything.

[Deleted account]

2 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

I have been fishing and things slowed down. I've changed worm color and drawn a strike. I'm still not convinced that color made any difference. It could have been anything.

Oh yeah, that's a thing for sure, I've also just rerigged the same worm or one identical to it, and got bit, causality? I don't know, but I do know it works more times than logic suggests it should.

[Catt]

8 minutes ago, Deleted account said:

I don't know, but I do know it works more times than logic suggests it should.

 

It may be as simple as rotating though 2-3 colors & as complex as opposite ends of the spectrum.

 

Ain't saying this is normal 

[Mobasser]

What I've probably done is when I change color, I might change my retrieve a little without thinking about it. That may draw the strike.

[Mike L]

50 minutes ago, Catt said:

To paraphrase Rick Clunn & Gary Klein, we're giving to much credit to the lure & not enough credit to the angler. If you're good with a worm or jig, color & make ain't that important.

 

@Mike L Have looked at Mr Twister's new 8" Buzz Worm?

No I really haven’t!

There are so many so called “knock off’s” of the UV Speed Worm lately that it’s hard to keep up with. 
Speed Senko, Z Man, Big Bites, Tour and others all have one. 
 

It’s just that I have so much confidence and a long term successful history with the Speed Worm, I really just look past everything else. 
 

That said, the one that has me intrigued is the Berkeley Speed Boss only because of the dual tail design but it really has to be something special. 
 

But, I will definitely check out that Buzz Worm first before anything else!

Thanks for letting me know about it!
 

 

 

Mike
 

[WIGuide]

Over the past few years, I've been subscribing to the thought process of less is more...to an extent. I still like to have some choices when it comes to colors, but I have started to narrow it down. To stick with your example of jigs, I'd rather have 2 of the same color in different sizes than 2 nearly identical colors in the same size. For my jigs, I carry 5 colors and have multiples of each size. If a slight color difference is needed I can change that with my trailer, but the 5 colors I carry I have a lot of confidence in and feel prepared for any water color I might come across. 

[Bankc]

I would just buy a few lures to start.  Figure out what works for you and what doesn't.  Then, buy more in different colors and sizes of the ones that were working for you.  Don't buy a whole bunch of new lures at once, if you're not experienced with fishing them.  It's too hard to put in the time to learn the quirks of that lure, if you've got a million others to go through.  And then you'll just have a giant collection of lures that don't do you much good.  

 

If it's a lure I haven't tried before, I'll just buy one.  Usually in a high contrast color, since most of my lakes are on the stained side.  If I wind up liking it, I might buy another in a different size or color.  If it makes it into a regular rotation, I'll buy one in a natural color for the rare times I do actually fish semi-clear waters.  

 

I'm of the philosophy that it's better to have 5 lures that you're really good with, than to have 500 lures that you're not familiar with.  

[casts_by_fly]

15 hours ago, Cranketybait0315 said:

I’ve fished for largemouth all my life and in my youth would always get a few baits here and there as I could and would always select a lure I just “felt would work”.    Now I’m at a point in my life where I can afford to buy large quantities of lures at one time to start really amassing a respectable collection.   
 

I pretty much stick to fishing the same local personal lakes/ponds and pretty much all of them are clear to ultra clear water.  With that, I’ve decided to start buying lures better suited for clear water conditions (natural colors as opposed to flashier bright colors).

 

That being said, a lot of lures have color selections with minor differences.  For instance, a jig that pumpkin with green flakes and another that’s pumpkin and red flakes.  Let’s just say you planned on spending $100 (to make it simple) on jigs.  Is it worth it to get both color options to have or would you be better off saving the money to put toward a different color you didn’t plan on buying because it’s not a “natural color” given that you mostly fish clear water.

 

 

Also, do you buy multiple sizes of the same color lures like jigs that often come in 4 or 5 sizes per color?

 

Hopefully you all get what I’m asking here.

 

thanks.

 

I have probably 6 or 8 different variations of bluegill, bream, pumpkinseed, green pumpkin, and similar in both swim jigs and bladed jigs.  I think most of the time there is a negligible difference between them and all of them would work just the same.  Then again, there are a few times when maybe the water is just a little dirtier than normal and I want a flash of bright in it or maybe this lake has lots of pumpkinseeds and they tend to be more tan/purple.  In those edge cases I'll adjust which one I put on.

 

think about it logically though- in the instances where it doesn't matter you have 8 'bluegill' colored ones that will all work.  In the instances where it DOES matter, you have 8 different ones to try.  So for me, I'll have a little of each for the cases when it does matter.