Alex led me to this:

[Swamp Girl]

3 hours ago, webertime said:

Bass see Chartruese as a white.  We have 3 color receptors.  Bass have 2, they see colors differently than us.

 

If this is true, then a totally white bait would catch as many of my local bass as a chartreuse and white bait and they don't...for me. I've tried all white many times and they're okay, but not great. My consistency, i.e. catching 30 and 40 bass per morning, gives me a pretty good sense of which colors are working best...for me. 

 

I remember days in northwestern Ontario where an orange Rapala was the bait and I'd catch 100 smallies. Then, the next day it was blue. Then black and silver. I think as the light changes, their preferences change, but I know that it's important to keep experimenting until you pinpoint what they want in each moment. 

 

 

[webertime]

Just Google "Bass color receptors"  AI will give you a summation.  Going further there's articles from this site, national institutes of health, University of Illinois.  It's really interesting stuff.

[Jigfishn10]

Color is tricky not only because of what bass see but you factor in what happens to color in water. Red, for example, gets lost after 5’ in clear water, add in a stain and it gets lost faster. 
 

I fish between 30 & 60’ of water in the ocean and a good producer is maroon bucktail. It must look like a dark gray down there.
 

In the case of of chartreuse, bass are probably seeing a shade of white that looks like “something” in their environment  

[GRiver]

@Swamp Girl I too am intrigued by the color choice of what the bass wants. What works there doesn’t work as well here and so on. Sometimes it’s a variation of the same color, green pumpkin doesn’t work as good here as well a watermelon for me, both green but different, different regions too.

@Jigfishn10 I might have to try chartreuse again, or a least buy some, since I just  made the statement that , I’ve never caught anything on chartreuse. It’ll be the only thing they bite next time I’m out and I won’t have anything yellow. 

1 hour ago, Swamp Girl said:

I know that it's important to keep experimenting until you pinpoint what they want in each moment

Totally agree, I keep trying different ones

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, webertime said:

Just Google "Bass color receptors"  AI will give you a summation.  Going further there's articles from this site, national institutes of health, University of Illinois.  It's really interesting stuff.

 

Oh, I believe you. It's just that my empirical data disagree with the laboratory data. It's a mystery to me and I'm okay with that as long as I can determine which dang color to cast.

[LrgmouthShad]

Completely agree that chartreuse and white performs differently than solid white, which are both great colors. My guess is that it’s a shading deal. Chartreuse might look like white but what shade of white? 

[Jigfishn10]

2 hours ago, GRiver said:

@Jigfishn10 I might have to try chartreuse again, or a least buy some, since I just  made the statement that , I’ve never caught anything on chartreuse. It’ll be the only thing they bite next time I’m out and I won’t have anything yellow. 

I can send my son down to make a believer out of you with strict instructions not to embarrass you like he did with me  

 

Wish ya luck man

[RRocket]

The term is "Tritanopia". You can run pictures of your bait through here if you're bored. Just choose the right filter. I've re-uploaded the images. And for fun, an orange Repala. I too suspect it's one of two things happening: there's some sort of contrast or, perhaps, there's some sort of UV the fish are seeing causing contrast. Either way after reading, I believe contrast to be quite important...especially in strolling or rolling presentations where you're "flashing" the sides/belly/back during the retrieve. 

 

https://pilestone.com/pages/color-blindness-simulator-1?srsltid=AfmBOoqH_oGfm3gDw99oNHq3z8gY9D8fmJjub692aTrEhJjjEYhajEiO

[webertime]

17 minutes ago, RRocket said:

The term is "Tritanopia". You can run pictures of your bait through here if you're bored. Just choose the right filter. I've re-uploaded the images. And for fun, an orange Repala. I too suspect it's one of two things happening: there's some sort of contrast or, perhaps, there's some sort of UV the fish are seeing causing contrast. Either way after reading, I believe contrast to be quite important...especially in strolling or rolling presentations where you're "flashing" the sides/belly/back during the retrieve. 

 

https://pilestone.com/pages/color-blindness-simulator-1?srsltid=AfmBOoqH_oGfm3gDw99oNHq3z8gY9D8fmJjub692aTrEhJjjEYhajEiO

Whoa there Rainman!

That's actually pretty cool.

[Swamp Girl]

7 minutes ago, webertime said:

Whoa there Rainman!

That's actually pretty cool.

 

Agreed. 

[woolleyfooley]

Very interested to try this. Figure I’ll use it on my senko setup. A 5” senko weighs 3/8oz. I wonder how much these plastics weigh per size. I’m trying to figure out what weight head I should go with and what size plastics to go with.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

2 hours ago, woolleyfooley said:

Very interested to try this. Figure I’ll use it on my senko setup. A 5” senko weighs 3/8oz. I wonder how much these plastics weigh per size. I’m trying to figure out what weight head I should go with and what size plastics to go with.

I feel like the 3/16th BR Fish jigheads are like the goldilocks of the options they offer.   I also feel like the 3.3" size BR Fish is a perfect place to start as I generally like to start out with the smaller options of a particular bait, and if they produce, I like to then upsize the bait to target bigger fish.    In the beginning though I like the smaller option just to generate bites in order to evaluate if the bait is good or not.  

 

So, if it were me, I'd get the 3/16ths heads and a couple packs of the 3.3" BR Fish in colors that you think relate well to your primary forage you're fishing around.   

 

These work perfectly on your typical senko rod which to me is a 7' M Fast.   I throw them on 7' M Fast rods, and fast 6 speed 3000 sized spinning reels.   

[Pat Brown]

I believe it is *yellow* and white that appear the same to a bass - chartreuse is actually yellow mixed with a little bit of green which is something that bass see very well.  They have green and red color receptors. Any chartreuse that has green in it is going to stand out to a bass. 

 

Even beyond this - I would think that contrast still exists even if bass don't necessarily have the receptors for differentiating between white and yellow.

[Swamp Girl]

4 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

I believe it is *yellow* and white that appear the same to a bass - chartreuse is actually yellow mixed with a little bit of green which is something that bass see very well.  They have green and red color receptors. Any chartreuse that has green in it is going to stand out to a bass. 

 

Even beyond this - I would think that contrast still exists even if bass don't necessarily have the receptors for differentiating between white and yellow.

 

This makes sense, Pat. It also makes sense to not be too certain about what other animals experience. When you think about how many billions of hours have been dedicated to understanding human bodies  and how much remains a mystery in our bodies, well, a minute fraction of the time dedicated to cracking our bodies has been spent on bass and there are likely factors within factors within factors that determine how bass see and react.

 

I just know that on the water I fish, chartreuse and white are fire and I whereas it might be nice to know why, I don't need to know. I just want to have a basic sense of what the fish that I target prefer. It gives me a starting point and whereas I'm absolutely uncertain about why bass do what they do, I'm 100% that because chartreuse and white worked for me a few times doesn't mean that they'll work for me every time...and I'm okay with the mystery. 

[Jigfishn10]

Not to add more to the color confusion:

 

[woolleyfooley]

22 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I feel like the 3/16th BR Fish jigheads are like the goldilocks of the options they offer.   I also feel like the 3.3" size BR Fish is a perfect place to start as I generally like to start out with the smaller options of a particular bait, and if they produce, I like to then upsize the bait to target bigger fish.    In the beginning though I like the smaller option just to generate bites in order to evaluate if the bait is good or not.  

 

So, if it were me, I'd get the 3/16ths heads and a couple packs of the 3.3" BR Fish in colors that you think relate well to your primary forage you're fishing around.   

 

These work perfectly on your typical senko rod which to me is a 7' M Fast.   I throw them on 7' M Fast rods, and fast 6 speed 3000 sized spinning reels.   

Thank you! I’ll definitely get a few different colors. I think I’ll try the Chartreuse just so I can see the bait and make sure I’m working it correctly. 

[woolleyfooley]

Figured I’d update this. I gave this a try yesterday and it didn’t go well. 
 

First, we’ve had a cold stretch of weather and it’s just starting to warm back up. The water was still quite cold so that may have been a contributing factor to my lack of success.

 

I went to a local place that has both largemouth and peacock bass. I fished a quarter ounce head with a chartreuse 3.3 trailer. I was trying to do the walk the dog action but it was extremely hard to tell if it was walking or just going up and down. Any tips on working it would be appreciated.

 

I had a few short strikes which ended up ripping off the tail portion of the bait. It’s definitely soft! The bait has a slit in it and when rigged flat side down the bait keeper comes through this slit. A few short strikes ended up almost taking the bait right off the head.

 

As far as the head, the hook is sticky sharp. Nothing to complain about so far. 
 

I’m hoping once the water warms back up in a few days the fish will be more active and I’ll have better luck.

[RRocket]

4 hours ago, woolleyfooley said:

Figured I’d update this. I gave this a try yesterday and it didn’t go well. 
 

First, we’ve had a cold stretch of weather and it’s just starting to warm back up. The water was still quite cold so that may have been a contributing factor to my lack of success.

 

I went to a local place that has both largemouth and peacock bass. I fished a quarter ounce head with a chartreuse 3.3 trailer. I was trying to do the walk the dog action but it was extremely hard to tell if it was walking or just going up and down. Any tips on working it would be appreciated.

 

I had a few short strikes which ended up ripping off the tail portion off the bait. The bait has a slit in it and when rigged that side down the bait keeper comes through this slit. A few short strikes ended up almost taking the bait right off the head.

 

As far as the head, the hook is sticky sharp. Nothing to complain about so far. 
 

I’m hoping once the water warms back up in a few days the fish will be more active and I’ll have better luck.

I may have posted this already, but this video gives some excellent tips and details on how to fish. This is my favorite video on the topic.

 

 

[10,000 lakes Bassin]

On 12/27/2024 at 10:17 AM, AlabamaSpothunter said:

with the BR Fish you don't ever pause.   Just a steady walk the dog action.    

I've never fished these before, but I'm curious what happens when you pause them. If they sink like a rock on a slack line could you put a bit of tension on the line and have them "helicopter" down, or glide off in one direction? Why couldn't you do this during your retrieve? Thanks

[AlabamaSpothunter]

@10,000 lakes Bassin 

 

I'm not sure it would helicopter on the fall because of how lightweight the swimbaits are compared to the head size.    The streamlined head makes it sink pretty fast and in a more vertical manner.   

 

I'll be sure to pay more close attention to how it falls next time I use it and will report back.   

 

@woolleyfooley  No fair, I wanna catch a Peacock 😁

 

In regards to knowing if your working it right......I continually watch the last several yards of a retrieve to see if the bait is 'winding' properly.     I totally understand what your saying, but after awhile you get confidence in the fact that the bait is dancing back and forth.   

 

Just focus on those nice smooth 12 oclock to 3 oclock rod pops.

 

To me this bait is an "active" fish one, meaning I think its action is a bit too aggressive to trigger bites from fish that aren't that fired up.    To me it makes total sense that the colder the water, the less likely this technique is to work.   The only time I've got it to work in water temps below about 55d is on schooling fish which are obviously very "active" fish.      

 

I caught some fish on it in early January, but since the water temps have been well below 50d since, I've put them up and have been fishing a jighead minnow in its place.  

 

I expect this bait to crush them once those water temps get above 65d or so.......basically once the spawn is over with, these things should be money.   

 

I'm sure by later March/early April you'll be hammering some fish on them.   

[woolleyfooley]

18 hours ago, RRocket said:

I may have posted this already, but this video gives some excellent tips and details on how to fish. This is my favorite video on the topic.

 

 

Yes I did see that video and watched it before heading out. It’s the reason I went with the quarter ounce head. 
 

Another thing I forgot to mention is that you have to have the bait centered perfectly or it won’t walk. It will just keep going to one side.

 

I’m still trying to figure out if I should work it by popping the slack or keeping the line tight. 

8 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

@10,000 lakes Bassin 

 

I'm not sure it would helicopter on the fall because of how lightweight the swimbaits are compared to the head size.    The streamlined head makes it sink pretty fast and in a more vertical manner.   

 

I'll be sure to pay more close attention to how it falls next time I use it and will report back.   

 

@woolleyfooley  No fair, I wanna catch a Peacock 😁

 

In regards to knowing if your working it right......I continually watch the last several yards of a retrieve to see if the bait is 'winding' properly.     I totally understand what your saying, but after awhile you get confidence in the fact that the bait is dancing back and forth.   

 

Just focus on those nice smooth 12 oclock to 3 oclock rod pops.

 

To me this bait is an "active" fish one, meaning I think its action is a bit too aggressive to trigger bites from fish that aren't that fired up.    To me it makes total sense that the colder the water, the less likely this technique is to work.   The only time I've got it to work in water temps below about 55d is on schooling fish which are obviously very "active" fish.      

 

I caught some fish on it in early January, but since the water temps have been well below 50d since, I've put them up and have been fishing a jighead minnow in its place.  

 

I expect this bait to crush them once those water temps get above 65d or so.......basically once the spawn is over with, these things should be money.   

 

I'm sure by later March/early April you'll be hammering some fish on them.   

Yeah that’s what I was thinking. I definitely got a handful of short strikes so it seems something was interested. I’m very excited to try it in warmer water! 🙂

[GRiver]

My order from Tackle Warehouse came in the other day.

I like the jig heads, sharp, seem to be strong.

I wasn’t crazy about the colors, it’s not actually the color. The picture showed white belly. The bait that came was clear bellied, I think the background in the photo gave the white look to the clear part of the bait.
The color of the electric olive, I think will be perfect,  the crystal clear belly not so much.

I also got…

sardine

young watermelon

bay white 

Where it shows white, it’s clear, probably not going to matter.

Think I’ll be able to try them this weekend. 

[Swamp Girl]

55 minutes ago, GRiver said:

Think I’ll be able to try them this weekend. 

 

Imagine I'm there, casting beside you, okay?

[GRiver]

2 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

Imagine I'm there, casting beside you, okay?

I sure will….  Just so you can imagine with me, let me tell ya where we’re going to try this bait out. You might not want to come.  
The water is crystal clear, average 72 degrees year round. 20ft deep looks like 2”, at least I’ll be able to see my bait to see if I’m working it right.
It has a current, 400 million plus gallons a day come out of the springs. Hard to keep the bait at the right depth, I ordered 4 different jighead weights.

The bottom is eel grass and hydrilla with patches of sand & rocks here and there. Winter time is the least crowded, summer time, you can almost walk across the tubers in the river. Early morning or late evening is really the only time to fish.

It is one of the most frustrating places to fish. You can see big bass but can’t get them to bite. The darn pan fish short strike ya and nip the tails and skirts off your bait. What bass I have caught have been very small.

So this place might not be a fair test for this bait, but this place is the reason I bought this bait. 

 

[woolleyfooley]

9 hours ago, GRiver said:

My order from Tackle Warehouse came in the other day.

I like the jig heads, sharp, seem to be strong.

I wasn’t crazy about the colors, it’s not actually the color. The picture showed white belly. The bait that came was clear bellied, I think the background in the photo gave the white look to the clear part of the bait.
The color of the electric olive, I think will be perfect,  the crystal clear belly not so much.

I also got…

sardine

young watermelon

bay white 

Where it shows white, it’s clear, probably not going to matter.

Think I’ll be able to try them this weekend. 

My one complaint about the colors is that I wish they were reversed. For natural looking baits I like a dark back with a light underside. To use these baits in the walk the dog style you have to use the flat side down which puts the light color on top and the dark color on the bottom. I wish they would make some “upside down”.

6 hours ago, GRiver said:

I sure will….  Just so you can imagine with me, let me tell ya where we’re going to try this bait out. You might not want to come.  
The water is crystal clear, average 72 degrees year round. 20ft deep looks like 2”, at least I’ll be able to see my bait to see if I’m working it right.
It has a current, 400 million plus gallons a day come out of the springs. Hard to keep the bait at the right depth, I ordered 4 different jighead weights.

The bottom is eel grass and hydrilla with patches of sand & rocks here and there. Winter time is the least crowded, summer time, you can almost walk across the tubers in the river. Early morning or late evening is really the only time to fish.

It is one of the most frustrating places to fish. You can see big bass but can’t get them to bite. The darn pan fish short strike ya and nip the tails and skirts off your bait. What bass I have caught have been very small.

So this place might not be a fair test for this bait, but this place is the reason I bought this bait. 

 

That’s the one thing I need. Crystal clear water so I can see if I’m working the bait properly.

 

By the way, what weight heads did you get and what size brfish?