Color selection for low-vis water?

[jb_adams]

This weekend, I will fish a small private pond.  The water is really dark and there is a lot of vegetation.  It's hard to fish a T-rig plastic worm it's so thick!  So since the water is so dark, is black really the best optimum color choice?  It's not muddy like Yoohoo brown.it's more like coffee with just a touch of creamer.  Visibility is typically less than a foot.  A black bait in dark water might not be contrasting enough.

I'm used to clearer water so this is new territory for me.

I'm thinking yellow chartreuse, bright red, blue, white, etc.

Here is a pic of the pond.  Maybe that will help.

[Raul]

I like baits with lots of large metal flake, color is less important than flash and vibration so worms with C tails or creatures with appendages like tails or flaps would be my first choices.

[jb_adams]

Sweet suggestion!  Thanks!

I don't think I own a worm with metal flake! (lol)  I'll have to stock a few additions I guess.  What you said about flash and vibration makes perfect since.  That's what I was looking for.

[JShrock07]

I would use a large blade spinner bait, something that will move alot of water, and use a bright color!!! Another suggestion would be to use a weightless worm rigged weedless so you don't hang up on so many weeds. Iwould definatley go early morning to try out the topwater bite since you can almost throw anything that makes noise to get a bite.

Good Luck to You!!!

-Nitroman

[tyrius.]

I'd worry less about color and more about flash and/or vibration.  The fish won't be locating your bait based upon sight, they will be concentrating on following the vibration.  Big ribbon tail worms, jigs with trailers with long appendages, colorado bladed spinnerbaits, wide wobbling cranks with rattles (Mann's 1-), and maybe even topwater (jitterbug, buzzbait, etc) would be my first choices.  

After I figured out how to get the fish's attention, I MIGHT worry about the color of what I'm throwing.

[Bass XL]

For muddy water like in the picture, I stick to two baits. Either a big bladed spinnerbait (black & blue) or a Brush Hog type bait (black with red flake). Almost all of my fish with the Brush Hog are caught just swimming it back. Hope this helps!

[Sam]

LMB use three senses when feeding.

Sight

Vibration

Noise

So what the guys are telling you is to use baits that appeal to the vibration (lateral line) and noise senses.

The bass will feel the vibration and go in search of its origin. Then they will hear it and head towards the noise.  When they see it at the last instant or just before they hit it, they have to make a decision:

Hit it or not to hit it.

Remember, when you see your bait disappear into the blackness of the water, multiply that distance by four (4) and you will have a good idea of how far the LMB can see your baits in the water.

I would suggest following the above suggestions and remember how the LMB seeks and finds its next snack.

Good luck.  

[.dsaavedra.]

honestly, that water doesnt even look that low-vis. it looks to me like some of the ponds around here that just have dark water, but the visibility is actually pretty good.

anyway, i would be using a rapala DT 03, DT 4, or DT 6, depending on the visibility.

color: silver or shad or match the forage.

call me the odd one out but i have very good success using natural colors in stained water. the way i see it, the fish still have to eat whatever is in the pond, so why not just match the forage. this lure will look the same as the natural forage that is in there, so the bass should be eager to eat it.

[Andrew Coleman]

I would definitly recomend the big bladed spinner, i have the same problem as you do and the bigger blade helped.

Also, pink and chartruse worms work pretty good i hear, but where i fish, the more natural colors work much better.

[wisturkeyhunter]

I'm always more worried about getting my bait to the fish then the fish seeing it from aways away and coming to it. Make accurate cast tight to fish holding cover and it won't matter. I've caught lots of bass on fat ikas and senkos in rootbeer colored water with colors that I can't see once they sink 6 inches. Accurate cast with plastics will catch you more fish than flashy baits in no mans land.

[Bassin_Fin@tic]

Black and blue,junebug,or okeechobee Rage Tail craw with a small bit of chart spike it on the tips of the claws.

[jb_adams]

I'm familiar with lateral lines, vibration, etc.  I was just wanting to check my colors to see if that was why my previous trips have not been as successfull.  I've tried flashy, vibrating bates.  I even tried the chatterbait.  

I've tried pretty much all of the above with little success.  I've tried natural colors, brighter colors, weightless worms work better for less hangup but they don't bite.  Could be the time of year, weather, etc.

I don't get to fish this pond often and it's only for a short period when I do go so I take the weather and time of year into consideration each trip.  I had tons of success on a white buzzbait one day and that was the only thing they'd bite.  I know they're there and I know there's a good crop of bass.

I think I'll try to locate them, establish some type of pattern to determine their location and mood, then slow down and fish plastics.

[Movarus]

Honestly, other than the flashy flakes and the major vibration, I actually do well with natural colors in the muddier ponds/lakes I fish in as well.  

Green pumpkin, watermelon, black, and also bait fish like colors are great ones.  The flakes help, but I have definitely caught fish on baits without flakes in a pond where the water pretty much looks the same.

[J Francho]

Color?  I keep it simple and stick to black, motor oil, watermelon, and maybe black with an accent color like flake or a chartreuse tail.

[LCpointerKILLA]

around here if there is a really murky pond, I tend to have a lot od luck throwing the huge 7 inch senko, or a ten inch worm. Also a RC 1.5 in a rattling model is good to me, retrieved s-l-o-w-l-y

[George Welcome]

Anyone's guess as to what bass really see, however a general rule of thumb in any part of the world - dark water: dark baits. This adage is just about as old as fishing: not something that has been just discovered, and from my experience works extremely well.

[jb_adams]

Black french fry with big green flake.  That's the secret to that pond.

There were scattered thundershowers all around that day and lots of fresh cold water in the pond.  The bite was extremely slow and very short that morning.  I ended up fishing with a relative and he caught about 5 and I think I caught 4.  I was trying other baits and he fished that one worm until he lost it.  He only had one left and he was done after that.  He tried two other colors but had no confidence in them.  He told me that particular worm consistently caught bass on that pond and most ponds with water that color.  Problem was he can't find it very often.  It's not a popular color I guess.  He didn't even know what brand it was.

I took a Zoom Ole Monster and cut the tail off and tried that because it was the next closest color match I had.  It produced a decent bass but not as much green flake as the french fry.  The bite was so slow and so delicate, I had my finger on the line and the rod and barely felt a something different.  I set the hook on instinct.  It was a small 10 bass.  Usually even the little ones will attack a worm if they bite.  These were so delicate you could miss a bite in a split second like jig fishing.

So now I'm on the hunt for all things black with big green flakes.  I've got some lizards, curly tailed finesse worms in Junebug with green flake, and now I'm trying to complete the menu with you guessed itblack french fry with big green flake.

I think I can use this color in clearer water too.

For the record, I tried the following:

-      Red-eyed shad lipless crank in crome (got a short bite but no takers)

-      Clear Zara Spook Puppy (produced well before here)

-      Black Strike King Midnight special spinnerbait (black with stamped Colorado blade)

-      Finess jig 3/16oz, black with black Gulp craw trailer  (they wouldn't touch it)

-      Variety of curly tailed worms in a variety of bright and dark colors (Caught one on a bright blueberry color with bright blue flakes)

-      Shallow water crankbaits (various retrieves

-      Buzzbait (my best producer so far but inconsistent)

[Catt]

Contrast your colors  

Spinner baits with silver blades in the following skirt combos

Chartreuse/orange

White/chartreuse

White/chartreuse/blue

Black/white

Red/orange

Jigs with the following skirts & trailers combos

Black/blue & sapphire

Black neon & Black neon with red claws

Black neon & Black neon with chartreuse claws

June bug & June bug with blue claws

Plastics with similar contrasting color

[loomis spookwalker]

Anything bright and loud will work.

[jb_adams]

Anything bright and loud will work.

That's a fairly broad statement.  It depends on what mood the fish are in.  Bright and loud can turn them off if they are finiky.

In this particular case, bright & loud wasn't true on this particular trip.  I have historically tried bright and loud in the typical applications however, only a few things have worked so far.  Believe me, I've tried all the basics for cranks, spinnerbaits, topwater, etc. on this pond over the last couple of years.  I was looking for a particular color of plastic and I was questioning if plain black was a good option.

I would say try anything that vibrates and has flash as a starting point of reference and vary the techniques and baits for new water.  This is not new water for me.  I was trying to establish a good base color to work from.

Thanks to my relative, I do now.  

[bmuskin]

I used to trout fish some when I lived back east. There is an old axiom on trout to match the hatch. In other words if they were eating mayflies you need a fly that looks like a mayfly. I have transcended some of that towards bass fishing and other types.

I fish a lot of private ponds and trip pits where shad and other minnows do not exist. What does exist though are sunfish. In these ponds I use sunfish colors. Usually a Senko wacky rigged in Orange, Methiolate, or something with some blue or orange. If I was somewhere with shad forage I use a AC shiner or crank, spinner and work it like a scared shad. I will never be mistaken for a professional but I have done real good following these guidelines. If it looks like something they will eat and appears to be an easy meal they will eat it. The only exception may be they are conditioned to whatever you are throwing and may have to change. ....my 2 cents worth..