Got a question for you....

[5bass]

Let's say you head out,your various rods rigged up with a crankbait,a carolina rig,a jig,a spinnerbait and a buzzbait.You feel like the fish "should" be hittin' a crankbait for example,the one you had rigged from your last trip is still rigged up.You start to throw it and after a little while,you have had no bites.Do you switch to a totally different bait or do you just change colors of the crank?

Seems lately that I am switching to different baits alot more than just switching colors on the same bait I'm throwing,probably because it's easie to grab something different on another rod,rather than dig thru the storage for a different crank and re-tie it.

The crankbait was just for example,it can actually be a question about any bait.Anybody else do this?Or had a problem with this type thing?Seems I'm stuck using the same 'ol,same 'ol all the time.

[Red_neck_LS]

Im with ya... I normally dont bother changin colors, i just throw in a different lure.  This is especially true when im fishing buzzbaits..If there not hitting a buzzbait i almost never just change colors i always change my bait.

[Rebbasser]

Nope, you are not alone.  I usually pick up another rod with different bait rather than change colors of the same bait.  Might not be a bad idea to try it once and a while, though.

[Marty]

I have never seen much evidence that color is a major factor in my fishing, so I'll always opt for another bait. There may be times once in awhile where color would make a difference, but I'm convinced that over the long run that changing baits will be hugely more productive than just changing colors.

[playmaker47]

it depends for me. if its  a crank or spinnerbait or topwater i will use a different lure. but if its a soft plastic, alot of times i will change colors.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

I'm kind of with playmaker.  I will experiment (slightly) with color, but only from dark to light or visa versa but not for the actual "color", more the hue.  

When it comes to topwater, I will switch lures from a buzz or prop bait to a toad or crippled shad (from very loud to very subtle baits)

[roadwarrior]

I'm with Marty and I'll take it a step further. Everytime I go out I fish a completely different rig. Sure, I usually want to fish my old reliables, but I force myself to fish different lures and stay focused on that lure for a good part of any trip. If I didn't do this I probably wouldn't fish anything but soft plastics.

Colors? With soft plastics dark works for me. I fish about five colors just for variety, but the bass don't seem to really care. With hard baits? Well, over time there seem to be some colors that are preferred on any given day and even when I'm pretty sure I have the right lure, it's not always productive. Color may come into play, but I stick with whatever I'm fishing and when I change, it's always a whole different category. For example, if I'm fishing a Sammy and that's not working, if I stay with a hard bait I'll probably go to a Bomber Square A or a Bagley BII.

Still, I always want to fish soft plastics. Color, as long as it's dark , is not important to me, but the profile and action are. Some days it's Fat Ika, sometimes Senko or Kreature or a Gitzit. Believe me, it matters. Fishing the same water at the same time of day, certain lures just work when others don't.

[Gatorbassman]

Color usually doesn't make a difference. I say usually because I changed color in a tourney the other day and started catching fish. But that was because of water clearity not fish activity. In your case I will usually change size first. This changes one or two things things (depending on lure), action, and speed of fall. If that doesn't work then I change baits.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

Good point Fluke. Downsizing is usually a priority before color change

When I refer to downsizing, I am not just talking about size.  "Action" can be downsized as well.  This is what I was refering to when I spoke of changing from a prop or buzz lure to a frog or somthing that can be just "twiched".  If I have confidence that I am where I need to be in the water column, I'll change presentation within that zone.

[Hula_King]

Hey, this happened to me just yesterday. I was out on my good ol' test pond. I've been hauling in a good number of quality fish on a white spinnerbait the last couple of weeks. Well, after about 30 minutes without a bite, I sitched to a green/black/white spinnerbait, and I landed 8 keepers in about an hour. The only thing different between the two baits was the color of the skirt.

However, when I usually fish, I try to find a particular lure and retrieval speed that brings me some success. After I land a few, I cycle through various colors of the same lure until I can find the one color that changes a good fishing trip into an excellent trip.

[Shad_Master]

If I'm going to be spending the day fishing, I like to use a top - down approach until I find the fish.  I will start out with a topwater (buzz or spook).  If I don't get hit, I may switch to a spinnger bait or shallow crank.  If that doesn't get a reaction, I will switch to a C-rig and then to T-rig until I start getting bites.  Once I find where they are, I start tuning up the colors.  I may switch back as the day wears on but usually just one step at a time and stay close to the colors that are working, but with variations.  For instance, I was fishing a black spinner bait a few trips back and had some swirls but no hookups, I switched to a black with red and started catching fish.  My partner went to a chartruse and got nothing in the same area.

[5bass]

Most of my trips are fairly short,around 4hrs at a time and are mainly to get a few bites and just try to get in touch with what the fish are doing,basically a practice period.Sometimes it takes longer than 3-4hrs to establish and nail down a solid pattern,therefore,if I dont get on the pattern right away,I'm simply trying to get bit,fishing at warp speed.

I always use 5-7 different baits.I always take a medium crank,a deep crank,a carolina rig,a texas rig,a jig,some type of topwater and a spinnerbait.I can usually get bit on one of them but very seldom switch colors.

I'm stuck in a rut of thinking the baits I have tied on are what they should be hitting and this may be hurting my chances of getting on a pattern sooner or finding that "magic" bait that they will kill all day long.It's just real hard to switch 'em up when those certain baits have been good producers in the past.

I guess if I didnt fish tournaments my thinking would be different and with the short outings,time is critical.  

[KU_Bassmaster.]

Believe it or not I have only used two basic colors this whole summer. (Soft plastics) Black/Blue and any shade of green.  I have a whole bunch of other colors, but it has really made fishing simple for me to cut down the plastics I carry with me.  I used to get real tied up into colors, but now it's pretty easy for me to choose and they have been producing for me all summer.  Crankbaits and spinnerbaits on the other hand I still carry every color in the rainbow.  Still haven't been able to narrow those colors down, but I have really only used 4 patterens: Baby Bass, Firetiger, Chart. w/ Black back, and Chart. w/ Blue back.

I agree action influences me to change more than color.  I usually start the day off throwing a buzzbait, then go to a jitterbug, then a popper, then a crankbait, then spinnerbait, and last soft plastics.  I throw a jig into the mix every once in a while as well.

I am a firm believer in the KISS method when choosing colors to use.  I just make sure I am throwing the right color for the water clarity and then experiment with different baits from there.

[Max-in-Mn]

I go back and forth with color. One day I will swear it does not make a lick of difference and another day I'll swear it makes all the difference. And maybe that's just it, some days the bass are really partial to a color and other days they just don't care, they just wanna eat.