Finding the right color

[CableGuy]

Hey guys. I'm new here. To me the most frustrating thing is minding the right color lure to use.

Do you guys have a guideline of what color to use for every situation?

if the sky is clear and the water is clear, what color works best?

what if the sky is clear and the water is dirty?

what if its cloudy and the water is clear?

ect..

[IdahoLunkerHunter]

Here is a good start. There are lots of very good articles in the articles section

http://www.bassresource.com/beginner/Choosing_Colors_selection.html

http://www.bassresource.com/beginner/seasonal_lure_selection.html

http://www.bassresource.com/beginner/color_fishing.html

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/Rat-L-Traps.html

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/one-lure.html

[Mottfia]

   Water Clarity is the key my friend. You want the fish to be able to see it but not be able to differentiate the lure from what you want him to believe that it is. Imagine that you are looking at your TV. Lets assume that you need glasses to see but don't have your glasses or that someone hit you in the nose. OK so you can't nothing but a blur. So you're trying to watch TV but because you don't have your glasses you can't tell the difference between Lucy Lui and Josh Harnett ( I'm watching Lucky #Slevin ) Thats the effect the dirty water has on bass. They can't tell the difference between a lure and the real deal easily. When you put your glasses back on everything is clear and Lucy Lui is definately not Josh. Now in bass terms that means as the water clears he/she will have a much easier time seeing the difference between your lure and the real deal. So what do you do? fish with natural lure and sizes. Now let's put that in simple terms.

Muddy water- Black, Purples, Browns

stained- Pumpkin, amber, black and blue, and char. on anything  

Clear- ok, you had better match the hatch to be honest. study your local forage and match them.  

Sun Light allows the fish to see better and lack of diminishes visibility

Hope that helps some,

Mottfia

[Catt]

So that means Black, Purples, Browns will only work in muddy water & pumpkin, amber, black and blue, and char. on anything will only work in stained water?

And what hatch are we trying to match?  

[Fish Chris]

Hey Cableguy, my best advice is to stop worrying about the color so much.

My Huddleston trout swimbaits are > Trout colored.

My Huddlebug soft plastic crawdads are.... uh, crawdad colored.

And (most of) my Basstrix Blugills are Bluegill colored.

I think when guys get all caught up on the color thing, they are wasting valuable time and energy. There are just SOOO many things which are vastly more important than color.

The first of those things is location, and presentation. Put me in front of a big, receptive fish, and I bet I could get it to eat a lure which was chartreuse, to hot pink, to charcoal. On the other hand, if that fish doesn't want to play, the color won't matter one bit.

Peace,

Fish

PS, Not saying that color doesn't ever matter..... Just saying, it's almost never "the most important thing".

[MaineBassMan]

Hey Cableguy, my best advice is to stop worrying about the color so much.

My Huddleston trout swimbaits are > Trout colored.

My Huddlebug soft plastic crawdads are.... uh, crawdad colored.

And (most of) my Basstrix Blugills are Bluegill colored.

I think when guys get all caught up on the color thing, they are wasting valuable time and energy. There are just SOOO many things which are vastly more important than color.

The first of those things is location, and presentation. Put me in front of a big, receptive fish, and I bet I could get it to eat a lure which was chartreuse, to hot pink, to charcoal. On the other hand, if that fish doesn't want to play, the color won't matter one bit.

Peace,

Fish

PS, Not saying that color doesn't ever matter..... Just saying, it's almost never "the most important thing".

I agree with fish!

[senile1]

I agree with those who say that color is not the most important factor in catching fish. There are rules of thumb about using colors as stated by Mottfia, but always be willing to try something "outside of the box." For example, most of my jig fish are caught on black/blue jigs with black/blue trailers but the crawfish in my area are more of a green/brown color. Go figure. The best thing to do is to have some dark colors, some light colors, and some in-between colors (green, watermelon, green-pumpkin, etc.). You don't have to go out and try to buy every color available. Starting out, just buy a couple in each category and make them work for you.

[IdahoLunkerHunter]

Hey Cableguy, my best advice is to stop worrying about the color so much.

My Huddleston trout swimbaits are > Trout colored.

My Huddlebug soft plastic crawdads are.... uh, crawdad colored.

And (most of) my Basstrix Blugills are Bluegill colored.

I think when guys get all caught up on the color thing, they are wasting valuable time and energy. There are just SOOO many things which are vastly more important than color.

The first of those things is location, and presentation. Put me in front of a big, receptive fish, and I bet I could get it to eat a lure which was chartreuse, to hot pink, to charcoal. On the other hand, if that fish doesn't want to play, the color won't matter one bit.

Peace,

Fish

PS, Not saying that color doesn't ever matter..... Just saying, it's almost never "the most important thing".

Once again Words of wisdom Chris, You da man!

[WRB]

Agree with Catt.

Start with determining what the bass are eating and match those colors.

WRB

[Btech]

Find someone who has caught a Bass Stick it in a livewell and match what it pukes up .

If not just go with what you feel will work.

[Raul]

Hey guys. I'm new here. To me the most frustrating thing is minding the right color lure to use.

Do you guys have a guideline of what color to use for every situation?

The guideline is ---> any color is fine.

Color is in my list of very important things to consider when I select a bait for the job ........... at the very bottom of the list.

To give you an example, the other day me and my compadre were fishing at a nearby lake, he was fishing with tail less grubs I was fishing with Shad Assasins, two very different baits. He was catching them with watermelon, green pumpkin, rootbeer and pink/purpleish tail less grubs, I was catching them with white, golden shiner and black shad shad assasins.

Bait color made no difference at all in the catch ratio, it didn 't matter which color you choes the results were the same as long as the bait was located the right place and presnted the way they wanted it. You could switch from one to another color and the results were the same.

Of course that there are no "rules" to follow ( other than the fish rules ), there are times that color makes all the difference in the world, however those times when color does matter are so rare that you seldomly encounter them, or at least, in my 28 years of bass fishing very few ocassions I 've encountered those times when color does matter.

[CWB]

I've been a loyal subscriber to In-Fisherman for as long as I can remember. Their slogan was F+L+P=Success

Fish+Location+Presentation=Success. No mention of color.

The Lindners were true pioneers of our sport.

[senile1]

I've been a loyal subscriber to In-Fisherman for as long as I can remember. Their slogan was F+L+P=Success

Fish+Location+Presentation=Success. No mention of color.

The Lindners were true pioneers of our sport.

Though I don't think color matters much relative to other factors, it is a minor characteristic of your presentation.

[Big Mike in Fl]

I believe at times color is CRUCIAL, and yet at other times, ti means nothing. There have been days when my buddy was catching on watermelon/red fleck senko's, and I couldn't get a bite on smoke shad.

just the other day, I was tearing the fish up on black/blue swimsenko's and he couldn't get bit on a watermelon to save his life...switched to black/blue and he caught almost immediately.

but, there are other days when it doens't matter. my advice is to get a few colors of each lure you plan to fish, make them varying colors (I don't consider watermelon red, and watermelon black to be very different)

for example, my senko colors are baby bass, smoke shad, watermelon red, red shad, and black/blue. there are a hundred other colors between senkos and knock off brands, but between those colors, I can usually find something that works. use the guidelines of dark water, dark colors. clear water, natural colors muddy water, dark/bright colors and I'd say you'll be ok, without loading up on twenty colors.

[SuskyDude]

Like all these guys said, stop worrying about color. Tie on something thats in the ballpark of "natural" (greens, browns, whites, silvers,etc) and you'll most likely be on the right track.

[etommy28]

what ever the fish deside to eat that praticular day

[WRB]

I've been a loyal subscriber to In-Fisherman for as long as I can remember. Their slogan was F+L+P=Success

Fish+Location+Presentation=Success. No mention of color.

The Lindners were true pioneers of our sport.

Though I don't think color matters much relative to other factors, it is a minor characteristic of your presentation.

Actually the In-Fishermen formula does take color into account under all 3 factors. What colors make up the fishes (bass) primary prey, what type of presentation works best for that particular fish and where to find the fish, based on seasonal conditions. Basic bass behavior sums up the Lindners formula.

The 2 colors most overlooked by today's bass fishermen are; black (no color) and white (all colors). Black verse white is total contrast.

If you take those 2 basics; use black under no or low light conditions, white under bright or good light conditions and combine the two; black back with white underside for average fishing conditions, you may not need any other color. Food for thought.

WRB

[Mottfia]

I should have known that you'd get me for that list, Catt  ;D.

Do yall remember that quote from Pirates of the Caribean (horribly misspelled that lol). "The code is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules". Those colors have been proven to work consistently under those circumstancesbut Of course if they don't work then you should try something else.We all agree on that.

I think that Coldwaterbassin brought up a good topic. His philsophy or approach has alot to do with what is important to him in a days fishing. As does everyone else. but I think that we all differ in this category. So the next question would be what is your fishing philosophy and how does color or everything for that matter else play into approach?

[CableGuy]

Hey Cableguy, my best advice is to stop worrying about the color so much.

My Huddleston trout swimbaits are > Trout colored.

My Huddlebug soft plastic crawdads are.... uh, crawdad colored.

And (most of) my Basstrix Blugills are Bluegill colored.

I think when guys get all caught up on the color thing, they are wasting valuable time and energy. There are just SOOO many things which are vastly more important than color.

The first of those things is location, and presentation. Put me in front of a big, receptive fish, and I bet I could get it to eat a lure which was chartreuse, to hot pink, to charcoal. On the other hand, if that fish doesn't want to play, the color won't matter one bit.

Peace,

Fish

PS, Not saying that color doesn't ever matter..... Just saying, it's almost never "the most important thing".

Since you're holding up a big fish like that, i'll take your word! I'm caught up on color b/c i'll fish a worm and won't get any bites until i change colors. i throw at the same spot with the same presentation and i won't get a bite until i change colors. i never know what color to change to. i usually go through 4 or 5 different colors until i find something that works.

[CableGuy]

I believe at times color is CRUCIAL, and yet at other times, ti means nothing. There have been days when my buddy was catching on watermelon/red fleck senko's, and I couldn't get a bite on smoke shad.

just the other day, I was tearing the fish up on black/blue swimsenko's and he couldn't get bit on a watermelon to save his life...switched to black/blue and he caught almost immediately.

but, there are other days when it doens't matter. my advice is to get a few colors of each lure you plan to fish, make them varying colors (I don't consider watermelon red, and watermelon black to be very different)

for example, my senko colors are baby bass, smoke shad, watermelon red, red shad, and black/blue. there are a hundred other colors between senkos and knock off brands, but between those colors, I can usually find something that works. use the guidelines of dark water, dark colors. clear water, natural colors muddy water, dark/bright colors and I'd say you'll be ok, without loading up on twenty colors.

this is most helpful. thanks. If i can remember this guideline, i'll be alright. to me its all about being confident in what you're throwing. I've been lacking confidence b/c i wasn't sure what to throw when the water was different colors. i'll write this backwards on my forehead and remember it forever.

dark water, dark colors. clear water, natural colors. muddy water, dark/bright colors! thanks again.

[bassmaster3000]

Here is a good start. There are lots of very good articles in the articles section

http://www.bassresource.com/beginner/Choosing_Colors_selection.html

http://www.bassresource.com/beginner/seasonal_lure_selection.html

http://www.bassresource.com/beginner/color_fishing.html

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/Rat-L-Traps.html

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/one-lure.html

I'm with ***er...  ;D

[CableGuy]

yeah those articles were great, i read all of them.

[Fish Chris]

Hey Cable guy

Since you're holding up a big fish like that, i'll take your word!

Chuckles :-) .....of course any dummy can get lucky and catch a big one, but I've caught a few other big ones too  ;-)

One thing I wanted to add about the color thing.....

If I'm really grasping for straws, and can't get a big one to come in the boat with me, and I have finally gotten to the point that I'd actually bother changing colors of my lure, I wouldn't bother going from a black worm to a purple one, or a blue one. I'd change it completely, to like a chartreuse, or bubblegum, or white worm.

Peace,

Fish

[Catt]

I think the problem we have with this color thing is that we are looking through human eyes with human perceptions.

I believe it's more about contrast than actual color, under no light (night) or low light (over cast) the eyes of a bass go through a adaptation cycle and are usually adapted for black, white, and all shades of gray. If you fish waters where shad or minnows are the predominate prey species, then try white (light colors), the usual night time favorite black is the second choice in shad populated lakes. Black or dark hued lures give maximum contrast when run on or near the surface. On bright days most any color gives maximum contrast when run on or near the surface.

Then we have rules busters like the color watermelon in the middle of a Hydrilla flat that our human perception say the bass should have a hard time seeing and yet it's a killer color.

Next we have chartreuses, bubblegum, orange sherbert, or merthiolate and it's like what the  

I remember in the 70s when my ex-father-in-law took a trip to Lake Guerrero and returned with some Fire & Ice worms, we had never seen a worm with glitter in it so this was the most hilarious thing we have ever seen until he hit the lake and the bass when stupid for it.

Mottfia I wanted y'all to think

[Crestliner2008]

Depth & speed control - Buck Perry, circa 1960. Color is what sells fishing lures....not fish.