"water and light conditions requires it's own color" help

[TheSickdrift]

I was going through some bass fishing forums and reading some Bass articles on these forums. I've always had this come up while fishing with other people. The truth is that i don't know what this means, obviously color selection is important. I have read articles about that on these forums under "fishing articles" I have yet to find specific answers for what colors to choose depending on weather, water visibility etc. I've heard " clear water light lures, dark water dark lures" but then we have cloud or no clouds, what roles does that have in bass fishing? how do you go on choosing your color lure for the condition of water your fishing in. I'm still learning a lot from you guys, answering this question would give me more of an advantage when fishing my local bass hole. It would be much appreciated if someone more experienced could guide me in the right direction with a specific answer or a fishing article.

[florida strain]

The more darker the water and light gets=fade to black

[SoFlaBassAddict]

I don't remember the thread these two posts were in, but I saved them to my info file for quick reading.

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You'll find that every pond, lake, river, stream, and reservoir have a color or certain lure that works best on a given day. Some sunny days a lighter color might work well. Others a dark color will.

If you have no clue what so ever. I would start by thinking of 2 things.

Light conditions:

Overcast/Dusk: Dark Colors: Dark Green, Black, Dark red, Brown.

Sunny/Clear Skies: Light Colors: White, Green, Red, Blue, Chartreuse.

Next I would look at your water clarity.

Muddy Water: Brown, Green, Black.

Murky: Green, Brown, Black, Blue.

Clear: MATCH YOUR FORAGE: Green for weeds, Brown?Black for rocks. Etc..

I'm not going to say color selection doesn't matter because it does. But I would throw a variety of lures until you find out what works.

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Many would argue that it's best to Match-The-Hatch (lots of luck).

In my view at least, once the fish has seen the lure, the job of color is finished.

I seriously doubt that any color would cause a hungry fish to lose its appetite or spark an appetite in a non-feeding fish.

Furthermore, bass are opportunistic feeders whose target prey is in constant transition, typically from moment-to-moment.

All colors are natural, but certain natural colors should be nonetheless avoided.

I believe that lure visibility is best achieved using neutral subtle colors like black, white, yellow, brown, smoke, khaki & so on.

Mother Nature frequently mixes vibrant gaudy colors to serve as a warning flag of a toxic host.

Examples include the monarch butterfly, coral snake, black-widow spider, ad infinitum.

Roughly speaking, color choice should hinge on underwater visibility. That is, where underwater visibility is excellent,

strive to downgrade lure visibility, conversely, where underwater visibility is poor, strive to enhance lure contrast:

Excellent Visibility

Pale Colors (white, yellow, smoke)

Translucent / Transparent (visual texture)

Poor Visibility

(Best to ignore hue, and strive to maximize contrast with colors that absorb light)

Dark Colors (black, brown, dark-green, dark-gray, etc.)

Opaque (visual texture)

Incidentally, many anglers speak of "water clarity" as though it's the only determinant of visibility.

Although water clarity is very important, it is one of four determinants of underwater visibility:

> Sun Angle (midday, twilight, nighttime)

> Water Clarity (gin clear, clear, dingy, murky, muddy)

> Sky Clarity (cloudless, partly-cloudy, mostly-cloudy, heavy overcast)

> Lure Depth (surface, subsurface, mid-depth, bottom)

Lure depth is a little tricky. First of all, it's not to be confused with water depth, but only the depth of the lure.

Moreover, even in shallow water, a bottom lure is always observed with a downward angle,

while a surface lure is always viewed with a skyward angle.

After all is said and done, all anglers are predisposed to certain pet colors.

In a self-fulfilling prophesy, the color that spends the most time on end of our line is bound to be our most successful color.

Roger

[Marty]

After all is said and done, all anglers are predisposed to certain pet colors.

In a self-fulfilling prophesy, the color that spends the most time on end of our line is bound to be our most successful color.

I think that sums it up pretty well. Not everyone agrees, but I think color is way overrated as a factor most of the time. You can use the conventional wisdom about colors as a starting point, but don't close your mind. The bass don't know the rules like we do and I've caught and seen caught, too many fish on colors that don't fit in with the conventional wisdom, like muted colors in murky water with barely a foot of visibility and loud or dark colors in crystal-clear water.

If I were a lure manufacturer, I'd tell you that you need to be well-stocked so you have the right color for any conditions you might encounter, therefore, you need my lures in 27 different colors. However, I'm not a manufacturer and I might be missing out on a load of fish, but I have 100% confidence in just carrying two colors, generally something lighter and something darker.

For example, in hard baits it might be firetiger and shad or bluegill, and in soft baits it might be black and translucent pumpkinseed.

[TheSickdrift]

Oh man can't thank you guys enough for this information. Thank you, now i just need to memorize this next time i get my line wet. Very useful thank you guys for the positive feedback!

[SoFlaBassAddict]

Print it out.  Makes good toilet material.  As I get more and more into bass fishing again I'm starting to jot down notes or print out stuff to keep in a small binder for quick reference.  Theres no way you can memorize everything in one viewing.  If you can't remember it while fishing, the knowledge is useless.  If you've got a way to help you remember it while fishing, you'll probably be in a better position to boat some fish.

[TheSickdrift]

Print it out. Makes good toilet material. As I get more and more into bass fishing again I'm starting to jot down notes or print out stuff to keep in a small binder for quick reference. Theres no way you can memorize everything in one viewing. If you can't remember it while fishing, the knowledge is useless. If you've got a way to help you remember it while fishing, you'll probably be in a better position to boat some fish.

That's exactly what i was thinking, I'm about to put all this information into some pages and print it out, I <3 these forums!

[Taylor Fishin 4 life]

More clear the water the more natural you want

Typicaly for worms I like something that is translucent but natural like Watermelon, Pumkinseed, Greenpumpkin, Cherry see etc...

On cloudy days junebug has really produced for me

In Dark Tea/amber colored water you cant go wrong with just black

The more Muddier the more unatural you want

Muddy water for me dark colors work better and bright chartruse colors, bubblegum or white.

Just be sure you have some more vibrations in your presentations than you normaly would in clearer water

and most importantly just "Match the Hatch"

[D4u2s0t]

After all is said and done, all anglers are predisposed to certain pet colors.

In a self-fulfilling prophesy, the color that spends the most time on end of our line is bound to be our most successful color.

I think that sums it up pretty well. Not everyone agrees, but I think color is way overrated as a factor most of the time. You can use the conventional wisdom about colors as a starting point, but don't close your mind. The bass don't know the rules like we do and I've caught and seen caught, too many fish on colors that don't fit in with the conventional wisdom, like muted colors in murky water with barely a foot of visibility and loud or dark colors in crystal-clear water.

If I were a lure manufacturer, I'd tell you that you need to be well-stocked so you have the right color for any conditions you might encounter, therefore, you need my lures in 27 different colors. However, I'm not a manufacturer and I might be missing out on a load of fish, but I have 100% confidence in just carrying two colors, generally something lighter and something darker.

For example, in hard baits it might be firetiger and shad or bluegill, and in soft baits it might be black and translucent pumpkinseed.

I agree fully. 

People say to "match the hatch" and all this other stuff, and really what they're doing is only catering to ONE of the THREE main reasons why a bass bites... they DO NOT only bite your bait because they're feeding....  They sometimes bite to eat, sometimes bite to protect their territory, and sometimes just bite because they're aggressive, and for no other reason than something is moving around close by.

While I don't completely write off color, it takes a HUGE back seat to location, and presentation.  You can have the most amazing, magical, special color ever invented, if there's no fish, they're not going to bite.   

[roadwarrior]

To paraphrase Big O, "When the fishing is good,

the right color will make it better!" I have always

considered color at the bottom of the list of variables.

However, after fishing around Big O, I realized that

is not always the case.

:

[Blue Streak]

When it comes to fishing you have to think beyond the rules, don't get "boxed' in by what you think you are supposed to be doing. Think while you are on the water and try something different. You never know when you might find that strange bait that works. I mean look at what pink will do with smallmouth.

   

[Catt]

Everyone has their own personal repertoire of complication

I have seen times when color made absolutely no difference at all, I have seen times when color was the difference between catching & skunked; I seen times where you had to change colors after every 2-3 bass caught.

I attended a seminar years ago and the question was asked of Tom Mann "Why do you make your plastics in so many different colors", he answered "To catch the angler, a bass has never put a penny in my pocket."

[NateFollmer]

I usually only carry 4 to 5 colors in my tackle box (for soft plastics anyway):

White

Blue (sometimes blue and black depending on the style)

Moss Green

Light Brown

Chartreuse

I don't like to over complicate colors. I have found that deep purples work decently too, but I only used them because they came in a pack of multi-colored worms

[The Bassinator]

Just like anything else in fishing you have to experiment. You may think you know what lure the fish are biting but if that doesnt work you tie on another and another if necessary. The same applies with color.  We may have some general rules about what colors to fish when, but we have to let the fish dictate what we use and not what we think they should be hitting.  The rules given on this post are all good and they may guide you but sometimes the fish just plain act weird and may want something way outside of the convetional wisdom.  But hey if bass fishing was easy everyone would do it and it probably wouldnt be as exciting as it is to us.  Good luck and Good fishin!

[Raul]

Color selection is of the outmost importance to me ..... as long as they are the colors  I like, just as Marty said, my pet colors. got a sweet spot for black shad, red shad, tequila sunrise.

That being said, for worms n 'such well, I do like purty colors so I 've got a rainbow of colors from where to choose however when it comes to jigs any color is fine as long as it 's black, so 90% of my jigs are black.

Look ! black shad worm: