Clear Water Jigs

[senkoman81]

First of hello fellow bassers, I just joined the forum and this is my second post!

I recently joined my first bass club even though I have been bass fishing for years. My go to baits have always been senkos (wacky jighead rigged), Zoom brush hogs, and power worms. Everyone in the club I joined is huge on jigs, pretty much always black and blue even in clear water. I have always stuck to greens and browns (watermelon, pumpkinseed whatever) when fishing clear water, and used black in stained water. Do black and blue jigs really work in clear water? I am thinking of 10 or so feet of visibiltiy, the natural lakes in northern WI can be pretty clear.

[Siebert Outdoors]

IMO they do. I fish alot of black and blue but I do tend to go with the browns/greens in clear water.

[RyneB]

I fish strip pits where the visibility is 10ft plus. A black and blue jig is my go to bait. Iv also caught fish on chartreuse, white, etc. I believe in clear water, its more presentation than color. Thats just my opinion.

[Bluebasser86]

They will work but I prefer more natural colors in clear water but if that's what works I'd stick with it.

[Raul]

Any color jig is fine for any kind of water clarity as long as it´s black

[Hooligan]

It's an interesting question, one which will vary from person to person. I've got to have some blue on my craws when fishing clear water. Blue is one color that is really prevalent in clear water craws. I think that's one of the reasons black blue works so well in clear water. It isn't my first choice for clear water, but it isn't my last, either. Green Pumpkin candy or green pumpkin red is far better for me, on average.

[WRB]

Conventional wisdom can get in the way of finding what the bass prefers at that particular time you are on the water. More bass are caught on black & blue because 90% of the jig anglers are fishing with that color combination. Keep in mind that 10% of the anglers catch 90% of the bass and you want to be in the 10%.

Unless the crawdads or other bottom dwelling critters the bass are eating are black, then try to match the color of what the bass are looking for; set out some traps and catch some crawdads. Take a look at them in a glass jar in water alive. Use those colors and add a highlight contrasting color mixed in. Brown with black and purple is a good color for example in clear deep structure lakes.

Tom

[Jig Man]

There is no telling what color will work best in any situation. That is why I normally have at least 5 jigs tied on at all times. There is usually a couple of weeks in the summer when you can't beat a red jig on Table Rock.

[K_Mac]

Any time you talk color you will usually find two schools of thought: one group says color means little; in the other group you will find some who say any color as long as it is black, or black/blue, or green, or brown, etc and the others who will say you need to match the hatch.

I am in the color sometimes matters group. Over the years I have come to use three main color combos; black/blue, green/red, brown/orange or red. These three colors of jigs and an assortment of subtlety different colored trailers gives me many choices.

I also use swim jigs in baitfish colors.

[JIGFISHERMAN.]

I do think color matters, but almost as important to me, with my jig choices, is the weather conditions. Specifically brightness of the sky.

[1234567]

I fished jigs alot this weekend and the color of choice just so happened to be ANY! (black,brown,blue,green) There could be several variables for this, but I happen to believe it's just because the bass were so active feeding they weren't as selective. Now trying to entice an inactive bass I DO believe color/presentation does become an important variable. I actually ran out of matching trailers and jigs so my color combinations were way off.

[Jeff H]

Any color jig is fine for any kind of water clarity as long as it´s black....

w/emerald green flake!

[senko_77]

Welcome to the forum!

A lot of good advice on this thread.

I personally don't think color matters as much as confidence in the color. When it comes to cold water, hands down PB/J with about 7 strands of smoke has been my #1 producer. So when I'm on the water, I KNOW that color will catch me fish. But will that same fish hit a black/blue jig.....most likely. Pick a color, throw it, catch fish with it, and get some confidence.

Good luck!

Oh and since your fishing clear water, make sure your throwing that jig on fluorocarbon line.

[Primus]

I fish a lot of clear water and as Senko 77 mentioned PB&J is a good color. If there are a lot of weeds and especially if it's low light conditions I sometimes fish Black Blue or similiar shades. Under most conditions the Brown & Green shades do very well. My wildcard card color is a Smoke Purple Chompers Spider Grub on a football jig. There are times fish will prefer a bulkier jig but under most circumstances I like to thin out the skirt and use a smaller trailer threaded on the hook. I usually choose a craw profile in cooler water and an action trailer in warmer water such as a Paca Craw/ Chigger Craw/ Rage Craw depending on what your preferemce is.

[KC Bass Fanatic]

I believe some part of the answer will be provided by each lake you fish i.e. time on the water. I fish Table Rock frequently and black/blue definitely does not work as well as natural colors during daylight hours. That said, on a cloudy/rainy day black/blue does well.

[A-Rob]

I fish a jig in clear water....but often I'm throwing a jig in dark places (ie under pads, under slop, into the shadows of cane)

So I will often throw a dark jig

[00 mod]

You can use any color jig you want in any color water as long as its Black and Blue!! :D

Jeff

[Siebert Outdoors]

For Tablerock, I use green/brown or pbj. You are correct. I have never had much success with black/blue on that lake. In anything.

[tholmes]

I fish a lot in an abandoned sand pit that has been turned into a community lake. The water clarity can vary from clear/slightly stained to murky, after a good ol' Kansas thunderstorm. Over the years, I've narrowed my bass jig color selection considerably. Mostly I carry black/blue, my first choice in murky water, and green pumpkin/brown, my clearer water preference. in both rubber legged and bucktail jigs. Although I always have a few white bucktails stashed in my box, most of my jig-caught LMB come on either black/blue or green/brown.

None of these color selections are hard and fast rules. There are some days when you have to just keep trying different things (color, presentation, etc) 'til you hit on the right formula.

Tom

[MrSwimJig]

I fish black and blue in every condition, but I will also use some more natural colors. I just let the fish tell me what they want.