Finding the right color 2024

CableGuy reply :

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 reply :

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 reply :

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 reply :

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 reply :

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 reply :

Quote
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 reply :

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 reply :

Quote
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 reply :

Agree with Catt.

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

WRB

Btech reply :

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 reply :

Quote
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 reply :

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 reply :

Quote
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 reply :

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 reply :

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 reply :

what ever the fish deside to eat that praticular day

WRB reply :

Quote

Quote
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 reply :

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 reply :

Quote
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 reply :

Quote
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 reply :

Quote
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 reply :

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

Fish Chris reply :

Hey Cable guy

Quote
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 reply :

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 reply :

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

Raul reply :

Quote

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.

Oh yeah, F&I ruled those Tamaulipas lakes during the 70 's and 80 's.

The_Natural reply :

Some scoff at the general color 'guidelines', but if you are an amature basser, it's hard to decipher which color to use amongst the 100's of colors available. The old standard 'Natural colors in clearer water and dark colors in stained/muddy water' is sound advice. . Once you get going, you will develop favorites and style.

cart7t reply :

Legendary BASS angler and lure manufacturer Tom Mann used to say something along the lines of this:

'Lures catch fish, lure colors catch fishermen.'

Despite the fact that Mann was one of the first lure manufacturers to introduce a myriad of colors through his famous Jelly worm line, he would also admit that the color itself was rarely more important that the action of the lure and how and where it was presented. He was one of the first to realize that colors (along with scents) were more of a marketing ploy to get anglers to buy his product when they were in the tackle store and if the lure was designed correctly, would usually catch fish regardless of which color was selected.

He's usually been right in my books.

Triton_Mike reply :

My opinion? Color is the most overated aspect in bass fishing. Lets take Zoom for example. Do you have enough $$$ to buy every color that zoom makes?? Even worst do you have the time in a day to fish all of those colors to see which one makes a difference under different circumstances? Do you have PAGES of notes to record all this data?

I don't? So I try to worry about what I can control and that is finding active fish and getting the bait into the strike zone of said fish. The key here is strike zone, it's the cornerstone of bass fishing.

Mike

BTW why do bass eat pink trickworms and senkos? Does it match a hatch? Something to think about...

Mottfia reply :

Quote
BTW why do bass eat pink trickworms and senkos? Does it match a hatch? Something to think about...

I believe that it has alot to do with a bass's adaptibility. In order to be in such a wide variety of conditions they must have conditioning that tells them to feed experimentally. Cause I'm sure that there ain't the same forage everywhere . This could be why Bass jump on some crazy stuff.

Imagine this, a bass has been transplanted to Japan. I'm about 99.9 % positive that Japan doesn't have the same baitfish or any fish that we do. So if that bass is to survive, he/she must eat and eat soon. What does that mean? Let's start sampling until it finds something that supplies it with enough energy to survive. So to a bass that pink trickworm may be a sampling effort.

But Bass have grown used to eating a few specific forages and will even key in on them at times. So why not throw something that resembles what they are keying on?

Mottfia

P.S. I agree that a billion lure colors is too much to deal with. Find a system or train of thought that you have confidence in and just go fishing.

sammy1 reply :

i find color to be extremely important, especially here in the west. a good example occurred last summer, i was float tubing the san diego river and was fishing a spot that i have caught fish before using a zoom trick worm in black w/ red flake. this time i decided to throw a 7 inch roboworm in grape color. i fished it for a few casts for nothing and switched to the trick worm and caught three fish in 10 minutes. from that day on i throw nothing but black with red flake in the river. the reason being is the water at the river is always a little dirtier and the black color i feel shows up better than most other colors.

CatBassin reply :

I honestly believe in matching the hatch. The best way to do this is looking for a school of minnows and try your best to match color and size. You can even take a bass for a meal and while cleaning and gutting just check the stomach and sometimes you will find a clue there. And something with an orange belly will usually work if you can't find anything.

Triton_Mike reply :

Quote

Quote
BTW why do bass eat pink trickworms and senkos? Does it match a hatch? Something to think about...

I believe that it has alot to do with a bass's adaptibility. In order to be in such a wide variety of conditions they must have conditioning that tells them to feed experimentally. Cause I'm sure that there ain't the same forage everywhere . This could be why Bass jump on some crazy stuff.

Imagine this, a bass has been transplanted to Japan. I'm about 99.9 % positive that Japan doesn't have the same baitfish or any fish that we do. So if that bass is to survive, he/she must eat and eat soon. What does that mean? Let's start sampling until it finds something that supplies it with enough energy to survive. So to a bass that pink trickworm may be a sampling effort.

But Bass have grown used to eating a few specific forages and will even key in on them at times. So why not throw something that resembles what they are keying on?

Mottfia

P.S. I agree that a billion lure colors is too much to deal with. Find a system or train of thought that you have confidence in and just go fishing.

Mottfia, Thats one way to look at things. The other way is bass are predators and opportunistic feeders. They are at the top of the food chain in most lakes. They eat because they can and they react to baits within their strike zone. So if a bass hits a pink trick worm and learns that pink trick worms gets his jaw yanked on your saying he won't hit a pink trickworm again?? Think of all the pond bass that have gotten caught over and over again on the same type of lure.

I personally think bass are dumb as rocks. It's the anglers that need to understand the fish better.

Mike

Triton_Mike reply :

Quote
I honestly believe in matching the hatch. The best way to do this is looking for a school of minnows and try your best to match color and size. You can even take a bass for a meal and while cleaning and gutting just check the stomach and sometimes you will find a clue there. And something with an orange belly will usually work if you can't find anything.

Should lure manufacturers do away with chartreuse and white spinnerbaits since they don't match any forage? What about Sexy shad??? You see where I am going with this....

Catt reply :

Quote
I honestly believe in matching the hatch. The best way to do this is looking for a school of minnows and try your best to match color and size. You can even take a bass for a meal and while cleaning and gutting just check the stomach and sometimes you will find a clue there. And something with an orange belly will usually work if you can't find anything.

If one truly matched the hatch then your bait would only be 1/16-1/8 in length and translucent in color.

CatBassin reply :

I was messing around and came across an article that said if you looked inside a bass eye you would notice that it looked like a humans eye. Apparently not only can they see colors but also see shades of colors. It also talked about how different colored water changes the color of everything underneath. It said in clear water things appeared blue so natural colors were best to use, in green water stained from ale things appeared a green color so greens were the best, brown water stained from mud things appeared red so reds were the best, and extremely stained water color wasnt much of a factor that vibration and sound were your best bet. It also said to remember this, lighter the day the lighter the lure and the darker the lure.

CatBassin reply :

I see what you're saying Triton, there are some great colors that do not match anything in a body of water but I seem to have good luck with this when I fish a new area and I'm not getting bit.

CableGuy reply :

Quote
I was messing around and came across an article that said if you looked inside a bass eye you would notice that it looked like a humans eye. Apparently not only can they see colors but also see shades of colors. It also talked about how different colored water changes the color of everything underneath. It said in clear water things appeared blue so natural colors were best to use, in green water stained from ale things appeared a green color so greens were the best, brown water stained from mud things appeared red so reds were the best, and extremely stained water color wasnt much of a factor that vibration and sound were your best bet. It also said to remember this, lighter the day the lighter the lure and the darker the lure.

can you post a link for that article?

cart7t reply :

Just go buy a Color-C-Lektor and end this already.

CableGuy reply :

Quote
Just go buy a Color-C-Lektor and end this already.

i've been looking at those on ebay and i thought about posting about them on this thread, but from the sounds of the way this thread has been going, i didn't think anyone would be a fan of the color c lector, so i didn't bother posting about it. i plan on buying one when i can spare 100 dollars.

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