Match the hatch...or not... 2024

Valascus reply :

I am not sure if this is the right place to post this...here or in the fishing tackle section...so if it needs moving by all means .

As we all know there is an absolute ton of finishes and types of lures that are crafted to imitate certain types of forage for bass. Some imitate craws, some baitfish, tons of worm types and so on and so forth. Here's the question. Say you are fishing a body of water that doesn't have craws in it, for example. Should you even try to tie on a lure that is imitating a craw? Since the bass are not accustomed to seeing this type of forage will they be more wary of this foreign object in their waters...or will they still instintually look upon it as a source of food? Same thing if you were fishing a body of water without minnows or shad. Is it just a waste of time to try a lure that there is no forage for said lure to imitate? Should you just do your best to match the forage of the body of water you are fishing? :-?

Captain Cali reply :

I match the hatch as much as I can. Especially in clear water. That's not to say other colors/patterns wont work.

Raul reply :

Say you are fishing a body of water that doesn't have craws in it, for example. Should you even try to tie on a lure that is imitating a craw?

I don 't see nightcrawlers and earthworms crawling along the bottom of any lake.....yet we fish with plastic WORMS don 't we ?

It 's the action of the bait what attracts the attention of the fish. What do worms mimic, worms ? crawfish ? darters ?.

bixbybasspro reply :

It pays off more than not..depends on the water clarity....the clearer...the more natural of colors...always pay attention to the size of the baitfish also b/c that can lead into a better day...

RoLo reply :

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Say you are fishing a body of water that doesn't have craws in it, for example. Should you even try to tie on a lure that is imitating a craw?

I totally agree with Raul.

Do you really think that bass mistake a spinnerbait for.....................I forgot, what's it supposed to be?

I never think in terms of fooling a bass into believing my lure is some existing forage.

I only want the bass to believe that my lure is something to eat.

The colors I choose are based solely on "lure visibility".

In my mind at least, once the lure has been noticed, color is no longer important.

Great question, by the way!

Roger

roadwarrior reply :

Although I understand the concept and theory behind "match the hatch," I don't follow that rule of thumb. With the massive amount of baitfish found in most of the big water I fish, I feel like I need something that distinguished itself from the crowd. I always like "big" and I usually like "fat", but not always fat.

Natural or dark colors are my choice in every lure category, but there are always some exceptions: chartreuse and red come to mind, but never pink for me. When in doubt, silver, black and white or some combination of these colors is usually a good choice. I don't think a particular color is usually important, but sometimes it is critical.

Master_Hunter_1977 reply :

I gree with RW about not having to match the hatch. I think of it like this. For example when shad shad come into the river they are there by the hundreds to thousands. What will make your shad patern look special to those bass. Why would they hit your pattern instead of the thousands of other choises they have in the real thing. I have found that when I body of water is spwamed with a certain type of food its a good thing if you change it up. For some reason they like not to see the same thing over and over. On the contrary I do like to "fish the hatch" if in the body of water you just start to have a certain food source becoming present. For example In my lake the blue gill start getting more active at a certain time of the spring and at this time for a week or two that pattern is great but the it dies off even though they are still in the system by the hundreds.

Good luck fishing

scott

D.Hull reply :

when im fishing i just ask myself "would i bite this if i were a fish?" if it looks good to me i throw it!

Valascus reply :

That is what I used to do. But now I am trying to find ways to help me zone in on an effective pattern faster. If I can rule out certain types or styles of bait that would make it a lot faster. I know that bass are instinctual animals. They eat, survive, and spawn. Does a bass simply instintually feed upon anything...even if it is something that is completely foreign to it's native waters...something it may not have ever seen before in it's existance? Does the bass learn what forage is in his area and just stick to that, avoiding that which it is unfamiliar with? Or does it simply eat anything it sees that seems like it may be easily edible be it unfamiliar or not? Just some thoughts I had.

Master_Hunter_1977 reply :

I don't have and shad in my home lakes but the shad pattern seem to work well throughout the year. It may be the action of it or soming else but I don't just think if the bass aren't use to seeing it that it means they won't still hit it.

Landis76 reply :

I think color is a confidence booster for ourselves in a lot of instances. I know there are instances where color plays a part but like the others say, it's more action and overall appearance.

Bass are like school yard bullies. They don't care if you are short, tall, fat, skinny, black or white. But if you show some type of weakness, they are on you like white on rice. When I am throwing a lure, I want to make sure it looks like something vulnerable first and foremost whatever it is. Color is only a minor factor in my book.

Raul reply :

Excellent responses from everybody, you all deserve a good behaviour star. I specially liked this one from Alandis:

When I am throwing a lure, I want to make sure it looks like something vulnerable

Other. reply :

Match the Hatch works well but look at there instints.

In the animal Kindom if somthing is born "Diffrently" THe mother will kill it, Knowing that its survival rate is low. Why let it eat every 1 ealses food if its gunna die soon? Bass will look at that. They well be like "HEY! that guy looks diffrent lets go kick thay guys ..." And thats what really happens. Instinct tells them to kill what ever looks like they dont belong. Instead of eating it they just pretty much kill it. And so if your lure looks like it dossent belong the bass will strike your lure and your chance of a hook up.

If you dont Match The Hatch is also best to make the lure the most noisyest and most action as possible. If it bothers the bass, the bass will have a more likly chance of hitting your lure. Bass are also very territoryal, Some weirdo comes marching into there bush they gunna eat em.

Does any 1 agree with what i said? im j curiose

Brad_Coovert reply :

IMO, it is not important to match the hatch in color, but it may be important to match the size. I once was fishing a tournament at Brookville in the fall. The vast majority of the shad there were super small, about 1 - 1 1/4" long, based on the shad that a bass spit out all over my boat carpet. We could catch fish on any color that day, as lonig as the baits were very small.

Of course, I have had days when the opposite was true and the bait had to be totally different to get bit.

Brad

Matt Fly reply :

From the Gary Yamamoto web site on matching the hatch.

Anglers fall into two camps; there are those who believe that color has little to do with the effectiveness of a bait, and there are those who believe that the right color makes all the difference in the world. Without apology, I fall squarely in the latter group. On far too many instances, I have watched several boats sit over fish holding structure, all using the same type of bait in different colors with only one catching fish. I have to make the assumption that color is a vital factor in "turning the fish on." Not the only factor, mind you, but a very important one nonetheless.

My approach has always been founded on a "natural" premise. To borrow a phrase from our fly-fishing comrades, I begin my color selection by "matching the hatch." The first step in this process is to determine the preferred prey species in a lake. Local fishermen are the best source for that information. People who have fished a particular body of water for years will often know the "never-fail" live bait; minnows, craws, frogs, leeches, worms - what is it the fish hit most often at that particular time of year? While you're bound to get several different answers, keep at it and you'll get a general consensus from those you speak with.

Take the top two bait species you heard about most often and then go hunting. The angler has to look at samples from the lake. Trap minnows (at several depths) do the same with craws, etc. Just what do the prey in that particular lake really look like? Once you know that, you can go to your tackle. Choose the color that most resembles the prey species, and then choose several other variations on that theme. As an example, let's say that your closest match to what you believe is the primary prey species is a pumpkin with black flake, you might then stay with pumpkin as your base color but add one with red flake, one with gold flake, one with green & black flake.

To round out your selection, add base color variants - a root beer with black flake and a cinnamon. The color variations are important simply because water color and light levels have a profound impact on how your bait appears under water. I know of several pros who have such a strong belief in this point that they have learned to scuba-dive so that they can descend to their chosen structure, look at the prey and 'match the hatch' down where the fish live! However, for those of us who don't carry an aqua-lung in the boat, it becomes a process of trial and error. To be blunt, we go fish'n' with our chosen baits!

Keep in mind that over the course of a day (or a tournament), the light levels will change and something like a sudden hard rain or a significant increase/decrease in water flow through a dam may alter the water clarity/color. Just because a variant doesn't work at 9:00 a.m., is not to say that it won't "turn-on" at high noon.

If a particular color choice begins to fail, change off; use your variations, and finally, experiment. I recall fishing a tournament in late September. My color selection had been based on white variants since the preferred prey species were craws with carapaces of dirty white, edged with pink. Halfway through the competition, the white variants began to become less effective and finally almost shut down. After racking my brain several times, it finally occurred to me that the pink edges might indicate the craws were on the verge of molting. I switched off to light pink (218) and the fishing picked up. But, when I hooked on a five-inch Fire Orange (155) grub, the fish went wild!

Are there colors that work every-where and every-when? Not that I've found, but there are colors that I believe work in a wider spectrum of lakes than others. Baits with a smoke base, for example, seem to have a high level of effectiveness, possibly due to the fact that many lakes contain a minnow prey with a smoky coloration.

While I have based the majority of my professional activity around the natural color selection method, I am forced to admit that my boat never hits the water without chartreuse variants in a locker. I can't come up with a rational reason why chartreuse should work, maybe the fish hit it cause it bugs the blazes out of them, but hit it they do. So, with or without a logical cause, chartreuse always rides with me!

Having said that, in competition or when guiding, I will very, very rarely ever fish a bait (or color) because I happen to like the look of it. When I'm fun fishing, fishing purely for the love of it on those fine summer afternoons, that's when I indulge in tossing the "weird and wonderfuls" that somehow seem to find their way into my tackle collection.

"Matching the hatch" has been one key to many days of successful fishing. I wish you equal success!

What do you think of Matching the Hatch now?

Hookem

Matt

Landis76 reply :

Quote
Excellent responses from everybody, you all deserve a good behaviour star. I specially liked this one from Alandis:
When I am throwing a lure, I want to make sure it looks like something vulnerable

Well, coming from you Raul, that's a real compliment!

RoLo reply :

I do believe that color can be important, but only inasmuch as it deals with visibility.

It's sort of ritual between my wife and I, when we begin in the morning I always ask her what color

she'd like to use. Then I'll choose a color that's at least somewhat different than hers.

In this way we're able to cover more bases of underwater lure visibility. Naturally, if either color

dominates the action then we'll both tie on the same pattern. But truthfully, that is very rarely the case.

As the day progresses I get caught up in more important matters like location, lure type, speed, depth.

I truly believe that when all the important matters are right, then suddenly you're matching the hatch.

Roger

Captain Cali reply :

Matt,

Thanks for the read. Keeps me confident that I should still make some effort to "match the hatch".

flechero reply :

Quote
What do you think of Matching the Hatch now?

I think it's getting expensive! ...lol Of course he'll suggest about 5 colors for everything, it's how he makes his living! But having said that, I personally contributed to his year end bonus last year!!

My favorite line in the post-

Quote
To round out your selection, add base color variants

Have you ever "heard" someone gently talk you out of another $50? He's good. I started to reach for my wallet as I read that line. ...lol

Neubie reply :

I only Match the Hatch when I'm fly fishing because colour and presentation are the most inportant things. If I'm using lures I go for visability.

cajun1977. reply :

sometimes the best lure is one fish havent seen before do you think a buzzbait looks like any kinda forage they are used to seeing maybe they think its one of them annoying waterskiers ;D

Raul reply :

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maybe they think its one of them annoying waterskiers ;D

I don 't care who you are, now that 's funny !

CJ reply :

IF I ain't onto something.I throw every thing in the box.I usually start with something I think will do it.Then I throw something I am not so sure about.Alot of times I'm suprised in what they may want(color).

RoLo reply :

A while back on his show, Bill Dance was discussing "buzzbaits".

When asked, "What it's supposed to be? Bill shrugged and said, "I dunno, maybe a Toy Airboat

Roger

Madhouse27 reply :

For me size and color each have their place on the priority list. The slower I am fishing the more color seems to be a key component. When bouncing a grub along the bottom I've made the subtle move from watermelon to green pumpkin in the same bait and had my day turn around almost almost immediately. I mean how much different can they look 20 feet down? On the other end of the spectrum I've caught fish on a fluke that was so off the mark colors wise from the baitfish that it was almost ridiculous. What it did match perfectly though was the size. It's crazy but I guess if fishing dealt in absolutes it would be more like math and none of us would be doing it.

guest reply :

"match the hatch" is a fly fishing term. Trout are very selective feeders. If there is a hatch of #12 mayflies than that is what you better be fishing, or go home.

Bass are opportunistic feeders. Yes they have their preferences. We all know that, but there are no shad in my home lake yet some days the shad finish lures are the killers.

5bass reply :

Where I'm at,the main forage is shad.I always try to throw something that is the same size as the shad,especially in the fall.Most of the shad pods that travel to the backs of the creeks here are between 1.5" and 2.5" long.Over the past few years,I have noticed that these small shad all have a faint yellow stripe on their sides.If I'm fishing cranks and cant get a bite,I will put a yellow stripe on my shad color cranks with a marker or a hi-liter.That yellow stripe,as little a detail as it may be,makes a difference sometimes.

I try to match the hatch when conditions call for it,(when the bite seems tough).But when the bass are "feeding up",I dont think color and size have all that much to do with it.

RoLo reply :

Quote
"match the hatch" is a fly fishing term. Trout are very selective feeders. If there is a hatch of #12 mayflies than that is what you better be fishing, or go home.

I'm glad you brought that up Avid.

Trout fishing is an art form. Trout have extremely keen eyesight and will reject any lure that drags even slightly in the current.

More than matching the hatch, the fly-fisherman also has to match the larval nymphs that occur before the hatch,

the drones and the spent flies after the hatch. By comparison, bass are like bulls in a china shop > >

Roger

guest reply :

I always try matching the hatch, though of course you can catch plenty of bass not doing that. I believe I can do better doing that. Even though I might be presenting one of a million copies of prey, it's the way it's presented that makes it stand out. For instance, a bass will far more readily go after crippled shad than chase down 1000 healthy shad. So MY shad falls helplessly and will almost always find itself not in the safety of a ball of shad, alone, cut away from the crowd, very vulnerable, especially if diabled, dying, pitiful looking, or the other extreme, madly trying to escape a bass. A bass has spent its life observing "normal" in their prey. A 3" shad among thousands of 2" shad can cause a bass to beware. It isn't natural. All the shad will be within about 5 mm in length variance by age one. The bass key in on normal in such factors.

Bass are opportunistic feeders. In the absence of their favorite prey they will scout for alternatives. If it will fit in their mouth they will eat it unless they see something "wrong", unnatural about it. If they usually see crayfish, they don't see them jumping or swimming. They se them crawl at a snail's pace. If they never see a crayfish they are likely to try it anyway. So if t lake has crayfish it's in your best interest to move them like the real thing.

I wonder what convinced you there are no crayfish there. I've never found a body of water supporting fish that didn't have at least one of about 400 possible nationwide species. I even have them in my yard! You are not likely ever to see one in the water, being perfectly camoflaged. But you might try trapping one with a simple screen wire cage and a strip of bacon rolled around a carrot for bait. I believe one reason to doubt their absence in a lake is so many fishermen use live crayfish for bait, and many get off the hook to live there. Some lakes now have undesirable species threatening native crayfish because of introductions. They migrate over land, and are carried by streams and floods, so few water bodies are immune to crayfish. You could also ask your DNR experts about that, and get specific species lists so you can look them up and begin using their colors.

Jim

KenDammit28 reply :

I tihnk a lot of people get confused about "matching the hatch" and think that it refers to having every single thing about the lure be like the common baitfish in the body of water. It can be color, it can be movement, it can be flash, it can be size, it can be sound..or a combination of any of those things. Thats what I consider matching the hatch. The game is figuring out what it requires on any given day to "match the hatch" and be successful. The main thing I concern myself with are size and color. I believe those to be the important parts of "matching the hatch" simply because no two fish will always move the same way or flash the same way or anything like that.

Bass though, they'll try to eat almost anything at least once. If they find that its more UNpleasurable than pleasurable, then I think they stop eating..but if their experiences are more pleasure than not, they'll never stop.

One dichotomy to the whole match the hatch thing is...all things being considered as far as the rule goes, how would a bass ever become "tired" of a certain lure or pattern or whatever..if you're matching the hatch? I mean if I'm using bluegill patterns and what not and catching bass after bass, they surely can't eventually stop eating bluegill. Theres a lot of "myths" regarding fishing, in my opinion.

Valascus reply :

Quote
I wonder what convinced you there are no crayfish there. I've never found a body of water supporting fish that didn't have at least one of about 400 possible nationwide species. I even have them in my yard! You are not likely ever to see one in the water, being perfectly camoflaged. But you might try trapping one with a simple screen wire cage and a strip of bacon rolled around a carrot for bait. I believe one reason to doubt their absence in a lake is so many fishermen use live crayfish for bait, and many get off the hook to live there. Some lakes now have undesirable species threatening native crayfish because of introductions. They migrate over land, and are carried by streams and floods, so few water bodies are immune to crayfish. You could also ask your DNR experts about that, and get specific species lists so you can look them up and begin using their colors.

One of the places I am speaking of is a private farm pond. I believe it was dug out and used for cattle at one point. That hasn't been the case for decades now. It was stocked with bluegill, catfish, and bass well before I was capable of fishing (about age 4 or 5...I'm 23 now.). I don't believe the pond was stocked with any type of forage such as crayfish, minnows, shad or anything like that. So that is one of the places that I am fairly sure there aren't any of the above. Lots of frogs. LOTS of frogs...some really small to some massive bullfrogs. But just to make sure there aren't any crayfish in there I'll try setting up some traps to make sure.

guest reply :

As far as I know nobody has stocked crayfish in my urban yard, but they wreck my lawn every year. Crayfish just happen. Look around the edge of the pond for telltale deep clean holeswith a mount of crumbly dirt. They come and go there, the other end of the tunnel in the water.

On the issue of bass not responding to "match the hatch", they change feeding moods sometimes several times a day. If they have bream in mind they go harrass bream, not keying in on a craw imitator. They get very particular just like deer do, passing up white oal acorns in favor or red oak acorns, then when the reds are gone clean up the white. A squirrel might only eat a pine seed today ignoring other favorites nearby. It might be as simple as a craving for something they need at the moment. There could be times a bass MUST have a high dose of protein from crayfish that's easy to catch but harder to spot, then fat from a bream that's easy to spot but hard to catch. It might be a particular prey is chosen only because it is easier to catch at a time the bass is starved, sort of like how we get fast food when in a hurry and not wanting to invest time in a lingering meal or cooking.

I make sure spinnerbait blades are the physical size of shad or small bream like eating size bluegills or redears. I also provide a matched trailer size. As prey grows larger I up the bait sizes. An exception to all that is when I'm fishing a lake known to have trophy bass, in which I'll opt for large baits regardless of prey sizes, but in winter and at other times when ever they are feeding aggressively, IOW, not during the earliest pre-spawn.

Jim

guest reply :

"Match the Hatch" also means knowing what bass are eating any particular time. If crayfish you can feel the lumps in their belly and find stains in their mouths. Schools of bass breaking surface are usually feeding on shad. All that helps determine what bait to tie on. Maybe it would be better to say "match the forage". I rarely find two types of forage in a stomach. It's all crayfish, all bream, all shad, all snake, all salamander, etc. If the water is 60 degrees over shalow rocky bottom with decaying and fresh growing vegetation, the surface chopped by a little wind to help hide them, crayfish will be more active and probably bass knowing that and going after them. If so they will ignore bream off a main point. I'll often take a little time visiting the fish cleaning station at a ramp to perform my nasty habit of inspecting fish stomach contents before launching, or ask folks cleaning fish what they found. I got that habit from doing stuff like that taking fish surveys. It saves me a lot of experimenting on the water and eliminates a lot of water. If I see 2" green crayfish with orange claws I know to hook up some 2" craws on jigs and dip them in orange dye. I know some pros who set out traps before a tournament to determine species, sizes and colors to use once crayfish activity is suspected. I also watch the shoreline for piles of crayfish remains from raccoons feeding on them, constantly turning rocks over for the delicacies. They also keep a sharp eye out for shad to look for signs of a splash of chartreuse or blue or whatever, then incorporate those colors in their baits. So I do that. I take on any habit that helps. Match up with what bass are feeding on while you are out there.

Jim

CJ reply :

One thing I noticed on a Table Rock trip is that I was catching smallmouth on a smoke color tube.I was dragging it slowly on the bottom(craw pres).After catching about a 3 lber. ,it spit out a crawfish in the boat.It was a dark green w/orange claws.I was matching presentation but not color.Maybee it is because of the many different colored species of crawfish?

guest reply :

There would be several species in Table Rock. Any of the natural colors will help a bass spot an otherwise perfectly camoflaged crayfish on bottom. If it can't be seen the bass relies on slight movement and any clicking sounds from the claws tearing food apart. If the bite is that slow, say when crayfish are mud colored, I'll add a bobber stopper to the line and attach a small rattle so I can rattle without moving the craw much. Twitching the line makes just enough noise to get bass over to the bait.

Jim

CJ reply :

You add a rattle to your line?What kind?

RoLo reply :

Quote
As far as I know nobody has stocked crayfish in my urban yard, but they wreck my lawn every year. Crayfish just happen.

Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans. Unless your backyard is constantly wet and boggy,

the likelihood of crayfish in your lawn is pretty low.

Maybe you're referring to mole crickets.

Roger

guest reply :

When I was a kid here I used to fish them out of the holes using bacon on a string. At night they come out to raid gardens. Locals call them lawn lobsters. They are crayfish. Some species can live out of wet environments, but have very deep burrows that reach groundwater. My yard is dry with shale under the soil, but the mounds are everywhere. A creek once cut through here before it was tiled and covered.

About the line rattle. I make those up in advance. I cut off a 1" piece of 1/4" heat shrinkable tubing. I run it onto an upholsterer's needle and shrink one end almost tight on the shaft. You don't want it to shrink too tight or it won't slip off. Drop a metal type rattle inside it. Shrink the other end, slide it off when cool. I make up a dozen at a time. Put a bobber stopper on the main line. Poke the main line through the rattle, tie to bait, pull stopper down. Sometimes using very thin line I tie a rubber band on the main line instead of stopper, using a square knot. With jig on bottom and semi slack line, pluck the line while hand-lining. I always bottom jig by holding line out from the rod, working the line.

You can buy C-rig line rattles that look a lot nicer but they are not cheap and are a little too big for me for jigging craws.

Jim

11300

Match the hatch...or not... 2024

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