Deciphering the Color Puzzle - A Pro Panel
Story by Dan O'Sullivan
Bass fishing is all about decision making. Finding the location of the bait and
the bass are two of the more important factors when establishing a pattern on
the water.
One of the more confusing decisions can be selecting the color of soft plastic
bait you are going to throw. It's not hard to imagine why either. When you lol at the color charts of the major and minor soft plastic
manufacturers, the choices can be downright mind boggling.
It seems there are every shade of the rainbow accounted for, and even some
shades that are completely constructed from scratch. Then, when you factor in
the potential variances each color can have in the flake department; we might
as well throw our hands in the air, close our eyes and guess.
Should I choose the pumpkin with green flake, the green pumpkin with red flake,
the black and blue, the motor oil or the scuppernong? Don't even get me started
on handpoured worms, the color variances in those can
be three times as many.
To try and help make the decision easier, we went to the anglers who make these
decisions on a daily basis to find out what factors they consider when choosing
colors. With these pros, the decisions they make can be the difference between
getting paid that week, or going without. So, having a set of principles to
start with.
We wanted to pull someone from each area of the country, so we found anglers
with broad geographical backgrounds.
We sought the help of John Crews, an Elite Series pro from Salem, Va., we
talked to Dave Lefebre, an FLW Tour pro from Erie,
Penn., Texan James Niggemeyer, an Elite Series pro and transplant from Southern
California and finally, Justin Lucas, an FLW Tour pro from Northern California
who now resides in Guntersville, Ala.
We talked to them about three major types of presentations; Flippin' and
Pitchin', deep water worms on ledges and finesse fishing with drop shot rigs.
All of them had a plan for where to start and how they make those decisions.
Crews' Thoughts
Crews is such a fan of soft plastics that he started his own lure company
called Missile
Baits . In its short lifetime, Missile Baits has already gained
significant traction in the retail market, and has won a National Tournament
when pro staffer Ish Monroe won the second event of the 2012 Bassmaster Elite
Series schedule on a DBomb.
In developing his color wheel for the company, Crews looked to develop colors
that fit needs he felt standard colors didn't fill. "I only did a handful
of colors in the Missile Baits product line," he said. "I built them
all to fill a wide variety of needs for anglers."
In the Flippin' arena, Crews has his DBomb creature
bait and Missile Craw, and he follows a standard progression of colors when
choosing. "In darker water or low light conditions I tend to begin with
Bruiser Flash, a black and blue combination," he said. "The dark bait
works in water that is lightly stained to dirty, and I believe the blue mimics
hues found in craws, bluegill and shad."
He said that water that is clearer gets more of a watermelon or green pumpkin
hue like his green pumpkin, green pumpkin red flake and Super Bug colors.
Flippin' around grass causes him to look for baits with greens and purples in
it. "Grass tends to congregate a lot of bream, so I try to mimic their
colors," he said. "My favorite around grass with clear to stained
water is the Candy Grass color, which is a great bluegill imitator."
For throwing big worms on offshore structure, Crews prefers his Tomahawk 8.75
curl tailed worm. He chooses color based on sky conditions. "In sunny
conditions I tend to use green pumpkin a lot, " he said. "In darker
water or darker conditions I throw Blue Fleck or even the Bruiser color, a
black / blue."
He said he tends to experiment more with finesse worms like his Drop Craw, a
miniature drop shot craw he designed. "Dropshotting is a much more visual
presentation, so even in clear water, I tend towards more bright colors,"
he said. "I like to try my Pinkalicious color
because it gives me something different right off the bat."
If his experimentation doesn't pan out, he turns to more natural hues like Nattie Light when baitfish are prominent or Ghost Brown
craw and his watermelon red or green pumpkin reds when he is around the
springtime or when bass are feeding on crawdads.
Lucas' Plan
Lucas, an FLW National Guard pro tends to stick to basics for simplicity
purposes. "Whether it is a Berkley
Havoc Pit Boss, Craw Fatty or Rocket Craw, I Flip black and blue or green
pumpkin almost all the time," he said. "If the water has less than
six-inches of visibility or low light conditions, I go black and blue,
otherwise, I go green pumpkin."
Lucas is the same when it comes to big worms offshore, and having spent so much
time on his new home lake - Guntersville - he has found it best to keep things
simple. "I do the same thing with the Big power Worms," he said.
"Light and water clarity are the factors and my choices are green pumpkin
for good visibility and Plum for the rest of the times. That keeps it simple
for me there."
Finesse fishing is where he experiments a little bit. With California roots, he
has learned the importance of color variations for clear water. "I still
follow the water color and light penetration program, but I'll experiment a
little more," he said. "I think finesse fishing requires a little
more creativity to make fish bite."
In clear water, high skies, or when spotted bass are around, he opts for a
Berkley PowerBait Handpoured Finesse Worm in Prizm Shad. If things require a little more color, then he
opts for Oxblood Light Red Flake or Blue Crawler. If he is starting out in the
morning or the skies are cloudy then he leans towards Watermelon Magic or the
Triple Margarita color.
"Everything I do is based on confidence in a color, and visibility,"
he said. "These factors have really helped me catch more fish and keep my
mind clear."
Niggemeyer's Palette
Niggemeyer is an Elite Series pro from Van, Tex. who favors shallow water and
heavy cover. But, coming from Southern California, the veteran pro has learned
to experiment with color within what he calls a "palette" to give him
the best chances of catching fish. "I really have a few basics, but I play
within them," he said. "I have the blacks, the solid greens for
varying stains of water and the translucent greens for clearer water."
If he is Flippin' dirty water, he leans towards black and blue, but if the
water is muddy, he tends towards Black Neon; which is a black bait with red
flake. For heavily stained water, Niggemeyer turns towards the more opaque
greens in the green pumpkin family, then turns to watermelons in lightly
stained to clearer water. But, as he said, he plays within those spectrum.
"I use an Okeechobee Craw Strike
King Rodent a lot around grass in stained water because it mimics a
bluegill very well," he said. "If I am Flipping grass in clearer
water, then our Double Header Candy or Hard Candy colors give me translucence
while mimicking a bluegill."
In big worms, Niggemeyer tends to lean towards Blue Fleck and Plum colors in
stained water, while turning towards green pumpkins and watermelon or
watermelon / red if the water has good visibility. "The Rage Thumper has
great action, but it still helps to find the right color," he said.
"It's hard to beat those colors on offshore ledges.
Another angler with California roots, Niggemeyer likes to be selective when he
is choosing baits for Finesse fishing tactics like dropshottin.
"I really start with trying to identify the predominant baitfish," he
said. "If shad or silvery baitfish are present, then I tend to go with our
KVD Dream Shot in Ghost Shad. But, if the bait are minnows or shiners, then the
KVD Magic color is a great one to use." If bass are finicky, but not
necessarily feeding on baitfish of any kind, then he tends to turn towards
colors like Dirt; which is a pumpkin dark pumpkin laminate type color to mimic
craws or other worms.
Lefebre's Open Mind
An FLW Tour Kellogg's Pro from Erie, Penn., Lefebre
is much more open minded about his color selections. In fact, he would be the
first person to tell you that he carries every kind of color he can think of
with him to an event, then fine tunes it during practice. "I'm a little
bit more specific about colors than most guys," he said. "I'm not the
kind of guy that tries to keep it simple. I want to be able to have something
that triggers the bass into striking."
That said, Lefebre does keep things in one category
when it comes to Flippin'. "By nature, Flippin' is a stained to dirty
water technique," he said. "So, I tend to keep things fairly dark
with blacks, browns and greens. If I am Flippin' around grass and I need
something a little clearer, I turn towards watermelons and Smoke with Red
Flake." he said that the past couple of seasons he has been experimenting
with the old reliable Yamamoto
Double Tailed Hula Grub on a Flippin' Rig, but also turns to The Flappin' Craw
in cleaner water and the Fat Baby Craw for sparse cover.
While his color selections may seem conventional, Lefebre
tends towards the opposite. "I think heavy fishing pressure can make bass
want something different," he said. "I'll often try a color like
Watermelon / Red in heavily stained water even though I know black and blue
might be the conventional choice. That way, I'm offering the bass something
different than the majority of the field."
Lefebre also admits to being an angler that tries to
avoid offshore fishing unless he is forced to go there. So, in the case of big
worms, he is very "by the book." He chooses his colors based on the
conditions. Blue Fleck and Junebug are his choices in
stained water, and watermelon / red or gold flake for clean water and he mixes
in a Plum or Plum Apple color whenever he sees fit.
With finesse worms, he feels the same. He stays with three basic hues,
transparent greens and shad colors in clear water, green pumpkins for dingy
water and more solid colors for dark water. However, he said he feels finesse
fishing is largely a clear water game, so he often looks for subtle hints of
color that will make a difference. "I'll look for little slight variations
to make a difference," he said. "Sometimes they'll eat Natural Shad,
the next time it's Baby Bass, or Smoke Black Flake or a Blue Pearl Silver
Flake. All of those are in the same basic translucent shad type colors, but
they have different pearls and highlights that gives them a different
look."
The biggest thing that Lefebre said could offer
anglers an advantage is to think of changing colors as switching spots.
"There are times that I know I'm going to be in one basic location doing
the same thing for a long time," he said. Fish get accustomed to seeing
the same bait, so I'll try one pass with one color and then switch it up. or
I'll try a different color weight or go to a red hook; all of those things can
reignite a bite."
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