Does color matter?

[Kevin Evans - Kap]

Do you think color matters? Simple example is plastic baits, robos, senkos, Iovinos etc...
This topics always seems to come up between me and Mac on colors, I am firm believer , Mac not so much.

funny huh... we have a lot of fun.

Kap

[Kevin]

I'm not a big believer in color either. Sorry!
I've seen a few times where it seemed to make a difference but overall, I believe size, profile, and presenting a bait at the right place/time is really what matters. What do I know though?

[tunaman]

At times, yes... it makes all the difference. Other times absolutely not.

A few years ago at Bass-A-Thon, Edwin Evers had a seminar and stated that the right bait with the right presentation in the right place will get bit. I believe others before him have publicly made that observation, but it hit home. So for the most part I'm not too overly concerned with colors, although I have specific colors that I depend on under certain conditions in certain places at certain times. How's that for being on the fence?

I know in the late winter and early spring, Cooch and I have fished the same bait on similar rigs, only he used one color and I used another. Either he'd get bit, or I would, until the other changed over. That particular time of the season, in the conditions we were targeting, often called for a very specific color in order to draw the bites.

My rule of thumb is, if I'm not getting bit and expect to be, I'll change up colors to see if it is a color preference. Sometimes it may be based on time of day/low light-bright light conditions; sometimes it can be based on the color of the bottom or cover you're fishing. And for certain bodies of water, there are often general traits that seem to generate the most hits on a specific color - purples (Margarita Mutilator, Folkstad Special), greens (Aaron's Magic, Watermellon Candy), browns (Oxblood, Cinnamon Brown), etc. Others there doesn't seem to be any set pattern and depends upon the day, conditions and mood of the fish. Most of the time it is related to the local forage.

Roger

[Oldschool]

How bass see and react to various colors or color combination is a topic that could easily fill a book. The bottom line is; we don't know how bass see colors underwater.
When bass are actively feeding, color isn't as important as it is when bass are inactive and that is about 75% of the time.
The old saying "right place at the right time is what matters", the problem with that is being there with the right lure.
Anyone who has fished clear deep structured, high pressured, lakes knows how important having the right soft plastic color can be! It can get down to having the right vintage or color lot of the same exact worm at times.
One day we will understand that bass see a different color spectrum then we do; infra red for example.
Color is important when it matters to the bass, otherwise use black the absence of color.
Tom

[jimmy87]

I think color matters but not the most.
Here is what I think matters in order of most important first.

1 size
2 shape
3 color

I choose color by water color and light conditions. Dirty water dark colors.
Clean water more tarnsparent colors.

bright sunny days light colors. dark days dark colors.

[Cooch]

At times yes it does, at other times no it does not. I believe that when ya have shallow, positive, agressive feeding bass, color choice is not so important. This though, is the smallest window of oppurtunity that most of us experience and we should all be lucky enough so as to experience this at least once a month! HAR!

Most of the time though, especially when fish are in a neutral or negative feeding mode, light penetration can have a very important bearing on color choice and whether or not we get bit. There are old school guys who still to this day, rely on the old Color-C-Lector units. That device itself, back in the day opened a lot of our eyes to how color and the light spectrum affected what a bass would or would not strike.

We see this all so often here on the Delta in the spring when tossing Senkos. Start the morning off with Watermelon red, three hours later ya can't git bit, change it up to Green Pumkin, fish start biting again. It can be day to day changes here too. One day the watermelon reds are unbeatable all day long, head out the next morning, they won't touch it, but pick up that 297 green pumkin, yer Senko bite is on. I've even had periods where the flake makes a difference, especially with the green pumkin. They stop eating it, start tossing the 301 Pumkin with the purple flake, bingo, bite is on agian.

As Tom mentions, what we know about color, could fill a book, a thick book. What we don't know about color would fill a second book. A good percentage of what we use and catch fish on, is based around our confidence in a certain color, for me it's purple first, then black as Tom mentions. If they don't eat either of these, I presume color matters to the bass that day, break out the assortment and rotate thru the spectrum until ya find the one that works, magically you find one eventually. If ya always stick with the same color, don't git bit and never change, yer results will likely remain the same as well.

[corn griffin]

Does color matter?

No, as long as its green pumkin!

[Andy Giannini]

It matters.

One thing I have noticed about colors, they can make your bait too "much" whatever size it is.

Or by using less color, you can get away with a bigger bait.

A guy needs to consider color while testing the "Maximum Bait Threshold" of the fish or current bite.

[Rich461]

In all my years of study of the Largemouth Bass here is my opinion on lure color.

Plastics: Green Pumpkin or Watermelon with tiny Red flake is the best color combo for continuous success.

TopWater: Red and white during the day and black at night or dark cloudy days.

Spinnerbaits: White or chartreuse and white

Crankbaits: Bone

The color of the bait affects the fisherman more than the fish. If he has confidence in that color, on that bait,
he will fish it harder. To prove this to myself I took a smoke/pepper tube and dyed it Red-White-Blue. I caught
fish all day on that stupid thing. Not big ones, but up to 2#. So I think color affects large fish more than small
fish.
The best bait, day in and day out, is a 6" Zoom® Brush Hawg in Watermelon with red flake. It is just perfect in
the way that they mix the colors. I have caught 6" to 8#'ers on that thing. When you don't know what to use...
throw that guy.

I know this to be true..beyond any doubt. Go into any bait shop or go to any online store and check to see
which bait is always "out of stock" or there are only a few left in stock. That is your first clue to which bait
is working and what color is hot.

[Kevin Evans - Kap]

I know this to be true..beyond any doubt. Go into any bait shop or go to any online store and check to seewhich bait is always "out of stock" or there are only a few left in stock. That is your first clue to which baitis working and what color is hot.

See Mac I told you it does.....

Thanks all, great feedback.

Per the quote:I always check whats low or out of stock when at local tackle shops...

Tight lines,
Kap

[Oldschool]

There is a subcultrure of western tournament anglers that have color paranoia; they must the hottest new seceret soft plastic worm or creature color.
Then there are the die hard color doesn't matter as long as it's watermelon green with red flake or black with blue.
The difference between these 2 groups is usually the following factors; Florida strain largemouth bass vs northern strain largemouth bass and water clarity. FLMB is clear water tend to have specific color preferences and feed on pelagic baitfish and crawdads located in rocky areas. If you limit your colors choices when targeting FLMB in clear water, you maybe handycapping yourself. Translucent shad colors or translucent cinnamon colors out perform watermelon green with red flake or black with blue. On the other hand if your are targeting NLMB in off color water the watermelon greens and black/blue tend to work.
The tournament anglers buy up hot colors; they are paraniod the competetion may get them. Do you think the shop owners have figured this out and remove a dead color for a few days?
Tom

[mark poulson]

At times yes it does, at other times no it does not. I believe that when ya have shallow, positive, agressive feeding bass, color choice is not so important. This though, is the smallest window of oppurtunity that most of us experience and we should all be lucky enough so as to experience this at least once a month! HAR!

Cooch,
Is once a month the married man's bite?

[nipples]

Color absolutly matters...

There are times when it is the difference between getting bit and getting skunked and then there are times when it is the difference between a good day and a great day. Regardless, it always matters.

I keep my worms in boxes pertaining to color families... Greens, browns, reds, purples, etc... When I get on the right color, I can work some of the variations within that color family to see if I can fine tune the color. I find that the amount of light makes a huge difference on color selection as well. One color can work like gang busters in the morning and fizzle within a couple hours as the light changes. I have seen the most subtle color changes make all the difference in the world.

But when it comes down to it, everything matters, line, weight, technique, presentation, lure, color, scent, noise, etc.

Yes, you can catch fish without paying too much attention to any of those factors, but you can have an incredible day on the water if you get them all perfect.

Good Luck,

-Nips-

[Cooch]

At times yes it does, at other times no it does not. I believe that when ya have shallow, positive, agressive feeding bass, color choice is not so important. This though, is the smallest window of oppurtunity that most of us experience and we should all be lucky enough so as to experience this at least once a month! HAR!

Cooch,
Is once a month the married man's bite?

Absolutely, but then again, I'm legally seperated and am no longer an expert on this! HAR!

[Johnny C]

Absolutely.....See it all the time

[mac (Doyle McEwen)]

Actually it isn't so much that color isn't or can't be important, but of all the things we as fishermen/women can control, color selection is the least important..

I once was told by a fellow angler that the only color they were biting on was watermelon w/redflake..I asked if he had tried other colors and he said absolutely not, the only thing they were biting on was watermelon w/red flake..Now not being a rocket scientist I do know that if all you throw is watermelon w/redflake any bites/hits you happen to get are only going to come on that color..Numerous times while out with Kap he has asked me what color I was catching them on, and generally I replied, the color I pulled out of my bag when I needed a new bait..Generally I do not pay a lot of attention to that detail..As long as I am catching fish, I just do not feel it is all that important..Have there been times when I was skunked, you bet there have been, and I was throwing watermelon w/redflake at the time..

mac

[Guy Kelley]

OUCH,OUCH, OUCH !!!!!! My Head Hurts, HURTS, HURTS

I think you cap is on to tight again !!!
See what Cooch and your own Fishing buddy said and then tell me it don't matter !

Now I need a aspirin !!