Is Color important for Bass Fishing?

Justin · Post by **Justin** » Sat Jan 24, 2015 10:32 pm

I've heard so many different schools of thought on color. Some say it's not important that it's presentation. Others swear by it.

What's your thoughts? I think I could be persuaded either way.

DDG · Post by **DDG** » Sat Jan 24, 2015 10:46 pm

I think color is important iv'e defiantly have had numerous situations on the delta, malones, etc I've been flipping a senko or worm these are two recent trips in a dark or watermelon color and wasn't really getting bit then switched to a purplish color and started hammering them. Even so tho who knows Presentation and direction or your cast are the biggest. Line diameter I never down size unless it's for the way my bait is gonna fall if I'm fishing a crystal clear local lake and fishing deep with a jig I'm using 15lb test.

backlash · Post by **backlash** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 9:15 am

If it is not important, many of us have been spending waaay too much money for waaay too long!!!!

DDG · Post by **DDG** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 12:34 pm

Okay today I was flipping a watermelon jig and a shad pattern jig with no luck. put a brown/purple beaver on a texas jig head and first flip caught a 4lb fish. so uhhh yeah haha freds magic stick pulled a bass outta the cover

Oldschool · Post by **Oldschool** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 12:46 pm

One of the most misunderstood factors in bass fishing is how the bass see colors. Lots of papers, reports, books, on this topic, few answers that support actual fishing experience.
Color is important when it is and that is when you don't have the hot color of the day. Any bass angler that has fished Florida strain LMB in clear deep structured lakes has experienced times when color was the key factor.
Someday we will understand how a bass in 50-75 feet of water can be color specific or during total darkness.
A 4" smoke with light purple blood line and micro gold flake fished in 40 feet of water worked and nothing else would...why?? Infrared, ultraviolet spectrum we can't see...know one knows for sure, except the bass.
Tom

merc1997 · Post by **merc1997** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 1:23 pm

i have always believed depth and speed control to be the most important factor, and color can at times be a refining option.

as far as how bass see colors, i have always felt it has a lot to do with the amount of ultra-violet present.

since bass do not have eyelids, i feel that the amount of ultra-violet has much to do with how active bass are sometimes. ever just keep right on catching them after a severe front has passed? and, then a next to nothing front goes through, and the bite is off for three days?? i have always felt the difference was the ultra-violet present. some days when it is completely sunny, the light does not make you squint one bit, but sometimes on an overcast day, you can not get your eyes open. that is ultra-violet, and i feel it has a definite effect on bass behavior.

bo

dwise · Post by **dwise** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 4:00 pm

I am old school and have been taught that light conditions and water clarity are the major factors in bass being able to see your bait, so certain colors are more visible to the bass during certain light conditions and water clarity. You could catch bass on one color in the dim light of early morning but when the sun comes out, that color stops working. While bass have excellent hearing and olfactory senses, bass are sight feeders. If they can't see your bait, they can't bite it. So color is very important in allowing the bass to see your bait.

Anyway, my two cents.

milehi · Post by **milehi** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 5:30 pm

have a friend that makes big topwater baits. When he takes them out to test them he just clears them, no color, fish eat them anyway

scott h · Post by **scott h** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 8:10 pm

Yep color is very important, green pumpkin, green pumpkin and green pumpkin is all you need, coast to coast.

Larry Hemphill · Post by **Larry Hemphill** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 9:25 pm

Commenting on the last 3 posts - there is some truth in all of them. There are facts and opinions on every aspect of bass fishing - seasons, depth, lures, clear-stained-muddy water, cover, and so on. This discussion had gone on for decades and will continue to go on. Color is a tough one. In 30+ years of guiding, I have seen clients catch quality bass on colors I wouldn't want to be seen with - LOL! I just smile and say - congrats!! Or - you are an amazing fisherman! Then I do home and see if I have that color!!!! A comment about one of the posts. I have caught many bass in very, very muddy water and in the dark of the moon - midnight - at 40-50 feet. Color is not the issue - it is the water displacement of the moving bait like a spinnerbait, crankbait, plastic worm with a big, floppy tail, or a big, hairy, rattlin' jig. Some of those bites are simply amazing. How do those bass hit with such authority - and rarely miss! Obviously the general rule for day fishing is brighter or fish colors during the warm months and darker, craw, or trout colors during the colder months. And again, there are exceptions to the exceptions in the wonderful sport of bass fishing!!

mark poulson · Post by **mark poulson** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 9:02 am

milehi wrote:have a friend that makes big topwater baits. When he takes them out to test them he just clears them, no color, fish eat them anyway

I don't think moving topwater baits are a fair example, because they are all silhouetted against the sky as a background.
The commotion the bait causes is what attracts and triggers the bite.
For sub-surface lures, or dead sticked top waters, I agree color is important, both as an attractant, and as a triggering feature, once the fish is attracted. In clear water, realistic colors, and in off colored water, colors that stand out.
As far as worm colors go, I'm as lost as anyone! Who knows why they eat straight tailed, do nothing worms, anyway?

kawakawa · Post by **kawakawa** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 10:09 am

I have seen dozens of times over the years when subtle color differences were critical. Specifically...at San Vicente years ago my dad and I were on a very good worm bite in 15-25 feet using 6" Smitty's cinnamon-blue stripe worms. We had caught over a dozen fish dragging over the exact same rockpile using the same test line, sinker and hook size and identical retrieves. I had the same cinnamon worms in my box with a faint black stripe instead of blue. When I switched colors I went an hour without a bite while my dad continued to catch. I switched back to cinnamon-blue and we both continued catching until the lake patrol forced us to leave at dark!

I've seen the same thing happen at Castaic, Casitas and Cachuma many times since then. The same "crawdad" colored Smitty with the bright orange belly laminate always got more bites (at Castaic) that the identical worm with the dull orange belly. Light oxblood always got more bites at Casitas (for us) than regular oxblood, and the original cinnamon-neon blue stripe Zank's 6" worms were 100-times more effective that the identical Zanks in cinnamon-(not neon) blue stripe worms!! The cinnamon-neon Zank's were even deadly at Henshaw in the chocolate-milk colored water of late spring! Old School's example with the smoke-purple worm is spot on (as usual).

Sometimes color is critical, and it's why I carry way too many pounds of soft plastic aboard my 20' Champ!!

Mitch · Post by **Mitch** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 2:34 pm

I believe color is a FACTOR in the clarity of the water and the depth at which you are fishing. I have an old school color/depth graph that shows the best color to use at each depth as measured by the probe as you drop it down. It measures the penetration of light at each depth and suggests the best color to use. It's amazing how well it works and how little it is used anymore. EVERY good fisherman used to use these "back in the Day". LOL That being said, in clear water, bright sun, the color matters more. "Match the Hatch" comes more into play. Just my 2cents !!

Oldschool · Post by **Oldschool** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 8:06 pm

Loren Hill invented the Color C Lector and we all ran out and bought one back in the day, plastic worms were being made in C Lector color combinations, articles were written...we believed for awhile, then moved on.
Dr Hill passed away and Spike-It now sells the unit to a new generation of anglers.
The lesson learned...color contrast with light to dark shades combined work, the C Lector combinations were not reliable.
Tom

GKramer · Post by **GKramer** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 6:36 pm

Because I was a Color-C-Lector guy for years (and have heard all the criticism), it should be known I became one long before a unit was shipped to California. A couple of us were able to get copies of the test results in chart form, and we used those as a guideline to what colors would likely be most visible to the fish in the immediate clarity and light penetration (based on time of day).

And we had stupidly good results from our chart reading, but of course, we didn't have the photometer to drop down at various depths. We didn't get to see, if indeed, the light penetration was such that conditions would favor what had been charted (by the "study") as a successful fish recognition of a given color.

After thousands of drops and incremental checking of light penetration while matching the "range" of most bass-recognizable colors (not preferred or favored color as the unit had been mis-marketed) our use of the device lessened since we had seen what to expect and what color ranges to pick from.

Oh, and many of those choices matched up dead-on with what thousands of fishermen and millions of hours of casting also discovered over time.

Because Dr. Hill may have manipulated findings or did not follow perfect scientific method since he was looking to create a specific product, I'm not that bothered. A photometer doesn't lie and still can help me if I think there is a stratum of off-color water that is blocking the usual light penetration for a time of day.

One of the naysayers, wrote that what Hill found was not universal bass behavior, but only applied to his "trained fish." But to me, that statement just said two important things. One, fish could be trained (ie conditioned by their environment, which we all do by throwing the same thing at the same water at the same time, every stinking weekend.)

And two, trained or not, it was clear that bass could see the differences.

Other than that, it doesn't matter.

Cooch · Post by **Cooch** » Wed Jan 28, 2015 8:56 am

I think color does make a difference, to what level a bass' choice to strike one color over another, is an unproven science, in that aspect, we will debate it forever.

In our case, as anglers, some believe it makes a huge difference, making changes proves that in our experiences. Others, have total confidence in a specific color, and they too, have great success in following their thought processes in limited color selections. Where color choice makes the biggest difference to us anglers, is in our ability to actually make a choice to change colors, when we are experiencing negative results. Do we continue down the path of fishing the color we have confidence in, and continue to not get the desired results, or do we have the confidence in believing our instincts that are telling us we need to make a change? Trusting my instincts, when that thought first pops in there, and making a color change, works far more often in changing my desired results, verses sticking with the same color that is not working.

We can't think like a bass, but we can learn to trust what we think, and act upon it right now! Yes, color can make a difference in yer success on the water.

g-man · Post by **g-man** » Wed Jan 28, 2015 7:07 pm

Over time as we use colors in certain situations I believe we gain confidence in them from their results. And as Cooch said this can also be our downfall cause we tend to stick with them even if we are not catching fish. Does color matter? I'm a firm believer that it does. I think low light, sunny, windy, and cloudy days along with location (lakes, rivers, ponds) all play a part in what we use. Through trial and error our minds are taught to believe in these colors.

Oldschool · Post by **Oldschool** » Wed Jan 28, 2015 7:39 pm

Getting locked onto specific colors is a mistake we all make and as Cooch stated refusing to make a change can be a problem. We have favorites for specific conditions based on prior success. What made you try that new color the first time? More than likely another angler was catching bass on the color and you switched giving the new color a try and it worked.
If all you use is black you will catch some bass, how many anglers today fish black soft plastics....during a bright day? Very few, unless it's a jig and you fish east of the Mississippi River. Black with blue is the most popular color combination across the country for jigs, rarely fished during the day out west in deep clear structure lakes. Why? If everyone fishes the same color the bass will be caught on that color, no other choices.
To the best of my knowledge Aaron Martens is color blind and selects colors that he can see in the water. What the color spectrum look like to Aaron is anyone's guess but the bass react to them.
Very interesting topic.
What is the new hot secret color where you fish?
Tom