I spend a lot of quality time at Bass Pro Shops and I’m here to tell you, each and every lure in that store can catch a fish. The trick is selecting the perfect lure, in the perfect color, to cast into the perfect depth, in the perfect water condition, at the perfect time to catch a lot of fish.
When I first started fishing I bought bait selections and colors that caught “my” eye. Typically the ones that I thought were the prettiest.
I quickly learned most were better suited to make earrings out of. I needed to change my arsenal to appeal to the fish instead of me. One of the biggest obstacles is color. And color is very important. What we see as a color may look completely different to a fish. One example is the color red. To us, it’s red, to a fish it is probably some hue of red until it hits about 10 feet then the color gets absorbed and turns black. Other colors of the prism have to sink further before they lose their hues colors. At ten feet, chartreuse turns white and remains that color.
Here are my rules of thumb on color…It’s exactly opposite of what you might think. One would think that if the water is dirty or stained you need to use a color that is bright. Not so much. It’s like when you were a kid and your mom dressed you (remember Garanimals), you gotta match. As important as it is to match the hatch of what the fish are feeding on, it is equally important to match the color of your surroundings, especially the water color. If you are fishing stained to muddy waters you’ll want to stick to darker/denser baits. Great examples are junebug, pumpkin, green pumpkin and black. These thick colors hold true longer in murkier waters. In clear water you’ll want to experiment with lighter colors like watermelon, red bug, green pumpkin etc. I’m sure you noticed green pumpkin was mentioned twice. There is a reason that it is the number one selling color in the USA. It is an extremely versatile color that will work in a sundry of water colors and conditions.
From there you can go to your reflective qualities (glitter) that definitely serve a purpose. On bright sunny days those glittery hues reflect sunlight mimicking the sparkle of baitfish fins being knocked off during a feeding frenzy. Gold and silver glitter reflects natural sunlight while your green, purple and blue glitters reflect UV light. In darker water, the sparkles, depending on their color, take on different hues allowing parts of the bait to be seen differently by the fish.
Once you’ve matched your bait to the water color you can then start to key in on other surrounding like forage, vegetation, and bottom make-up to better match what the fish are dining on. As my husband always tells me when I make fishing hard for myself, it’s not rocket science…and he’s right. (Don’t tell him I said that). Try to keep it simple with a few “go to” rules with your color selections and you’ll increase your numbers and fun.
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