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so many colors....how do you choose?
When I was learning about bass fishing I remember being overwhelmed by all the available lure colors: Citruse, Lavendar Shad, Sour Grape, Texas Craw, Spring Craw, Gold Dust, Colelsaw - Reaction Innovations has 47 colors in their Sweet Beaver bait alone! So how do you know which colors to buy? I will try to break it down for you by talking about the factors that determine color choices. the great thing is you can apply this method to any bait in your locker.
cracking the code on color selection
the basics of color selection
As with anything related to bass fishing there are acceptions to the rule; Seasonal or regional colors, sky and weather conditions can influence your choices, but in the most basic form of color selection water clarity and available forage play the biggest role in choosing which colors to throw on a daily basis.WATER CLARITY: This is the number one factor to consider when choosing your lure color. For the sake of discussion, dirty water will be visability, less than 18 inches, stained water - less than 3 feet, and clear water - 3 feet and deeper. As the water clarity decreases the more you want your lure to stand out. So if you are fishing dirty water you want to choose a bright or a high contrast color; Colors like chartruse, Red, or black are all good choices in dirty water. In contast, if you are fishing clear water, bass can see everything and see it quite well. In this situation I choose colors that match the available cover or the bottom. Colors that looks more natural like watermelon, green pumpkin, browns, baitfish or craw colors are all good choices for clear water. For stained water I throw the same colors that I would in dirty water.
AVAILABLE FORAGE: This is something that is easily overlooked and can really become a factor in clear water. Forage refers to the food sources that are available to the fish in any body of water. The key components here are much like "matching the hatch" in fly fishing; You want to pay attention to size, shape and color. As an example, if you are fishing a lake where the main forage is Gizzard Shad, a bait that looks like this would be a good choice. If the main forage is green crayfish choosing a bait that looks like this or this would be a deadly choice. In dirty or stained water, matching the available forage is not as important as vibration signatures - but that is for another lens.
Putting it all together
my top choices for bait colors
The take-home concept here is, you need to have contrasting/ bright colors to help the fish see your lure from further away and under low visibility conditions like dirty and stained water. But you also need to have colors with a natural appearance to help disguise and camouflage the bait in clear water. Again, there are other factors that may influence your choices, but with that said, here is a list of the colors that I like to use. This is not a be-all-end-all list, but hopefully it will help you wade throught the myraid of available colors next time you are at the tackle store.
- PLASTIC BAITS - tubes, skirts, worms, jig trailers, etc watermelon seed/red, green pumpkin, Bayou Craw, Cayuga Craw (sssshhhh...this one is awesome!), blue/black, junebug
- CRANKBAITS - lipless and standard lipped baits chartruse/ blackback, ghost minnow, chrome, Tennessee shad, firetiger, rootbeer
- SPINNERBAITS: white, citrus shad, any bluegill or sunfish color, Tennessee shad
- JERKBAITS: ghost minnow, chrome/blackback, chartruse/blueback, white, aurora pro blue
- TOPWATERS: chartruse shad, ghost minnow, firetiger, black, pearl ayu, clear/glitter (yep....clear - don't spread the word.)
- JIGS: watermelon, black, brown, junebug
John Crews on color selection
This video from John Crews hits on the factors from above as well as seasonal and regional influences.
HardkoreFishing.com
Check out Sean's Blog for more bass fishing tips, techniques, rants, raves, reviews, and so on. Don't forget to subscribe! Visit HardkoreFishing.com
Patterning Bass: A Seasonal Outline of Fishing Tactics - Part 1 of 3
The Four Stages of Spring
The Four Stages of Spring outlines a bass' movement from Prespawn throught Postspawn highlighting the key staging areas and and fishing techniques. Read More.... Places With Great Baits In Great Colors
This is a list of some of my favorite places to get tackle. These stores are great to deal with and the shipping and customer services is fantastic
- VERTICAL LURES
- Vertical Lures has taken the guess work out of color selection. Their Jig X, Tube X, and Chunk X, come in the most productive colors available - and they'll flat out whack 'em.
- SECRET WEAPON LURES
- These guys make the best and most revolutionary spinnerbaits available. All in great fish catching colors.
- Tackle Warehouse
- A great selection of tackle including high-end Japanese tackle.
- Northern Bass Supply
- Awesome folks from New Hampshire - a full-line Lucky Craft dealer with super-fast shipping and great customer service.
Share Your Thoughts
Was this lens helpful? Is there something I missed? Do you have a "go to" color that is not in my list? Post up and let me know what you think.
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- AnthonyWessel AnthonyWessel Feb 18, 2009 @ 12:37 pm
- Thanks for the info. I put links for your lenses along with your website out on my lens Big Sauk Lake. It is at the very end of the lense. I will continue to add your info to my next 70 or so lakes that I do. These are lakes that I sell shirts and merchandise with a lake name included on the design. I sell them at MnLakeWear.com. Good luck fishing this year.
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- Sean_McLoughlin Sean_McLoughlin Aug 15, 2008 @ 7:56 am
- Thanks for reading and for the comments, Abraham. The same idea applies to spinnerbait colors as it does to everything else, but a proven spinnerbait color for dirty water is chartreuse and white with gold blades. Thanks again and don't forget to visit my blog
HardkoreFishing.com for more fishing information.
Sean
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- abraham abraham Aug 15, 2008 @ 12:38 am
- hey man thanxs for answering alot of my questions.
but what color spinnerbaits would work in dirty water
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Reply
- abraham abraham Aug 15, 2008 @ 12:38 am
- hey man thanxs for answering alot of my questions.
but what color spinnerbaits would work in dirty water
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