Is there a system for matching lure color to water conditions?

[BassBest]

Don't know of any system yet, but what I do is try to use a lure that closely resembles the water color......clear/silver/black/blue in clear water, chart/orange/craw/brown in muddy water, black or dark versions of other colors in clear water with overcast. It's not fail-proof I just have confidence in it, it works well for me.

-----Best Fishing-----

[Danny]

BB is right on!

I've always read, seen, and heard that the darker the water, or more precisely, the less light penetration, then the darker the lure should be, and vice versa.

For instance, on stained water, or cloudy days, I like to use junebug lizards, and pumpkin/chartruese or cotton candy on the sunnier days, and especially the cotton candy on bright days and clearer water. The TV talking heads call the lures translucent (forgive the spelling if wrong). It seems they are consider more natural for the clearer water and bright sunshine.

On Barkley, where the water is generally stained (up to about 3 feet of clarity) chartruese is always a good color, but on those really dark overcast days, junebug always out produces for me.

Pure muddy water, red crankbaits work better than the lighter colors.

Another thing is to try to match the bait.. ooops, match the hatch is the actual saying. If it is early in the year, and crawfish are the main forage, you can get by with more of a red color, but if shad are the main forage, you want something similar. For instance, on KY Lake, I have much more luck on pearl crankbaits than I do chartruese.

Hope this helps some too.

Danny

[dpage70]

i agree with matching the color to the water completly. in clear water mimic the color of the forage and make long casts to the target. in stained water i like brighter colors and at night its nothing but black or something that at least has some black in it. black bladed spinner with no moon silver blade with a full moon. my opinion anyway.

[spinnerbaitguy]

You know I have used red in mud , with a great deal of success , but I've also read, recently (concerning the red hooks is what got me thinking along this line ), that red is one of the first colors to disappear in water .I've never really thought about it until now I guess but if this is true , could that mean that we've been duped by marketers and article writers? Does anyone REALLY KNOW ??haha.......I DO believe that there is something to color and I do believe that there are some absolutes which are rules , not just marketing schemes .The things you guys have written mirror the same things I've found to be true but this red thing kinda stands alone as a mystery .........or is it ?Any thoughts ?

[apb]

Red does not disappear under water like some line manufacture claims. It is the first color to drop out with depth. By that I mean that around 5 feet down, red appears as black rather than red.

With any lure, presentation is the key. Color is much lower on the list, though it can make or break a day from time to time. In clear water, I go with more natural colors. Stained water, I'll often use chartreuse cause it helps the fish see the lure better. Mostly fish for Hybrids and Stripers, though do chase creek smallies from time to time.

Andrew

[Danny]

Andrew, I think your comment about red becoming black is exactly why it works in muddy water.

In low light conditions, you want a darker bait to provide a greater profile.

Something I've never really understood though is this, if the light penetration is really low, once you get beyond the light, everything is "invisible" so at that point color won't matter at all. As long as there is some light for you to shilouette against, then darker colors will provide that best shilouette, I believe. And on another note, how badly did I spell that word, shilouette?? ha ha

Danny

[BassBest]

LMAO....and can't stop. I didn't even know you misspelled it until you mentioned it, so it can't be far off. I won't try to spell it I'll just use your version.

[dpage70]

well one thing i do know about lure color is that every lure comes in 100 different shades and every magazine article i've ever read about color suggests that pros stick mostly to 6 or 8. ever wonder why we have a thousand colors in our boxes but we always seem to grab the same ones time after time? we know what works and when it works and we confidence in some colors more than we do others. i know what i like and when i like it. thats just me and my opinion. i think lure manufactures have so much of a selection just because they know we'll buy it. but when its all said and done we always seem to reach for the same colors over and over.

[hairball]

This color discussion reminds me of an article I read way back when I first got into bass fishing. The article revolved around why purple worms were so effective. At that time, they were incredibly popular. Someone explained the science behind it. Purple is a combination of red and blue. Red has the shortest wavelength and blue has the longest. Because of this, red light penetrates only to a shallow depth but blue goes much deeper. Therefore purple is visible at the greatest range of depth.

[BassBest]

Heck hairball I wish you would hve told us this earlier, it makes total sense, especially since the best jigs on Ky lake are black/blue, black/blue, black/blue, black/blue, and someone once told me that I should try black/blue.
Don't tell Renegade this, they may go up on their purple worms, they are the only company I can still find a purple worm. Good info.

[smljaw]

Don't fall for them. Anyone who's been around fishing for a while remembers when these things came out in the 80's. They were the thing to have to help choose your bait color. Just like red hooks today, IMO. They'll fall out of style in the next year or 2 and make a big comeback in 2029. People will think it's the new, hot thing to buy to catch more fish... The next KVD at that time will promote it like crazy and the sponsorship will love it!

Back to lure color... Keep it simple. Start with dark or bright colors when the water is dirty. Go as natural as possible when the water is clear... I often choose the dirty water colors when the water is clear but I'm fishing on an overcast day. It's all about trying new things some days too.

I remember one day, my buddy Jon, threaded a bright chartruse trailer on a black spinnerbait. I thought he was nuts until he proceeded to catch 3 bass over 5 pounds that day. I use that combo frequently now. Some days it works and some days it blanks.

[90skeeter]

i kinda go with bassin101 ,i just use whatever feels right or something i have confidence in and work it