match the hatch or imagination at work?

[AUFred]

My experience in 60 years of fishing is more natural colorations catch more fishermen not necessarily more fish. I have caught fish on homemade contraption lures. I have caught fish on the old "Helicopter Lures", which resembled nothing. I have caught tons of fish on spinnerbaits & buzzbaits which I call reaction baits. Those in my opinion resemble nothing in nature.

I fish mostly ponds and have found a lot more topwater reactions on whites or yellows when flyfishing. Matching the hatch of course becomes important here if you fish dry flies. Soft plastics in the purple or chartreuse or watermelon colors work best and occasionally black those of course are fished more slowly. Hard baits with a little yellow or red seem to get me more strikes than more neutral colorations. Occasionally I will add red with a waterprrof marker to baits. I even like yellow or firetail plastics because they seems to bring a reaction.

For me line weights & color have a huge effect on whether I am successful on most days. If the water is gin clear forget anything heavier than 6# test. I am old school so I mostly fish monofilament.

I believe the match the hatch has its place but I don't believe the fish are smart enough to compare or notice minor differences. If you are following surfacing baits in the 3 to 4 inch class chunking a 10" swimbait probably is not getting you a strike.