How important do you consider line color?

[AbuMel]

A lot of years ago, when I first started seriously fishing for bass with artificial lures, I used to attach great importance to the color and visibility of my line. As the years have passed I've come to attach less and less importance to those factors. This makes me wonder what other anglers think about the subject and brings me to the question:
How much importance do you attach to color and visibility when selecting line for Bass fishing?

[walkeraviator]

Depends on water clarity and fish response. In super clear water or with finicky fish, the less visible the better. Small diameter flouro is the way to go. Now, where I fish teh water is usually stained and i like to night fish a whole lot so i use Black Light responsive flourescent monofilament lines on almost everything.

When fish are agressive enough to hit say a burned spinner, you could probably use 100lb hot pink mono and still get hit..

[WaffleJaw]

Some,but not a whole lot since I dont fish crystal clear water..I tend to stick to low vis green 90% of the time...Just habit, nothing more....I recently grab some Suffix Siege in ''Camo'' which goes from red to black to clear to blue....Its weird looking,but fish still hit it.. If they'll hit the piss color yellow of P-line,then anything is fair game,lol

[BassinNC]

I fish dirty water year round and I use low vis green.
Don't think it matters a lot it stained water but I like green.

[BigBassin144]

Generally, I don't think it is as important as people believe it to be. More important than anything is using what you have confidence in. If you believe a green line isn't going to get you bites in clear water, then you probably shouldn't use it. If you have confidence in bright pink line, then use that.

Generally, I stick to clear lines for most of my applications (with the exception of braid). I fish in water that is like chocolate milk, and I fish in gin clear water where you can see down 10-15 ft. Clear just makes the most sense to me since I do fish very clear water. If it actually makes a difference I don't know, but I have confidence in clear line so that's what I use.

When it comes to braid, I normally use green. I may try some yellow or another bright color this year on one of my setups to make line watching easier. If I'm fishing with super clear water and not in heavy cover, I always use a fluorocarbon leader.

BB

[tim4081]

BB you couldn't have said it any better....CONFIDENCE whether in your line or your lure selection is a key element in your fishing success.

[BassFeverJohn]

It is very important to me. I like a light olive green line. In the places I fish most often it is invisible under water, and because I use a light braid it sits on the surface and is highly visible to me. I do a lot of slack line presentations so I need to see the line move so I can react in time. if it were not for that one fact I more than likely wouldn't give a hoot.

In clear water I sometimes switch to a clear, smoky, or dark green mono, but I dislike mono, so I usually don't. Not a ton of clear water around here though.

[Rebbasser]

Not very important. Your confidence in your line is much more important.

[Backwater Charlie]

I like to use Blue Stren mono for Jigs 'n Worms when I need to detect a strike. If I fished in real clear water and was using, say a Senko, I'd still use my 12lb Blue Stren and add a leader of 10lb XPS Fluorocarbon or whatever fluoro I happened to want.

Or just buy clear blue Stren fluorocarbon and use it as main-line with no leader

Clear works fine for everything else.

[Jim80]

I don't think about it at all .


Jim

[keithdog]

This is an interresting topic for me only because I HAVE noticed a difference in line color. But I'm not ready to take a stand on it. All I know is I always used a green tinted line for fishing. In our area green tinted line is virtually invisable under water, probably due to water color. Then I switched to clear lines a couple years ago and noticed two things. I can see the clear lines under the surface easier than the green lines, and #2, my catch ratio dropped significantly when I switched to clear. Now that I've gone back to green tint my catch ratio has shot back up to where it once was.

[screwballl]

I tend to stick with line that is hard to see, even with my perfect vision. Fish have much better vision than I do so lines like Pline CX/CXX tend to be my go to lines. There are times they won't touch a lure when using my Power Pro green braid, yet I put the same lure on Pline CX copoly and they hit it time and time again.

Like any subject, you can get 50 answers from 49 people. It all varies on the lake, conditions, weather, light penetration, vision capability of the fish themselves and so on.

[dave0943]

I do a lot of river fishing in tinted water. Vis around 8-10 inches. I've been using green colored line in both braid and mono. My eyes aren't what they used to be and I have a harder time watching the greens when finesse fishing. I switched to a yellow and it was like I could see again! I didn't notice any drop in fish. I also ordered some clear blue and some Floroclear 12lb I'm gonna try. I've been looking at the camo color as well. It's fun to test lines if you don't start losing fish and wasting money on real bad line.
Dave

[geezer1]

Matters more in clear water, & less in stained water to me. Don't really know if it matters, but it's just one less "head game" element for me, if I play it that way. Kind of a stupid position for me to take considering I believe they "feel" line (through their lateral line) more than they see it, but old habits are sometimes hard to break.

[Bassboss]

I've been wondering about that a bit recently.

At this one lake I fish, water viability is about 5 feet - 8 feet. I was having great luck one senkos up until the last few trips. The last few trips I was using straight braid with no leader. The past trips have either been with leaders, or with straight copollymer (pline CXX) I seem to have caught more fish.

But than I also have to consider, that I caught an old wise 12lb large mouth 2 days ago (the one in my avatar), on plain straight braid with no leader. The two finding contradict each other.

IMO, I think that it does matter. Not to a huge extent, and not all the time. I'm sure there are days where you can buy a bite with anything less than 4lb test in GIN clear water. But I'm sure there are other days, than you can use 100lb braid on the same lake and water color, and catch a boat load.

As far as OUT of water, I like to have a visible line cause I'm such a big line watcher! If I've got green line it's hard to watch my line, if I have a blueish, redish, or even clear line, it's easier to watch the line for me.

IN water, I think it can, OUT of water, most definitely!