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Old 07-28-08, 10:11 AM   #1
Abbeysdad
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Default Bait color vs. water 'color'

I've seen it written a lot that for stained or muddy/dark water to use a dark bait color - often black and for clear water, to use light/bright colors.

Seems to me that in dark water a dark lure becomes nearly invisible - what's the logic behind this?
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Old 07-28-08, 10:26 AM   #2
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In muddy or stained water I use a dark bait like blue/black or black/chartreuse. The fish can silhouette these darker baits more easily and home in on it I think. Our club fishes a weekly tournament on a really muddy lake and almost everyone is throwing black, blue/black or chartruese. In clear(er) water I like to match the water color because I don't like the fish to get too good a look at my phony offering. I want them to just sense that it's something that looks like a meal.
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Old 07-28-08, 10:39 AM   #3
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I often wonder about this with bait color. I wonder sometimes if it is better to match the colors of the food sources as much as water color influence. There is a small lake I fish a lot they main forage for bass is sunfish. I always seem to do better when using a orange or yellow bait there. Any one else have any thoughts on this?
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Old 07-28-08, 10:58 AM   #4
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I feel that matching the natural prey is more important than the water. That being said, most of your bait fish have adapted to the water. That is why shades of shad and bluegill can change from lake to lake. I am not trying to start a Darwin discussion here, but it is a fact that those who are able to be hidden the best are the ones who don't get eaten. These coloration traits are passed on to their young.
Of course, this never explains why IKA and Kreatures make great bait. In those cases, try to match the water and vegitation as well as you can. Jigger nailed it when he said that he didn't want the fish to get too good of a look. I will say however, if everyone in a tourney is throwing the same thing, I might throw a different color just to see if the fish have become insensitive to the main one.
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Old 07-28-08, 12:12 PM   #5
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i hear what you're saing abbysdad, no it don't make sense.....but it is what it is. i tried to use a really bright colored worm in real muddy water once, nuthin. then i put on a brown worm as close as i could to the wter color...BAM! hooked a 4 pounder at the SAME HOLE! logic says one thing, the fish say another.
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Old 07-28-08, 01:34 PM   #6
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Chartuese is not a dark color though as mentioned above by a Jigger.

I typically think a pressured water is going to see common colors, so i have actually had the best luck with a chartuese senko for soft plastic worms. Then probably the more logical color choices.

That being said I am paying more attention to color combos and personally find that a the overhead colors sometimes help me out. I like to throw a daker color at night, and if it is overcast and there are a lot of white clouds or greyness above I have good luck with white baits.
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Old 07-28-08, 01:42 PM   #7
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although it has been said , when the water is very clear your earth toned baits come into play greens,browns, and so on and then darken as the water does . For clear to semi clear water i almost always throw a white spinner with willow blades and a pumkinseed colored worm and even though it goes against the suggested colors worms in tequila sunrise have also work in those conditions .
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Old 07-28-08, 06:12 PM   #8
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logic is a space time and space that is really nonsense.. here is the real questions

why in the dead of summer on a lake with 8-10 feet of vizability you can catch fish on an black trick worm?

why do my fire tiger crank baits catch bass in clear water 90% of the time?

why is it at night a bass will grab a 12" black worm but wont touch it in the same spot in the day time??

this why is the reason what we are trying to figure out when we are fishing...also why we own enough tackle to sink a cruise ship..

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Old 07-28-08, 10:56 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zooker View Post
logic is a space time and space that is really nonsense.. here is the real questions

why in the dead of summer on a lake with 8-10 feet of vizability you can catch fish on an black trick worm?

why do my fire tiger crank baits catch bass in clear water 90% of the time?

why is it at night a bass will grab a 12" black worm but wont touch it in the same spot in the day time??

this why is the reason what we are trying to figure out when we are fishing...also why we own enough tackle to sink a cruise ship..

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Hit the head of the nail with that one zook!
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Old 07-29-08, 10:21 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zooker View Post
logic is a space time and space that is really nonsense.. here is the real questions

why in the dead of summer on a lake with 8-10 feet of vizability you can catch fish on an black trick worm?

why do my fire tiger crank baits catch bass in clear water 90% of the time?

why is it at night a bass will grab a 12" black worm but wont touch it in the same spot in the day time??

this why is the reason what we are trying to figure out when we are fishing...also why we own enough tackle to sink a cruise ship..

zooker
Seems to me it's gotta look like food and the fish has got to be hungry.

Having 'sad' that, I saw an Outdoor show recently where a fella was fishing some fairly virgin waters way up North. The brook trout kept hitting his pink fly, even though it's likely those fish never ever saw a pink fly before!

So maybe it's gotta look like food and be easy prey if the fish isn't all that hungry, but it the fish is really hungry or something like a shad run has created a feeding frensy anything that's small enuff to eat and moves is likely to get hit????
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Old 07-29-08, 01:47 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Abbeysdad View Post
Seems to me it's gotta look like food and the fish has got to be hungry.
Lures donīt have to be imitative to be effective.

Lure color has a place in the list of things I look for when selecting a bait for a given water temperature, water clarity and weather conditions, lure color is right at the bottom of that list of things I look for.
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Old 07-30-08, 02:11 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Raul View Post
Lures donīt have to be imitative to be effective.
Well maybe not, but it sure seems that most lures attempt to imitate wounded live prey of some kind.
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Old 07-28-08, 08:11 PM   #13
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correct-a-mundo zooker my friend. just goes to show us that a bass will eat anything. on a given time and day. and he is a verydistant kin to the bait monkey too.
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Old 07-29-08, 10:54 AM   #14
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Had an hour and a half to kill last night so I went to a local pond. Water was stained but not real bad. A front had moved through earlier and cooled it down to mid 80's. They would not look at dark colors even though it was overcast. Started catching small 10 inch & below bass on a bright robo worm. I then put on a bright orange one and below was the result. I transplanted him to a new pond behind my house after the pic.
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Old 07-29-08, 11:13 AM   #15
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If the water looks like chocolate milk use red. If t is normal muddy use black or purple. Example Muddy water black spinnerbait with big gold blades. Chocolate milke or coffee with cream Texas red crankbait or big eye. Stained with no more than 2 feet of visibility Chartreuse or chartruse blue or black. Fish2win
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Old 07-29-08, 11:22 AM   #16
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Nice fish brent!
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Old 07-29-08, 04:54 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fish2win View Post
If the water looks like chocolate milk use red. If t is normal muddy use black or purple. Example Muddy water black spinnerbait with big gold blades. Chocolate milke or coffee with cream Texas red crankbait or big eye. Stained with no more than 2 feet of visibility Chartreuse or chartruse blue or black. Fish2win

belive it or not bass in lake wylie here in nc prefure some wild colors. bright orange and blood red being the two that work very consitantly in clear water.. why i have no idea...

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Old 07-29-08, 11:33 AM   #18
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Thanks..... my wife went to a bible study and I snuck off for a little while. I love these old subdivision and farm ponds around Kansas City.
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Old 07-30-08, 09:54 AM   #19
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What did that one weigh or what was the length Bmuskin?
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Old 07-30-08, 11:11 AM   #20
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23 3/4 inches. My el cheapo scale said 6 pounds 10 ounces.
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Old 07-30-08, 02:31 PM   #21
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It's reffered to as PH balance & it does play a big part in your success.
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Old 07-30-08, 03:19 PM   #22
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Quote:
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It's reffered to as PH balance & it does play a big part in your success.
Say What?!
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Old 07-30-08, 06:37 PM   #23
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It's reffered to as PH balance & it does play a big part in your success.

belive it or not the boat that i use while on the coast has a ph graph hooked up.. the ph balance is the measure of acidity in the water.. when dealin with a ocean/tidal river this is VERY important.. to much salt content in the water means more red fish or trout and less bass and pickeral. which allows you to elimanate more water. you can not really tell which is salt and which is fresh and where it mixes with out the ph graph -it is called a scale...

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Old 07-30-08, 04:08 PM   #24
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Red can be a good color at gin clear Norris also ZOOK.I think its all a matter of visability and light penetration. Fish2win
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Old 07-30-08, 04:15 PM   #25
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Its true dark water dark bait. Clear water can often go either way depending on if you are fishing docks and structure or running along a weed line. One thing I know for sure dark water dark bait. The same holds true in heavy cover, if there is low amounts of light again throw something dark.


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