Since I and the wife have been laying here half dead with this wonderful flu crap [she has the flu, I have lung issues] I dug out my fishing journal to look over what I accomplished over the last open water season. I noticed part way into last season that clear baits, those without any colorant, hi lite or pearl, seemed to really take a lot of fish. While basically clear in the plastic department they did have uv enhancement and glitter. Some of the baits were made as a solid clear while others had either a chartreuse, hot pink or fluorescent orange tail. By far and away in my journal the solid clear and the clear/chartreuse tail caught about equal numbers of fish and combined put the other two tail colors back in the shadows. I'll note that I really only cook up three of what I call clear colors: firecracker, bluegill, and a clear with fire-opal micro glitter. All three get done as a solid and with the tail colors. The journal showed no one of those colors being better than the other two and basically when a clear color was hot any one of the three would do well.

So, how many of you favor a clear bait? Do you see periods when a clear bait excels, such as early/late day or cloudy vs. sunny? How about warmer or colder water periods? I'll be clear here that I am fishing crappies so try to stay inside those thought lines if you can. I'd like to see if what my journal is showing me is consistent with what others have noted.