On the last couple trips to the local lake this color combo has been IT. If whatever was on the jig for plastic was purple with a chartreuse tail you'd catch crappies. Or smallies. Or white bass. Or walleyes. I tried maybe 15 other color combos yesterday and caught exactly one fish. Change back the purple beast and wham.

This is a male who is just ever so slightly changing to the dark color. Water temps in this lake are well short of spawning temps but the males out in deep, structured water are starting to color up so the shift won't be far behind unless we get a late cold shot like Minnesota is famous for and the water takes a 20 degree hit. Its happened....I've seen it many times. But this guy is getting ready.....



The fish here is just short of 13" Females get larger in this lake and one I got a few years back was a hair under the 17" mark. Most of what I have been catch right now are in this 11" to strong 12" sizes. Smaller fish are just not being seen, but I'm sure they're there.