Do you think color matters?

[livemusic]

The fishing around here has been frustrating. Some days we go and catch a few to several. We haven't slayed them yet. And some days we go and can hardly get a bite. Like the past two days. I caught zero yesterday and zero today. I asked one gent out in the lake if he was doing any good and he was not happy, but he had 4-5 fish, he said. I was fishing 2-3' deep in 4' water and he was fishing near the bottom in 6-7' of water. Just a few days ago, we caught 5 big crappie fishing for bass at the same places I went today. That's why I went today, to load up from those spots where we caught them bass fishing.

It makes me wonder... do you think color matters? Do you ever try this and that and know you are in good places but they won't bite and have you ever found a color that really did seem to matter? Or do you think they just all of a sudden started biting!

[scrat]

I hope color matters or I have bought a bunch of different color jigs and lures this week for nothing. I did see a video on youtube were a man said he used only two colors of jigs. One was black/chartreuse and the other white/ chartreuse. He said that by using these two he would start with the black/char and if they didn't bite he would go to the white/char. He said by doing this he went from one light spectrum to the absolute other spectrum. I don't know so I am going to set back now and read what others say.

[shipahoy41]

I hope color matters or I have bought a bunch of different color jigs and lures this week for nothing. I did see a video on youtube were a man said he used only two colors of jigs. One was black/chartreuse and the other white/ chartreuse. He said that by using these two he would start with the black/char and if they didn't bite he would go to the white/char. He said by doing this he went from one light spectrum to the absolute other spectrum. I don't know so I am going to set back now and read what others say.

You can bet your bottom dollar that it matters as long as you have chartreuse in the lure and fish it on a pink jig head. Fish it V-E-R-Y slow and then slow down your retrieve some more. As Bugman said, size matters. I stick with 1/16th and 1/32nd jig heads fished on four pound Stren HI Vis yellow line. These are all you really need. Works for me.

chartreuse and chartreuse
chartreuse and white
chartreuse and pink
chartreuse and aqua
chartreuse and black
chartreuse and flo orange

[Crestliner08]

Very interesting discussion! In all my years of fishing, I've always been of the mind set that the primary factors to fishing success are depth and speed control (Buck Perry's concept from the 60's). And I've always treated color as the 3rd or 4th. in terms of importance. However, with these darn fish that we are here about - crappie mainly - I've re-thought this factor.

Take yesterday for instance. In my post in the New England States Forum here, all those fish we caught were on mainly one color combination - pink & chartreuse straight tails. Switching to just plain chartreuse or pink, your hit ratio went down dramatically. Tried white, red, motor oil in straight & twister tails. NADA! Going back to the pink & chartreuse and you got nailed on almost every cast. Go figure!

[INTIMIDATOR]

You can bet your bottom dollar that it matters as long as you have chartreuse in the lure and fish it on a pink jig head. Fish it V-E-R-Y slow and then slow down your retrieve some more. As Bugman said, size matters. I stick with 1/16th and 1/32nd jig heads fished on four pound Stren HI Vis yellow line. These are all you really need. Works for me.

chartreuse and chartreuse
chartreuse and white
chartreuse and pink
chartreuse and aqua
chartreuse and black
chartreuse and flo orange

Research has shown that when filming or viewing Chartreuse underwater that it is muted into a gold shade...Most if not all baitfish have some gold coloration from light reflecting off their scales, and predator fish are keyed in on that.
Other colors also mute in water also, so what we are seeing in the store can be a lot different when underwater to a fish.
True Fluorescent colors tend to hold their brightness more than regular hues and are recommended to use on super bright (Bluebird) days.....differences in bites at different times and patterns, have been shown from changing from Regular Chartreuse to Fluorescent Chartreuse.

[sky hawk]

I did see a video on youtube were a man said he used only two colors of jigs. One was black/chartreuse and the other white/ chartreuse. He said that by using these two he would start with the black/char and if they didn't bite he would go to the white/char. He said by doing this he went from one light spectrum to the absolute other spectrum.

A lot of good replies so far that I am in agreement with. Color is a 3rd or 4th consideration after depth, speed, etc. Some days it matters, others it doesn't. I think the main reason for color preferences on a given day is the water color and lighting conditions. What's most important is that they can SEE it. That's why this Black/White dichotomy works. I do the exact same thing. I have found that I can usually catch them on black-chart. or white-chart. I use the black with clear water and the white with muddy water. I use other colors, but that dark/light tradeoff is usually the first step to narrowing in on what they want (or what they can see well). If they are picky, I have to continue narrowing it down from there, but I often don't make it past that.

[Zippy]

I have no doubt that it matters. I have experimented when sitting directly over a school with two rods rigged with different color bodies, same head. One color got them on every drop the other not a tap for 5 -10 minutes then got one. After that fish I dropped the other color back down and got a fish or a miss on ever drop once again. All winter the best color in the river was yellow with a red tail. Now as always on this body of water the spring brings a rush on anything blue and white or grey/green. You can still catch on yellow and red but it's 2 - 1 at best. But color is only one part of the equation. Had my buddies sons out in the boat last week and they insisted on using the ugliest color I had every seen and they started catching. Seems the crappie liked their dead slow retreive more than they disliked the color. Once we started copying that retrive blue and white and grey green out produced that ugly color.

[livemusic]

Maybe 20 years ago, when I was so into bass fishing, I gave up and fished only a black worm and caught just as many fish, if not more.

[Eagle 1]

I think it can make a difference but also think size of bait should have equal consideration . I used to fish mainly 1/8 during the spawn but have discovered that trying different size has triggered more bites than color change . Fishing 1/100 jigs at bay springs and could not get a bite on a 1/32 made me rethink what I had been doing for years . We all have jigs we start with according to water clarity so I change size on my 3rd color change as a rule now . jmo .

[bugman]

I think it can make a difference but also think size of bait should have equal consideration . I used to fish mainly 1/8 during the spawn but have discovered that trying different size has triggered more bites than color change . Fishing 1/100 jigs at bay springs and could not get a bite on a 1/32 made me rethink what I had been doing for years . We all have jigs we start with according to water clarity so I change size on my 3rd color change as a rule now . jmo .

Very well said....i think color does matter to some degree but to me presentation and the size matter even more i have believed that for years but it was drove home to me on a few early trips this year our lake was low due to drawdown and i could see my stakebeds and was tightlining the small stingers i make and would catch a fish or two on each spot and this same thing happened on several beds i knew the fish were there so i decided to try my tiny grubs(i just had gotten the mold and this was the first time i tried them)and it was a bonanza after that i would pitch that small bait into the same beds i had fished with a slightly larger bait and we must have caught 100 or so fish in short order.Not only does a person need to play with colors on a given day but if you know fish are there and won't bite what your using try to switch up styles and sizes also you might just get a surprise.....