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After all these years I can't believe anglers need a device that dictates best colors to use. When it comes to soft plastics, there are easily a dozen or so colors that work all of the time in all waters (at least in the dozen or so waters I fish). The same goes for the barometer that tells an angler the best time to fish or what to expect before going out. I guess Barnum was right.
Actually, it doesn't tell you the "best color to use" ... in the sense of "what color the fish want to bite". It just tells you what colors are most visible at the depth of the probe.
I had one of the original Color-C-lector units ... and in all the waters I fished at that time, it mostly told me to fish blue/char, which was a color I was already using & catching fish on. I sold that one and later on bought the Combo-C-lector ... but never fully utilized it, and it eventually ended up in the dark confines of my "fishing equipment closet". The main reason was that it was (in my mind) just too time consuming to use.
I've always meant to take it along & "test" it ... not using it to tell me what colors to use, but to use the colors I choose (first) then when I catch fish on them ... check the unit to see if it agrees. I've just never remembered to include it in my equipment arsenal.
And a year from now you will come back and say its the schnitts giggles and how do people live without. I dont have one but if a tool is available that gives a feller confidence and makes his fishing happier, so be it. What if you were pulled out of your comfort zone of lakes you frequent and were faced with dark tannin stained waters, crystal clear water, or chocolate milk and had no clue where to begin. It is simply another tool to use if ya got it.
I have one and like Pappy I pretty much fish the same waters with the same colors that I know will work so I don't go to it much anymore. But with that said, I do not for a minute think it's a gimmick; I know from my previous experiences with it that it works. And if you consider the amount of research and work (over nine years) that Dr. Hill former director of the University of Oklahoma's Zoology Department and Biological Research Center put into developing this product, for me at least it is far from being under the "Barnum" umbrella.
The Color-C-LectorŽ shows which colors fish see best at any depth and degree of water clarity, allowing you to choose the correct color with confidence, regardless of species. Spike-It™ lure company has teamed up with Dr. Loren Hill to reintroduce the revolutionary color-selection tool he originally developed in the late 1980s. This new digital version has been completely re-engineered to give anglers a slimmer handheld unit that is much more user-friendly than the original mechanism. Dr. Hill's painstaking research is interfaced with digital technology to provide anglers with the best possible lure color for any fishing condition and any fish species. As the former director of the University of Oklahoma's Zoology Department and Biological Research Center, Hill spent more than nine years establishing a range of 26 colors that fish could distinguish best under different degrees of water clarity and varying levels of light penetration. The Color-C-LectorŽ is the result of that continuous and repeated scientific experimentation, reflecting actual responses of fish to color under all conditions an angler can possibly encounter. Use it to take the guesswork out of selecting the right lure color.
Knowledge is a wonderful thing. It's just takes wisdom to produce results. :biggrin
How many different colors do you make in those plastics you are always showing here? Why so many?Quote:
Originally Posted by Spoonminnow
One of the nicest folks I ever met in the fishing industry was the late,great Tom Mann of Mann's Bait Company. I asked Tom why so many colors? He said few colors catch fish but lots of colors catch fishermen.
BTW, if you are just finding out about the Color-C-Lector you are only about 25 years behind. I bought mine when they 1st came out and in my mind it helped at times. I know it helped the economy from all the odd-ball colors in plastics I bought that worked a few times.
When you become so much of a purist you feel ready to give up the modern boats, tackle and electronics, check back in.
I have the new one, Had the old one, they work
What is your stance on the flying lure?
I got a minner See Lector. Works good.
I have one of the original or old Color C Lectors I liked it and it did help...I also have the new model and its even better. Evidently you fish clear waters where the fish can see all the colors. The Color C Lector is really more about light penetration at the depth you are fishing and it tells you what color are best seen by fish due to that.
Nimrod the "ninja crappie master" say "only fish caught with lure out of water is flying fish" ✈️Quote:
Originally Posted by Locator79
Young ninja learn ways of master well.Quote:
Originally Posted by ibmack
When Nimrod goes, I just have him stick his finger in the water and then tell me what color they are biting. "Yep they'll be hitting on purple and chartreuse". He's been right every time.
I bet the inventor or whoever named this device knew not what a lector really is. I am a lector.
Ted said you were not....he said you were a guber........but a Lector ...is a reader, especially someone who reads lessons in a church service.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cane Pole
He couldn't be more right! I could catch fish on three colors with confidence in any water I fish, any time of day I can find them and would never concern myself with other colors being more visible or effective.Quote:
One of the nicest folks I ever met in the fishing industry was the late,great Tom Mann of Mann's Bait Company. I asked Tom why so many colors? He said few colors catch fish but lots of colors catch fishermen.
As far as the next statement,
I'm a bit superstitious when if comes to certain lure designs and colors that may work best for those designs, having nothing to do with lure visibility depending on water clarity. I look at it this way:Quote:
How many different colors do you make in those plastics you are always showing here? Why so many?
1. sometimes a stark contrast with the surroundings, such as bright white, may at times work best with an action tail (curl or flapper) and may really annoy a fish into striking something so obvious - especially on a cloudy day.
2. some of the time a subdued pale hue with black flakes creates an internal contrast that may help excite a strike.
3. when I find colors I feel confident in, I always pack them along with some experimental colors I've never used just to see how many more colors can work for that design.
Maybe the above is fishing fantasy, but hey, the sport would be boring if everything we did always caught fish!
I've found, like Tom Mann stated, a few will do. Decades ago I also owned the original Color C Lector and even used some of the weird colored, Color C Lector crankbaits sold in kits. Never caught a thing on em, no matter what the meter reading said, plus a violet crankbait seemed a ridiculous color to cast!
It's sometimes nice to indulge in superstition when it comes to lure selection, including color, but I would never depend on a gimmick to tell me what works better than what I already know will work if and when I locate fish. The reason I take along different colors in the same lure design is to remind myself that lure action and presentation speak louder than lure color, the proof being that I've caught as many fish on clear plastic lures as on colored ones on any particular day. Plus, ever caught fish on a Mepps spinner with no skirt or hair dressing? Blade flash - not color - got that fish excited. And when does the Color C Lector say when to use clear or non-colored lures or even just flash (like the Mepps example or using a chrome Rat L Trap)?
Believe or not but there are many colors that can be used to catch most fish species which I've proven to my satisfaction over and over, color highly unlikely the primary reason.
If you watch the bags of say just jig bodies hanging on the hooks at a store that you frequent you will start to notice that a few days after a stocking one or two colors out of a specific lure are always low or sold out. Some of the others look like they have not sold as much and some maybe not at all.
Which one do you think is catching fish?
I have went to a different state and a body of water I have never fished and fished for a species I have never fished for and had success. And all I did was go in the tackle shop and ask the person what are they hitting and what color. Now sometimes you get a dud....but a lot of times if your nice people will set you up. And if you go to a couple places and they tell you the same thing that's good. And I have just ask sometimes " whats everybody buying". You have to learn to read people to figure them out. Most of the time the best ones are people who don't care...they just flat out tell you what is selling.
The only way to find the best ones is produce a lot of stuff and people try them. People sort through them and figure out what works. Some lures and colors get hot for a while and then later cool off. Some never catch a fish.
I walked into a Walmart in Perdido Key Florida one time and ask the lady what's flying off the shelf. She said the Berkley Gulp jerk shads in electric chicken color. She said you better buy what I got because they will be gone soon. I bought them and three other colors. Along with some other things that "looked good."
What did I catch everything on want to guess?...the other colors Nada...zilch...
That only has happened a thousand times in my fifty years of fishing.
You go fish 10 different lakes over several years for three or four different species with another person...you just take a few things and the other guy takes a wide selection and knows how to use them....Your gonna get outfished.
Color Selectors are just another tool for fishermen....on the other side of the scale is the science behind them.
I never used a selector because I wanted to know the science behind them, and why they sometimes worked....some of the science behind them is right, and some of it is misleading!
Basically, all it boils down to is helping you to pick a color or colors that can be seen in the water at that time of day (CONTRAST). This gives you a an idea of what colors fish can see better, to improve you chances of getting them to bite.
The problem is, that due to research, we know fish see specific colors...some colors on the wheels/etc., CANNOT be seen as colors, in certain spectrums those colors are viewed as shades of black or grey.
We also know that certain features in water, tannins/algae/suspended organics or nutrients/mud/etc., or gin clear water, can enhance or mute colors, and we know that Fluorescent and neon colors do not change in water. We know some colors can be TOO BRIGHT in some circumstances and scare fish away!
There's some other stuff that goes into it but that's basically it.
In reality, the Selector is just a guideline for those who still need help with their lessons in Science!:):):)lol
I'm one who believes that every fisherman could probably get away with using a couple lures in 10 colors or less, in their entire tackle box, and just a couple sizes!
My only lures/colors for Crappie, Perch, Walleye, WB, and Bass, in all waters are;
1. Z-Man Curley tail- Normal glow/Chartreuse nibblet
2. Swimbait- white top/clear-silver glitter bottom/Chartreuse nibblet
3. Swimbait- Chartreuse/White nibblet
4. Swimbait- Black/Chartreuse nibblet
5. Swimbait- Electric Chicken
6. Swimbait- Firetiger
7. Swimbait- Bluegill Flash
8. Swimbait- Natural Shad
9. Swimbait- Pearl Shad
10. Custom Curley Tail- Smoke/Silver Glitter