You might want to try clear plastic lures - hard or soft

Years ago I caught bass on a clear plastic Zara Spook - a splashy surface lure. Even caught bass on a clear diving crankbait made by Jim Rogers. Last year I thought: why not clear soft plastic lures? You might think that they would be invisible underwater and especially in murky water but I found that fish detect them with no problem and work as well as any colored lures - even opaque colors. Here are a few that did well:
double-dipped curl tail:
https://i.imgur.com/Mhlkpod.jpg https://i.imgur.com/dXQSaAr.jpg


undipped curl tails right from mold - one with spinner:
https://i.imgur.com/wvEw7BH.jpg https://i.imgur.com/qi7wDsm.jpg?1


hybrid Magnet tail added to Mo Magic mold body:
https://i.imgur.com/X5m6ZSj.jpg https://i.imgur.com/ZHgPLqb.jpg


molded taper tail added to same body:
https://i.imgur.com/DPAxEOH.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/INNrXOn.jpg?1


Clear plastic body segment from Mo Magic mold:
https://i.imgur.com/IYvBMZw.jpg https://i.imgur.com/NLYmvpQ.jpg https://i.imgur.com/oDsHijV.jpg


thin straight-tail from mold:
https://i.imgur.com/vEAUILT.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/Enu4jhq.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/eiqPyzJ.jpg


cone tail segment added to a grub body:
https://i.imgur.com/SkP7ya0.jpg


and a clear plastic wacky-rigged stick:
https://i.imgur.com/O2h7XfW.jpg


Every one of the above was capable of catching fish equally well after fish were located. I guess it's all about beauty in the eye of the beholder.

You can't argue with success. I'll add some of those to the arsenal if I see them.

I like using clear jigs with different color glitter. They work great as is and if I want to add some color I just dip it in several different colors of spike it.
Attachment 430615

You got the same mold I do - right?
Matched with a 1/24 or 1/32 oz jig and rod tip twitches, the darting action gets em go'n!
Clear with glitter :cheers2 Nice!! When I'm lazy, I also have Spike It dye and pens hanging around for a quick color change or to make a multi-color lure like this Mo Magic shape that was a clear plastic originally:
https://i.imgur.com/684g87m.jpg?1

This one was originally white:
https://i.imgur.com/4iFGuM7.jpg?1

(Hey, I'm as superstitous about lure color as anyone! Some colors I have zero confidence. But note: clear plastic in less than clear water is not colorless.)

My mold has a tapered tail.section where yours is pretty thin all the way. I have some similar to what you have that I got from Smith Brothers lures out of NC. Very good baits!

These are the same shape. The one you mentioned was a segment of a taper-tail 3" stick added to a Mo Magic shape body. The one below that, titled - cone-tail segment added to a grub body, was one of the ones pictured below.

You certainly do well with them

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DockShootinJack

You certainly do well with them

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The nicest thing about lurecraft and modification are the surprises found that catch fish and many species of fish at that. Many innovative designs in my opinion are superior to many classics that have been around forever. Fish lack the sense to avoid something with a hook in it, but not the sensitive-senses a strike-inducing effect has on those senses. A waddle here, a flutter there or a bobble or whip action and fish can't seem to abstain from attacking.

Awesomeness

I once used a clear lure at night because it was on my rod when I got there and thought what the heck , it aint gunna work but its just for fun and I will change it out after a few casts , By the time it was over I had more than one person want to see what was working so well in the wee hours at that marina .....go figure ....
it is my thought it resembled a freshwater ghost shrimp that the marina lights attract in herds at night under the lights .....
never say never is how this entire crappie chasing thing goes for sure ....

I’ve used clear, clear with different glitter, and clear with just enough color to give it a hint of color, an almost pearl effect. And a touch of the flip flop of the colors on say an abalone shell or mother of pearl. You could see right through it easy and the only color was like a skin on the outside. All of them did well in curl tail and straight tail styles. Really like the smith bros bait that PR uses so much on his channel. A sneeze of movement causes all kinds of action. One of those in clear with small silver or silver and black, very little glitter, would be super and work well on a beetle spin or just a jighead.

Caught this one on a Basstrix that I had added some silver metalflake into the hollow body --

https://www.crappie.com/crappie/atta...6a5812213-jpeg

Basstrix baits that I inserted various colored strips into (original bait is the bottom one ... color is called Silverside)

Attachment 430709

(metalflake version not pictured)

Only other times I've used a "clear body" bait was when Smallmouth fishing with a topwater prop bait like a Cotton Cordell Crazy Shad or Heddon Torpedo.

Quote:

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A sneeze of movement causes all kinds of action.

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Wow, in that simple statement I could not have described better what I believe the best lure action possible!!!!!
The lures shown above you can imagine demonstrate a sneeze of movement with the slightlest twitch of the rod tip or turn of the reel handle between pauses in lure motion. Some lures on the other hand require a more or less steady retrieve necessitating fish chase them. But in my experience, fish being the energy-conserving creatures they are, would just as soon detect - observe - and be given some reason to strike. That reason, whether at night or under a bright sky, is lure action that is detected, observed and responded to based on whatever there is about a lure that pushes its buttons.

Color and flash can enhance lure action but there is no set-in-stone rule when to use a particular color just as there is no set-in-stone rule when to opt for a certain lure action. On any day clear soft plastics will do as well as colored lures. If lures of color, shimmer or flash get struck, it's because of subtle lure motion. The variety of actions that get fish to strike is only limited by the imagination: the round-tail waddles; the straight thin tail shimmies; the curl tail flaps rhythmically whereas some slither ; the mini-stick and Kut Tail worm dart back & forth, etc. These different actions IMO can be counted on for most freshwater strikes regardless of fish species any day of the week.

Yesterday my partner and I caught these on a chubby, black curl tail along with two others completely different in action and color:
a large pickerel that snapped his rod and two smaller, a 13" crappie and smaller, a bunch of pumpkinseed sunfish in one shallow school - one 8", bluegill - many nice size, a 2lb bass and smaller, and a 1.5 lb. catfish.

I would have to humbly disagree with "just the motion of the lure" causing the fish to react to it , to "ketch" their eye is important in these parts, clear baits do best in less turbid water colorations, once the water becomes soup colored it is time to get bold with your color choices or go home with your tail tucked, just saying :ThumbsUp

Color can make a huge difference on some days as most know. Example yesterday on my creek. I was fishing a mr twister mayfly nymph bait in the brown/orange color. Maybe one fish. Switched to the same bait in the yellow color and bam! One after another. Same spot. Actually, the brown/orange has never done well, but some of that is I have lost confidence in it. As the season goes on that color may work better.
Bob

Quote:

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clear baits do best in less turbid water colorations, once the water becomes soup colored it is time to get bold with your color choices

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Now that the water is becoming a more cloudy green, I'll have to post many more examples of clear lures doing just as well as opaque colors.
Give me lateral line detection/ stimulus over color any day!!!

Good to hear your results. There is always new info to learn!
Bob

Report from 12:45 pm.
just rained, dark sky and cloudy
murky green water (note backgrounds)

unpainted jigs
many soft plastic colors and opacities used - including clear plastic and color tints
bright colors, black and every color brightness in between
crappie, sunfish, bass and yellow perch caught on each and every lure design and color
55 fish caught in 5 1/2 hours
Fish caught included solitary fish and school fish.

examples from yesterday:

Black / blue laminate
https://i.imgur.com/o2v6QBG.jpg

all black
https://i.imgur.com/R7Od1cm.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/WulZu3e.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/b9Ts8Iz.jpg

two shades of green pumpkin
https://i.imgur.com/wXdryE3.jpg https://i.imgur.com/Ap43RM4.jpg

clear plastic
https://i.imgur.com/wuwBTma.jpg https://i.imgur.com/rYRCaNy.jpg https://i.imgur.com/Jv7NYeV.jpg?1 https://i.imgur.com/Mhlkpod.jpg https://i.imgur.com/G4YdnEv.jpg?1

opaque black body/ dark gray tail
https://i.imgur.com/XBcheoX.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/mY2BuHP.jpg

chartreuse light bulb grub / clear plastic tail
https://i.imgur.com/inlAdEv.jpg https://i.imgur.com/NLYmvpQ.jpg

Bright and less bright opaque colors
https://i.imgur.com/WqLm41H.jpg https://i.imgur.com/u38X2wW.jpg https://i.imgur.com/5yNQeuW.jpg?1


I can fish any day of the week and catch fish using the above as long as I can find fish.
Sunny or overcast; late evening/ early morning / dark sky/ bright sky/ clear or murky green water - doesn't matter.
If painted jigs and certain colors work for you, by all means cast them. But the proof is in the numbers caught and numbers aren't flukes when consistent outing after outing.