Does color really matter is the question ?

For SURE NOPE when they be in a foot a water at your feet SLAMMING anything that goes near them ......:Rofl
Wondered when they might come to the bank , the dilema is officially OVER , them darn silly lovestruck crappie were in toe nipping mode yesterday.
Local fella that lives there, said you should a been here yesterday, there were hundreds jerked out of the water right here by droves of people in lawn chairs and boats ! :yikes
And me all alone there Monday on my lunch break, was in the WOW , kinda glad I wasn't here for that kinda action :Rofl:Rofl:Rofl
First 25 drops produced 25 keepers , stopped after about 75 or so , never quit biting , just needed to go back to work , sure was hitting the jig like a freight train .....good stuff ,,,,good times,,,,,and some was large fisheez too ...
all let swim on to do what they are doing ....
KABOOM is the word :highfive

Very nice, I can use a day like that. Slim pickins here right now.

I'm hoping to have a day like that soon. Thanks for sharing the KABOOM. Good stuff.

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Originally Posted by JUNGLEJIMJIGS

Very nice, I can use a day like that. Slim pickins here right now.

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should be up on the bank in your area soon , we have had a few runs here , but these warm sunshine days bring it to the next level herding it up in short water right quickly .....luck to ya sir ...

Can be a blast fishing thin water . I used to love when they moved to the banks but now usually so many fishermen out when they do I just stay out deeper looking for big females . But some lakes they spawn as deep as 10' . Looks like you had a blast .:highfive But your question '' does color matter?'' Nope as long as they can see it . Deep or shallow . That's my opinion . :twocents

There you go, showing off again. Nice way to prove a point! Good looking jigs, catching in whatever color you drop.

Ketchn I think you proved that color doesn’t matter when the fish are that shallow, protecting there beds/ eggs, the crappie will attack almost everything that comes close. Nice looking fish there.

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Originally Posted by Danny Lang

Ketchn I think you proved that color doesn’t matter when the fish are that shallow, protecting there beds/ eggs, the crappie will attack almost everything that comes close. Nice looking fish there.

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Thanks but ….
Not so my friend, cold front rolled thru yesterday afternoon and …..then everything mattered …just saying…stay tuned I will explain later how drastically color mattered today ….just saying :highfive

Color matters mostly to anglers and not necessarily to fish the way we think it should. I could give you a dozen reasons fish strike certain colors on any particular day, and yet proof would be hard to come by considering all the other colors that might have worked as Ketchn's example proved.

What we anglers have in common is superstition IMO. We make up reasons fish strike lures, whether it be how natural they look, color preference, that they resemble this or that prey that fish are fooled by and a number of other human-based reasons to chose certain lures. Note: the italicize words are human inventions related to what fish think while maintaining that they are capable of logical thought to begin with. It is, (fish were caught on something as we predicted), therefore it must be.

I can't deny that I have favorite colors depending on lure design (shape and action). The reason I favor them is that they caught fish consistently in many situations starting with water clarity, clouds vs sun, depth, cover and time of day. Confidence or faith in something is 95% of lure choice to begin with regardless of the facts or science to back it up. Besides, an angler's skill make lures work - not what fish think lures are.

I bet Ketchn has his favorite colors and feels very confident casting them as do I. I can even give logical answers to the questions why they work - but then again, that logic based on fish senses, contains my personal superstious-guesses and nothing more.

Color matters to my fish. Seen days where this was very evident. Same lure, same technique, one color getting bit, others ignored.

Fun times

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Originally Posted by Micanopy

Color matters to my fish. Seen days where this was very evident. Same lure, same technique, one color getting bit, others ignored.

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:hesaid Color matters to my fish as well.

the right color can make it a great day and or the wrong color can make it really not fun day ....this is the truth :twocents

As you guys have said, on some days and conditions color DOES matter. Others not so much so. We will never know for sure….:Rofl
Bob

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Originally Posted by BobC

As you guys have said, on some days and conditions color DOES matter. Others not so much so. We will never know for sure….:Rofl
Bob

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H knew for sure yesterday , he got it handed to him NOT using the RIGHT color ......just saying :Rofl

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Originally Posted by Ketchn

H knew for sure yesterday , he got it handed to him NOT using the RIGHT color ......just saying :Rofl

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there is an upside to using the wrong color though .....:dono
the guy using his go to and not ketchn ,can take pictures of you using the right color
with slabs in hand ....:crazy:

I guess fish here are color blind but if we hold it in their face with livescope you can watch their reaction. :scratchhead

Question: would one fish-preferred color matter for all lure types? Example: say a pink Mr Twister seems to have done well vs other colors. Would you be uping the odds using a straight tail or Rapala of the same color? Was it simply the lure or its color that got all the action?
Example: after a few hours and no bites using a color that killed 'em, what would prevent fish from preferring other colors?

Sorry, but I've never run into using a color-of-the-day and no others to do well. I might tell myself anything as the reason for success or failure, but catching or not catching fish depends on a lot more than just color choice.

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Originally Posted by Spoonminnow

Question: would one fish-preferred color matter for all lure types? Example: say a pink Mr Twister seems to have done well vs other colors. Would you be uping the odds using a straight tail or Rapala of the same color? Was it simply the lure or its color that got all the action?
Example: after a few hours and no bites using a color that killed 'em, what would prevent fish from preferring other colors?

Sorry, but I've never run into using a color-of-the-day and no others to do well. I might tell myself anything as the reason for success or failure, but catching or not catching fish depends on a lot more than just color choice.

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Need to change colors all the time promoted myth by bait makers and their prostaff in my opinion . They can't make enough money selling one or two colors. :twocents I bet most fishermen only use less than 5% of the various jigs/colors they carry . :Rofl

Last year during Crappie Camp once the rain started and the water mudded up the only color we could buy a bite with was the brightest orange Baby Shad. Does color make a difference in some situations I am a believer.

In a day of Crappie fishing if the bite is tough I run thru most of the colors, tail sizes, jig weights that I carry trying to find a combination that works.

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Originally Posted by NIMROD

Need to change colors all the time promoted myth by bait makers and their prostaff in my opinion . They can't make enough money selling one or two colors. :twocents I bet most fishermen only use less than 5% of the various jigs/colors they carry . :Rofl

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I still remember the pro's on TV after winning a tournament, mentioning this or that color lure that helped them win. Guess they didn't just win tournament money.

On the one hand I can name 5 colors for each lure I cast and have full confidence in every one. That's why my 15 pyrex cups for melting plastic and making lures are sitting collecting dust. Plus, because of the wire grub grip I discovered that keeps plastics up on the jig, few lures need to be chucked or remelted even after 15 fish caught.

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I run thru most of the colors, tail sizes, jig weights that I carry trying to find a combination that works.

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That's what I'm talk'n about! Catching fish consistently IMO is about combinations and not just regarding lures. Where and how used needs to determine one's choice of lures - the better the fit, the more strikes.

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Originally Posted by Micanopy

Color matters to my fish. Seen days where this was very evident. Same lure, same technique, one color getting bit, others ignored.

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In my opinion color matters in crappie fishing just like it does in bass fishing a lot of times.

What I meant was that just like in bass fishing if they’re really biting color doesn’t seem to matter as much to me but if they’re bring realm finicky it definitely does from what I can tell or if the normal water colors off too.

I have never fished in really stained to ‘chocolate milk’ water. If you fish the clearwater lakes in Arkansas, You bet color matters.

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Originally Posted by KRW

I have never fished in really stained to ‘chocolate milk’ water. If you fish the clearwater lakes in Arkansas, You bet color matters.

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Ours are usually real clear too.

I think color matters when the water turns from clear to muddy, from sunny days to cloudy days, etc. And Ive even seen where one color gets bit ALOT more than any other color I'm fishing (longlining pulling 14 jigs at a time.) There has been a handful of times where I saw it so drastically that I added a couple more of that same color in the spread and all 3 of those jigs with the same color KILLED the fish whereas the other 11 jigs only caught a few fish compared to those 3! That hasnt happened very many times though. Two weeks ago in the real muddy water any color with red or orange tails got the most bites. All I use is southern pro hot grubs which is 2" curly tail plastics and Charlie Brewer sliders.

Fish are fickle creatures. When I was surf fishing, the right bait was the key to catching pompano. Sand fleas, shrimp, clam, crab, and FishBites. There were days any of these would catch fish, and there were days that only one of them would catch fish. So I took to packing all of them just so I could catch fish. They want what they want when they want it. That was before the days of Death Scope, so…….

As in Life, ALL of us typically should prefer the low-effort expenditure for SUCCESS aka HOT BITE = ANYTHING GOES! Happens to me only SELDOMLY. I'm an advocate of always keeping your playbook(tackle box) "OPEN".:twocents

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ALL of us typically should prefer the low-effort expenditure for SUCCESS aka HOT BITE = ANYTHING GOES! I'm an advocate of always keeping your playbook(tackle box) "OPEN".:twocents

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When it comes to colors, hue is not the color fish see, especially from more than 3' away in any color water that is much less than clear in warmer months and after a heavy rain. That said, location many time dictates the type of bite we might expect, which dictates the kind of lure used.

Color aside, activity/sensitivity levels range from ignoring all lures to jumping on lures that p.o. fish the most. Color may play a part such as, if I saw a dude in a bright pink suit with chartreuse polka dots, I'd wished I had a bat to put him out of my misery. Same for fish. They don't expect a lure cavorting near their heads, but to stop it moving they have to bite it. So lure action speaks - always. Does color enhance lure motion? Which colors enhance the most? Considering a fish's amazing eyesight and lateral line, does color enhancement even matter? It brings up the following:

Getting back to hue. No one has mentioned color brightness, metal flakes nor laminate colors. In each case, the first thing seen is how dark or bright a lure is as well as stripes, dots, side-by-side colors and sparkle or flash. Ever change lures having any of those qualities and comparing them to the color-of-the-moment.

Getting back to sensitivity. Fish sometimes strike one type of lure vs another. (Note, I didn't say prefer because that would indicate a eeny meeny miny mo choice between lures cast.) Rather, my choice of lures range from subtle tickle-their-senses types to poke 'em and piss them off type lures. Lures with the most of anything visually fall into the latter category; lure types like trout flies and those having small action parts and are small in size, fall into the former category.

So rather than insist color was the reason for greater success, what about the types of lures used - types as in plural & by-comparison. The range is big and maybe only a few will get bit far better on a particular day - regardless of color.

By far the reason I fish is to discover superior lure designs that get struck more often - even lures within the same design category. Not all soft plastics are equal in catching fish in most situations. For example, some curl tail shapes on average are far better in my experience. Same for many minnow shape bodies/ tails. Color is far down the list when chosing those lures. My many photos posted on crappy.com demonstrate the above.
Example:
Since March 14, this lure has caught bass, y. perch, crappie and sunfish
Attachment 453879Attachment 453880
1. four colors (could it be that the four colors are better at times?)
2. pearlescent plastic
3. both enhance lure action and contrast against any background

So, while simplifying the reason -[color]- that fish strike a lure, while not taking into account lure contrast which usually contrasts-with-nature, leaves all other lure choices on the table. Most days catching fish on 5 different lures in different colors, is proof enough that more can be better.