Thread: Found a new soft plastic that slayed them yesterday (along with my own design)

Originally Posted by CrappiePappy

Nothing in there states that fish cannot see blue. And we already know that most all colors are diluted with depth, lack of light, or less than clear water conditions ... and some are seen as grey, while others are seen as black.

I don't fish "gin clear" water, and my success rate with blue/char lures has been exceptional over the years. Whether it's the contrast between the blue & chartreuse, or the silhouette of the bait against the water's surface, sky, or underwater background ... is insignificant to me, because I know it works.

"G's" color choice has the contrast, motion, and water pressure disturbance factors covered pretty well ... so even if the fish cannot "see" it as true blue in color, it still will elicit hits.

And I wouldn't be so bold as to go down to Weiss Lake & tell the guides and anglers there, that the Crappie can't see blue spectrum colors ... because I know for a fact that blue/blue/blue Jiffy Jigs can be hard to find on the shelf at times (because they've all been bought up, because they work).

Ever hear of Dr Loren Hill ... creator of the Color-C-Lector ?? I had one of his first run units, back in the 1970's ... and quit using it and sold it, because it mostly told me to use the color I was already using .... BLUE. Specifically, blue/chartreuse (stained water) or green/char (muddy water). I'd already heard from "the man" himself, Bill Dance, that any color is a good color (for Bass) ... as long as it's blue/char so why did I need a "color selector" to tell me what I already was using would be the most visible color at that depth & under those conditions

I even remember some "research" done on Bass, that stated they could distinguish between 11 shades of grey

IMHO ... we may never know what colors fish can see or not see, but it's extremely doubtful that we'll ever know what the fish perceives those colors to be.

... cp

"This fact, coupled by some recent studies on bass, suggest that bass identify all of the colors we do, with the possible exception of blues and violets. This research also indicates that bass seem to see shades of green, yellow, and orange exceptionally well."

I think G hit on a light and dark contrasting color with all the regular triggers....there's alot of info on why pearls and Fluorescent colors work well.

G, that was one of the colors I cast with great success. Thanks for the picture.

Others should consider trying them, not because of what they resemble in nature or even in any particular color or colors. Plainly they just seem to work well because of the funky design. Color is overrated -for me light, dark or in between. Certain lure designs in certain hues I don't have confidence in, but only because I rarely give them a chance. Black is one I would rarely choose for a crappie grub or for my own minnow design, yet I like a black body/chartreuse tail - a standard color combo many use. (Maybe it's the combo of bright and dark.)

As far as all the mumbo jumbo regarding the physics of color underwater and how it affects what colors fish can or can't see or even the idea of fish-preferred colors, my motto will always be :

A FEW WILL DO/ LURE ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER THAN COLOR/ PRESENTATION AND LOCATION ALWAYS MATTER.

Colors that just happened to be used in the soft plastics that killed them today and yesterday were a black body/ chartreuse tail Mo Magic grub; and my minnow design in bright white, clear with silver flake and the combo: light green pumpkin with black and green flake body/ clear with a bit of silver flake in the tail. A blue body/ pearl tri-tail Joker was the last lure cast and it caught the largest crappie of the day - a 13" .

I am going to try some new Fantails from member sponsor snake river next week. These are white pearl on the bottom side.

Nice! Reminds me of the days when I used Mr Twister double tails for different species. I seem to remember bright yellow working very well.

If blue was invisible, evolution would see to it that all baitfish were that color.

IMO color will always be in the eye of the beholder and again insignificant as regards to what a fish thinks a lure represents.

As you can see by the recent examples given above and pictured below, school fish are much more accepting of a wider range of lure components such as color, size, shape, action and presentation. The perch simulation pictured did not get near as many hard strikes as the hybrid (a Riverside grub melted onto another grub). I used a solid green pumpkin hybrid - same grub body except welded to a Ring Worm making the lure over 3", and did very well. Again, the MO JO white grub in the picture was seen to catch as many fish as any darker color and was put aside.

Note: a successful lure design can be used anywhere anytime any year. The hybrid idea in different colors is over twenty years old and has caught hundreds of fish of different species over the years.

The huge schools in 6' held for the last two days and the over 80 crappie, six pickerel and a few small bass caught were locked into two dense schools in the small general area. I would have paid a scuba diver to watch the fish to see why they were in the area mostly doing nothing until our lures excited them. You might say that schools of baitfish kept them there, but baitfish schools move around and even if present, crappie weren't actively bust'n them or we would have seen surface activity. Zero. None!!

We had caught a few quality crappie and perch scattered in open water, but no accumulations. I still have a lot of relearning of this lake since the aerators have changed fish pattern locations and the lake is basically flat bottomed with small humps here and there. Quality and low fishing pressure has put this water at the top of my list.

None of us are fish or have fish eyes. We will never truly know what colors fish can or cannot see. I know if I can catch them on a certain color, but can't get a bite on another color, makes me think they can tell the difference. I live on a clear water lake and catch them on all white one day then black/pink/char the next day.

Here is some interesting 4 part video by Greg Vinall on what fish see:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpQTh_tnJ6c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTi5nJqEzvo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTqyVX3oZk0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5P6UMGiT7o