Thread: Does lure shape/size matter more than color?

Let me put it this way....I decide to try a new jig...lets say Bobby Garland little swimmers just for the sake of argument. I buy four colors say to start with. I am on a lake casting the lures searching for fish switching the colors around every so often. Find some fish on sonar and start throwing to them. Huh...can't get them to bite...change to one of the other colors...maybe a short strike or two...switch to another color get a few fish...switch to another color.. wham game on...fish after fish...huh...put back on first color to test it...no bites...huh...put back on last color...wham ,game on fish after fish.

NAw it don't matter one bit. Now somedays it doesn't matter as much...but if you think I haven't seen the above scenario a thousand times in the last fifty years.

Color for me.

I would say color although you are making a huge mistake if you do not have small jigs in your arsenal . I fished 30 yrs. without anything smaller than a 1/16 . Today I will not go without a 1/32 on 4 lb. test rigged and ready . Clear water ? It comes out first .

I would agree with color. However, for me, I have found that choosing my bait in reference to water temp has helped. Ex: if the water is cold the baitfish aren't moving much so I like a more subtle presentation. When the water is warm/hot the baitfish move a lot more so I like something with more action. I have always done well when I can match the baitfishes movements. Just my experience.

I sincerely believe that color is more of a personal confidence builder, than it's actual effect on the crappie themselves. I've tried to disprove this notion many times, by switching colors when the bite is "hot". Nothing seems to effect the bite except having "something" moving in front of them at the correct depth & speed that they are looking for. But hey, no one that I know of, can talk to the fish......so who knows! Besides, it's a LOT more fun having a plethora of colors & shapes staring at you from your tackle sachel!

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This link was working for me but it's the copy and paste from the web site in question was not posting properly on Crappie.com
web site for some strange reason. Maybe I did something wrong and didn't use the proper technique to post links in here.

Go to the Midwest Crappie TV show web site and search for the post about the lateral line on crappie and how they feel movements in the water.

"http://www.*****************/article/movement-and-vibration-for-crappie/" Remove the "" before you go to this link. The same information is also available on Pinterest at this web site:

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I love your reply. Especially the part about switching to a different colored bait when the fish were there and biting. Nothing like proving how color does not always make a difference if the fish are in the mood to bite. Fish get hungry at certain times and other times they won't eat as they are already full. IMHO. Just as I won't tough the cherry pile if I've eaten a huge 16 oz rib eye steak, mashed potatoes and a lettuce salad at Logan's Roadhouse and am about to pop if I don't loosen the belt on my pants. I can't eat another bite. I've caught bass that had shad falling out of their mouth as they were in a crazy feeding frenzy on Shad and had stomachs so full that they could not swallow some of the last shad that they sucked into their mouths right before I caught them on my crank bait at KY lake.

Movement, depth and vibrations make a big difference when the water clarity is limited. Now in crystal clear water the colors and type or shape of the lures make a difference. But in heavily stained and muddy water they can't really see the colors as the sun light is filtered out by the water and suspended particles and does not reach the depths. IE the color or light waves at 15 ft are much different than the ones at the surface of the water. Lots of light (waves of different colors) are filters out selectively by the water and what's in the water. Red light wave are longer than blue light waves. And ultraviolet are shorter than blue light. Infrared light waves are longer than red colored light waves. What we see I the light that's reflected off the baits. And that color of the baits changes as they go deeper in the water and the more stained the water is the more the color of the baits change at the fished level.

I'd bet that the water was clear enough and the fish were shallow enough that color had a positive effect on the fish biting. Or maybe they just got hunger at the time you switched to the color and then stopped. I would say that if you were using the Humminbird 360 sonar and were keeping all the baits at the right depth right even with or right above the fish and all the baits were the same type and shape then color could have been the determine factor. But to eliminate all the potential variable from the equation is hard to do. Fish can move around, change depth and turn off their feed if they get full or have eaten recently. Or when the barometer changes and the weather changes and the type of light changes down where the fish live due to wind waves and clouds and turbidity the variables all can change in a few minutes time. Where as the type of vibrations (frequencies) can stay the same with the same bait type and size and shape. Noise and vibrations matter a lot when the water is turbid and muddy and the fish can't see the baits as well. But remember that when the water at the surface is muddy looking to you the water at the very bottom of the lake can be clearer in the first foot or two above the bottom. This is due to the friction that the bottom produces in a current and this friction slows the water flow down causing the sediment at the very bottom of a lake or river to settle out first while the sediments in the other parts of the water column take longer to settle out and clear the water up. Same as the side edges of a river where there is friction between the water and the back or structure in the lake or river. Friction in the flow of water is our friend. Maybe that's one reason that fish like to hang out by structure in rivers. The current is broken and slowed down due to the friction and the water is just a bit clear. That and the stumps and snags along a bank make for good hiding places for ambush type predators (IE LM
bass and Crappie. )