Do you think color matters?

[livemusic]

The fishing around here has been frustrating. Some days we go and catch a few to several. We haven't slayed them yet. And some days we go and can hardly get a bite. Like the past two days. I caught zero yesterday and zero today. I asked one gent out in the lake if he was doing any good and he was not happy, but he had 4-5 fish, he said. I was fishing 2-3' deep in 4' water and he was fishing near the bottom in 6-7' of water. Just a few days ago, we caught 5 big crappie fishing for bass at the same places I went today. That's why I went today, to load up from those spots where we caught them bass fishing.

It makes me wonder... do you think color matters? Do you ever try this and that and know you are in good places but they won't bite and have you ever found a color that really did seem to matter? Or do you think they just all of a sudden started biting!

[scrat]

I hope color matters or I have bought a bunch of different color jigs and lures this week for nothing. I did see a video on youtube were a man said he used only two colors of jigs. One was black/chartreuse and the other white/ chartreuse. He said that by using these two he would start with the black/char and if they didn't bite he would go to the white/char. He said by doing this he went from one light spectrum to the absolute other spectrum. I don't know so I am going to set back now and read what others say.

[Zippy]

I have no doubt that it matters. I have experimented when sitting directly over a school with two rods rigged with different color bodies, same head. One color got them on every drop the other not a tap for 5 -10 minutes then got one. After that fish I dropped the other color back down and got a fish or a miss on ever drop once again. All winter the best color in the river was yellow with a red tail. Now as always on this body of water the spring brings a rush on anything blue and white or grey/green. You can still catch on yellow and red but it's 2 - 1 at best. But color is only one part of the equation. Had my buddies sons out in the boat last week and they insisted on using the ugliest color I had every seen and they started catching. Seems the crappie liked their dead slow retreive more than they disliked the color. Once we started copying that retrive blue and white and grey green out produced that ugly color.

[livemusic]

Maybe 20 years ago, when I was so into bass fishing, I gave up and fished only a black worm and caught just as many fish, if not more.

[Eagle 1]

I think it can make a difference but also think size of bait should have equal consideration . I used to fish mainly 1/8 during the spawn but have discovered that trying different size has triggered more bites than color change . Fishing 1/100 jigs at bay springs and could not get a bite on a 1/32 made me rethink what I had been doing for years . We all have jigs we start with according to water clarity so I change size on my 3rd color change as a rule now . jmo .

[BuckeyeKdog]

I feel color does matter and many others feel the same way. Couple years ago we were fishing a cove and a buddy pulls up and starts fishing the same area. After a lot of trials we had determined silver head, grey body and pale blue tail to be what the fish wanted. Our buddy after about 30 minutes of nothing finally begs. He took a look and found something close.... Naw and half hour later begs again, I cast the jig into his boat and said take that one. He had his first fish before I had retied a fresh jig on my line.

If water clarity is under 2' I start with black head, chart body black tail over 2' Chart head, blue body, chart tail. I have every color imaginable and some that defy description. Some days may try 50 different jigs but usually find a color that works.

[CrappiePappy]

I'm of the impression that color "can" matter, at times. At other times, not so much. Sometimes shape, size, depth, retrieve speed, and presentation, or any combination of or all together makes as much difference, or more. Color, to me, is a variable puzzle piece. I know why the fish would hit certain colors, as they mimic other fish or critters that are on the fish's menu. But, then why do they hit pink, yellow, orange, or purple ?? Ain't no critters out there wearing those colors. But, fish like Crappie are sight feeders ... first and foremost. And if the colors are lost in the water clarity or the background color of the scenery behind the bait, then the fish are forced to use their lateral lines & sense of smell to find it and decide whether or not it's food or foe.

I've experienced times when a solid pink Roadrunner was the only thing that would elicit a strike on 90% of the casts made. And I've also experienced times when the most garish colors, on baits that had gotten soiled from being long forgotten in the deep recesses of a seldom used tackle box, would get bitten as though it were the biggest, fattest, juiciest morsel of food that the fish had ever seen. I wondered ... why ??? Could have been that they were easy to see, under the clarity conditions of the water ... or it was the presentation I was using ... or it was because I happened to be fishing during a feeding period ... or it was just that I had offered them something new & unusual, and their curiosity had gotten the better of them ...

What I do believe, from my experience, is that contrasting colors seem to work better overall, than do single colors. And it's one of the reasons I tend to use baits (especially jig bodies) that have a chartreuse tail or belly, with a body or back color that contrasts or even clashes with the chartreuse. I cover two sections of the color spectrum, which I believe makes the bait more visible in various water clarity or background colors ... thereby making the bait more visible & eliciting more curiosity, if not outright making the fish "hungry" for a taste.

... cp

[blackfish]

For 30 yrs. I fished a blue and clear. Catched a lot of crappie. About a decade ago I started Power trolling- 5 jigs a pole on a 5 ounce weight. All different colors. Yessr COLORS do matter. One of the best single pole guys I know keeps 10 different colors in his left hand and changes constantly.

[kickingback]

Colors reflect what type of bait the fish are hitting. Sometimes they are chasing shad, sometimes minnows, sometimes other predator fish. They are all different colors too. You have to experiment and see what the fish are eating. Sometimes they just can't stand ANY color around them so they bite out of aggression trying to get the jig out of their territory. I firmly believe the UV factor makes a difference on the jigs as well. The sun can make the jig look like gold under whater with the right colors. That's why some people use UV paint to draw a bite. You have to use all the colors you can to find the right bite.

[DockShootinJack]

I qm of the color matters school as well. If nothing more than to be more visible for given light and water clarity.