jigs

[KILLER]

What is the best color jigs to use for crappie?

[crappieseeker]

Killer, the main thing you have to look at when considering color is your location. It depends alot on the clarity of the water you fish, the main type of food source in your area such as shad or bream, it can depend on your weather such as if you have alot of overcast days or sunny clear days, and believe it or not it can depend somewhat on the color of the structure you may be fishing around, that was a new one on me til I heard it and tried it with success. Many things can determine what color jig would work best. They have something you can buy to stick in the water to tell you which color to use and I've only seen one used one time and it worked. The color it said to use was a color I fished in that area for several years and hadnt had any luck on it, I almost didnt even try it, but I gave it the benefit of the doubt and tried it and it paid off. I will tell you a few general things when selecting colors that may help you. If its cloudy or overcast, try darker colors first. If its clear skies, try brighter colors first. If the water is heavily stained, use orange, red, chart., or yellow. If it is very clear water, use smoke or a very light color like white or albino. If the water is in between, try several different colors. I will tell you the combinations I have the best success with. (red/chart.) (black/chart.) (yellow/white) (orange/chart.) (plain white) these in tube jig on 1/16 or 1/32 oz. round ball jig head, no color on the head. I also catch alot on a white or crystal shad color bass assassin also rigged on a regular 1/16 round ball jig head. Sometimes I do well on a white twister tail with a pink lead head. Everyone has their picks and its different in different areas, but those are some key factors to try out. Trial and error is the best thing. keep trying and you will figure your best options. Good Luck to you.

[Moose1am]

Roy G Biv Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet are the three primary and the three secondary colors. Remember your grade school art class lessons? That is about all I can remember from that art class. LOL

Anyway when the WHITE jig is at 20ft depth it appears blue. Do you know why?

Answer tomorrow!

What is the best color jigs to use for crappie?

[crappieseeker]

Moose1am, that may have been a little confusing to some. Roy G Biv are the colors of the rainbow. Your primary colors are red, blue, and yellow, they are colors that cannot be made from other colors. Secondary colors can be made from other colors. Blue and yellow make green. red and blue make purple. Red and yellow make orange. So green purple and orange are your secondary colors. If it hadnt have been for good ol roy g biv, I might have failed the rainbow test moose lol. Maybe this explanation wont leave room for confusion. Good luck to you moose1am and everyone else who reads this site.

[fishinboat]

you know i was always dark for dark(cloudy) light for bright (sunny) but combo colors seem to be the trick for me. i like on sunny days red and white mostly white tube jigs for instance jig head weights depending on style of fishing but colors can vary depending on time of day too, and as crappieseeker said structure is so important. i fish a lot of old structure, treetops and standing timber and it can be difficult to figure color. i try it all. the whole arsenal. lol

[Shellback]

I don't worry about jig colors too much myself, just lights and darks. You see, I'm color blind and wouldn't know what I was tieing on anyhow. HA!

[Big Zig]

Your best bet would be to use the color that catches fish. :rolleyes:
Judging from the other responces, I use a smaller jig - 1/80 to 1/100 ounce in front of a 1" to 1.25" plastic body. When there are two of us in the boat, we will fish different color combos until a pattern can be developed. We have found that for some reason, fish that are deep in structure respond to different colors then fish that are suspended off the same structure. Why? - don't know.

White in 20 foot of water appearing blue? I believe that depends on water clarity. Light refraction in deeper water varies based on clarity - or - optical bend. The color spectrum is "bent" as depth increases. Not totally sure about white moving to blue as much as it would the gray scale, but I can say for sure that purple will move to the brown scale - this could be at any depth, depending on clarity. The type of suspention in the water will vary this bend as well - algae blooms will affect the scale differently then muddy water, at the same depth. How did I do Moose? :D

[chaunc]

The best color jig for crappies is CHARTREUSE. Just add any other color with it to find the better color that day. Red, white, blue, yellow, you name it. Doesn't take a scientist or genious to figure it out. Just use em till you find the right one. Also... just add a crappie nibble to them.

[Deacon]

The best color jig for crappies is CHARTREUSE. Just add any other color with it to find the better color that day. Red, white, blue, yellow, you name it. Doesn't take a scientist or genious to figure it out. Just use em till you find the right one. Also... just add a crappie nibble to them.

Inour area of the woods I have to agree with you. Chartreuse is the main color. I usually like to add a little black or red to this however. I also agree with the adding crappie nibbles to the jig. They definitely leave a sent trail behind. I even go as far as to put a nibble in each one of my jig head compartments. Just to mask the human sent.

[Moose1am]

You are correct that is depends on the water clarity or the TURBIDITY of the water and the COLOR of the water. That is one reason why I chose 20ft depth. Maybe I should have said 50ft depth for clarity purposes. Even cyrstal clear water with no true added color (TANIN from leaves or other chemicals that could add a color to the water) will filter out the light waves as a prisim would. The deeper you go in the ocean the more the reds (Long Wavelenghts) get filtered out by the water and the more pronounced the blues become (Blue and UV are shorter wave lenghts). The shorter wave lenghts are not filters out as readily as the reds or longer wave lenghts. That was the point I was going for. Blues and greens dominate at great depths.

You see a Red Jig as Red because the dyes in the plastic are ABSORBING all colors except for RED. The red wavelenghts are bouncing off the jig and to your eyes. White is color we see when all visisibe (HUMAN) wave lenghts reach our eyes. White is the combination of all the visible colors bouncing off the white jig or white paper and reaching our eyes.

So you might say that a red jig is filtering out all the other colors (wavelenghts) except for the color or wavelenght of red. Water that is dirty will filter out all the wavelenghts eventually. What color is left when all colors are filtered out by dirtly or muddy color? That is if you can still see anything at all!

How to think and see like a fish!

Your best bet would be to use the color that catches fish. :rolleyes:
Judging from the other responces, I use a smaller jig - 1/80 to 1/100 ounce in front of a 1" to 1.25" plastic body. When there are two of us in the boat, we will fish different color combos until a pattern can be developed. We have found that for some reason, fish that are deep in structure respond to different colors then fish that are suspended off the same structure. Why? - don't know.

White in 20 foot of water appearing blue? I believe that depends on water clarity. Light refraction in deeper water varies based on clarity - or - optical bend. The color spectrum is "bent" as depth increases. Not totally sure about white moving to blue as much as it would the gray scale, but I can say for sure that purple will move to the brown scale - this could be at any depth, depending on clarity. The type of suspention in the water will vary this bend as well - algae blooms will affect the scale differently then muddy water, at the same depth. How did I do Moose? :D