The big debate: Water conditions & lure colors?

Hey everyone. I've read numerous different sides to the story of what color to use in certain water conditions. I've heard dark colors in stained water & bright colors in clear, bright colors in stained & natural colors in clear, dark colors in clear & bright colors in stained... you name it! I also read one time that color doesn't MATTER, it's what you use and how you use it. Based on everyone's fishing experience, which of these seems to be most true? I've been fishing a stained pond the last few days and have used dark colors with some success, but I have also used white curlytail jigs in stained water before and DESTROYED crappie. What's everyone else's opinion on this?

IMHO Color definately matters. I think in different lakes the fish like different colors. I don't know if its the color of the water or the color of the forage they eat that determines this. Just to confuse the situation. The Crappie,White Perch & Sunfish love a jig with a white tube & blue flake tipped with a piece of worm in my home lake. Catch a few Bass & Catfish on the same rig. But if I go Bass fishing a Wacky Worm Senko in Pumpkinseed is by far the best color.

One of the 1st things I do when I catch a crappie is to cut it open, remove the stomach and look at what it has been eating. Other material in the stomach may produce evidence on where the fish was feeding. You must also have a fair knowledge of the available food in the lake you are fishing.

Now to destroy what I just said, you will rarely catch fish on a lure or color that you have no faith in. You will never fish the lure or color enough to run it by a fish. I have a "favorite" color that I use as a backup when all else fails. It has caught fish in all water colors at all times of the year and at all depths. You probably have one too.

I have been experimenting with a lot of different colors this spring. With all the run off in the local lakes the water has been really stained to muddy, to just a light stain. But like Butlalover, I to have my favoite color and type lures that have always worked . I just wish that the water would warm up.

Thanks for the replies, fellas. Yes, I too have my favorite color and lure type, which happens to be a white curlytail grub jig. It isn't foolproof, though. I have came home quite a few times empty-handed at the hands of the white jig. To be honest, as far as jigs go, I have only used yellow, chartreuse, smoke & pepper, and white, and white is by far the best. I have noticed, however, with things like Rooster Tails and Road Runners the color doesn't seem to matter as much, as I guess the fish has less time to observe the bait before it gets out of striking distance.

The pond I fish regularly has minnows in it, I know, because I've seen them jumping out of the water while fishing. Being that it has riverwater pumped into it, I'm sure it has crawfish, and frogs and turtles are undoubtedly present, as well.

So, since a white jighead with a white curlytail grub is my "go to" lure, what is everyone else's favorite? (I am becoming VERY fond of Road Runners, but I've been catching more bass than crappie on those lately).

I bet a lot of guys do that also. Open the stomach and examine the contents. Lots of old timers did that when I first started fishing.

I have caught some nice Largemouth Black Bass and had shad fall out of their mouths into the boat. Same with some White bass that I caught on KY Lake.

Last summer I filleted some crappie that I caught in Dec from a local State Fish and Wildlife Area Lake.

There was a black muck inside the stomach. I have read that in the colder months the crappie may feed on worms along the very bottom of the lake. I caught these fish over an underwater hump that rose up out of 50ft deep water to about 20ft below the lakes surface.

In school I took a wildlife biology class and we had the opportunity to examine the contents of deer stomachs. These deer had been shot at a special harvest in IN somewhere (Crane Naval Reserve special hunt). My professor worked with the Indiana DNR and they collected the deer stomach contents for our advanced biology class.

I took a fish class. (Ichthyology) but that Professor was a jerk. He didn't let us do cool stuff like we did in our WL Biology classes. But the Professor (Dr. WEEKS) just came to Purdue from Yale where he taught graduate level Wildlife Biology classes. Dr. Weeks was one cool Professor.

I could not even tell you the name of my Ichthyology Professor. I hope for the younger kids sake he is not teaching there anymore.

Purdue Grad. 1976.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Butlalover

One of the 1st things I do when I catch a crappie is to cut it open, remove the stomach and look at what it has been eating. Other material in the stomach may produce evidence on where the fish was feeding. You must also have a fair knowledge of the available food in the lake you are fishing.

Now to destroy what I just said, you will rarely catch fish on a lure or color that you have no faith in. You will never fish the lure or color enough to run it by a fish. I have a "favorite" color that I use as a backup when all else fails. It has caught fish in all water colors at all times of the year and at all depths. You probably have one too.

---

I think that using contrasting colors (light and dark) works.

Remember that a fish is looking up and that the background is the sky in most cases. Look at the sky and determine if it is dark or bright and sunny (WHITE).

Fish looking up or using a top water bait:
A dark lure ( Dark VENTRAL or Bottom Side) should be dark against a bright sky. The lure is contrasted against the light sky to make the lure stand out against the sky. On the other hand if the sky is dark then a lure with a bright lighter underside would work best.

Fish looking down or at a vertical underwater ledge's side:

In this case the fish's background may not be the sky but instead the lake bottom or the side of an underwater ledge. Normally the lake bottom is dark and so would the side of an underwater ledge. In this case you would need a lighter colored lure to stand out (contrast) against the dark background.

But if you are fishing the bottom and the bottom is a light colored sand then a lighter lure would blend in with the sand and be harder for the fish to see. Then a darker lure (Dorsal or top side of the lure should be dark) will stand out (Contrast) well against the lighter sandy bottom

This is why one lure color may not work well all day. The fish may move vertically though out the day. They may start out at the top of an underwater hump and then move down the side of the hump and toward the deeper water surround the hump later in the day to avoid the bright sunlight. Or their food (prey species) may move downward as the day progresses. Sun comes up and shines deeper and stronger into the water. Clear water necessary for this to be a big factor. Muddy water won't let the sunlight penetrate too far into the water. stained water will be somewhere between the clear water environment and the muddy water.

There are a lot of factors that goes into getting the fish to bite.

Lure color is one that I think matters. Fish can see very well in clear water. In muddy water they may make more use of the lateral lines to locate their prey. Catfish rely on smell to locate their food. Any fish that moves in the water sends out vibrations (sound pulses) and fish can home in on these pressure waves with the lateral lines. I don't think fish have external ear openings therefore they may hear sound with their inner ears only.

Some game fish do rely heavily on their eyes. Remember that fish can see in color. That means they can see different wavelengths of light.

What we see is light reflecting off objects. We see a red colored object due to the fact that red wavelengths of light reflect off that object while all the other wavelengths of light are absorbed by that object.

Remember that white is the combination of all potential colors. If you use red light only and shined it on a white object you would see the object as being red in color. If you shine a blue light on an white object you will observe the object as being blue. That's because only blue light is available to reflect off the object into your eyes.

Black objects absorb all light. You can shine blue light on a black object and that object will still appear to be black to your eyes.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mattcombs

Hey everyone. I've read numerous different sides to the story of what color to use in certain water conditions. I've heard dark colors in stained water & bright colors in clear, bright colors in stained & natural colors in clear, dark colors in clear & bright colors in stained... you name it! I also read one time that color doesn't MATTER, it's what you use and how you use it. Based on everyone's fishing experience, which of these seems to be most true? I've been fishing a stained pond the last few days and have used dark colors with some success, but I have also used white curlytail jigs in stained water before and DESTROYED crappie. What's everyone else's opinion on this?

---