Pennaz Post: Color Doesn’t Matter

2 comments NAFC Staff Blogs

Mar 01

I stopped Kurt Beckstrom in the hallway the other day and uttered a single word as a question: “Color?.” Kurt looked me in the eye before answering: “There are other things to get right first.” Then the editor of North American Fisherman magazine disappeared into his office.

His comment caught me as curious, especially since I knew his lead story for the March issue was a how to select the best color for crappie. Did he not believe what he was printing?

Selecting bait color is an interesting exercise if only because color, at times, makes absolutely no difference in success rates … OR it can make all the difference in the world.

So you can buy your favorite lure in a few colors and risk not having what’s needed for best success on any given day. Or you can get a second mortgage on your house and order three of every available color combination. Which leads me to a pop quiz. How many different color combinations are offered for the venerable Bomber Long A? Answer in a moment.

The problem is there is no billboard on the way to the lake that says “Run a Rapala Clackin Crank in Clown over weed flats in 12-15 feet of water for bass today.” So the second you launch your boat you are immediately faced with three questions:

1. Where to start fishing?;

2. What lure to throw?, and;

3. What color should I use?

Notice the order of the questions as they are sequenced in order of descending importance. Finding active fish is always the toughest challenge and must be your first priority, but once you do things typically get much easier. You base your lure selection on where the fish are. A crank that runs to 15 feet would be a poor choice is fish are holding tight to the bank in a foot of water.

Finally, there is the selection of bait color. Black may be 20 times as good as chartreuse on the day you fish, and gold may out-fish blue three to one, but none of it matters if you are not on fish or using the wrong bait to trigger strike anyway.

So why does Bomber make no less than 55 color combinations on Long As? Because color can make all the difference!

-- Steve Pennaz, NAFC Executive Director

2 comments

# jjackson19

Monday, March 28, 2011 4:17 PM

IMHO, there are many things to consider. Most importantly is what are the fish feeding on? But if its a average day with no target bait in mind there are few things to consider. One is a elementary basic, ROY-G-BIV. That is the colors of the light spectrum with colors like Red phasing out first and just turning grey and violet still being seen at fairly deep areas. When they phase out also has a lot to do with water clarity. But understanding that in deeper water most anglers will need few color shade for deep cranks. Where as in shallow water like med or less cranks users can purchase more of those colors. All this information can really leave many fishermen baffled. For deep cranks I only keep about 4 or 5 major ones like Firetiger, XXX Shad and few other minor variations that I know can be seen in deep waters. For Med or Shallow water cranks, I have about 10 variations from everything like Chartreuse to Black Craws depending on what they are eating or what can be seen in the water. Just start with what you believe they should be hitting and if that doesn't work try something different until you fine tune in what they are hitting. When you have tried 3 or 4 other colors and still no dice, then the type of bait may be what needs changed and not really a color issue. Just the other day I was using cranks in a local pond going for some Black Bass and I wasnt getting any hits even on my firetiger crank. I tried my popper bait that was also firetiger color and bass hit it none stop even as soon as the popper would hit the water. So as color can be a major factor, but its more of a icing on the cake then anything.

# sresch

Thursday, April 21, 2011 3:41 PM

When i am determining what color its just based on clarity. In clear i pay much more attention to a specific color and tend to match it with the bait fish or a crawfish pattern. In murky or stained water 99% of the time I am using a black with blue flake or a green pumpkin. Color matters more on slow presentations where the fish can get a better look at the bait but it definately is not the most important thing to think about but it is more of a fine tuning thing. When im using the right presentation and get very light hits and follow ups then i will try to change color slightly to find the right combination. I agree with the thought order that was proposed by Mr. Pennaz as long as step 2 includes how am i going to present this lure. if it is a crankbait am i going to fish it fast, or stop and go for example. Also i think color depends on the what lure you are throwing. For example when i am throwing plastic frogs I refuse to throw anything that does not have a white belly. Due to many hours and fishing many different lakes that ive had way more success with the white belly frogs. My opinion is that color can make a difference but in the grand scheme of things it is rarely the deal breaker of a successful trip versus the trip of a lifetime.

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