CHARTRUSE

Another Mille Lacs fisherman with cabin fever….
There is an article in this weeks Outdoor magazine discussing Chartruse as the most successful and versitile bait color of choice for walleye. Any of you agree?
Personally, I have had a lot of success on Mille Lacs with chartruse but I am not sure if I would say it was my number one choice…personally blue and black/silver have been favorites of mine and I have seen a lot of posts raving about firetiger…Any thoughts?

Hello Bruch, According to the Walleye color spectrum, Chartruse,Red and Orange are supposed to be the most visible to a Walleye. Alot of that depends on water clarity. If you have a favorite color that works for you,that’s great because then it’s considered “proven”. Each lake will have a different spectrum, it’s important to be open to other patterns. Your black/silver may work on Mille Lac but may not on other lakes. We all have our own “confidence” colors and patterns when choosing our baits. But if that pattern doesn’t work on other lakes, don’t assume the bite is off. My favorite crankbait pattern for Mille Lac is green/white, my favorite spinner blade pattern is hammered silver with green beads.

When I head to any lake I always have a good supply of chartruse jigs and beads, but I also I always have red hooks. Whether I am rigging or bobber fishing, I think a plain red will out perform any other color. I do most of my jig fishing up on winni and colors on that lake are different every year. One year was chart/white, another year blue, and last year white was the color of choice. I have found that up on winni in the spring time if you tie on a pink or orange jig you better expect your northern to walleye ratio to go way up. For crankbaits on Mille lacs I like blue and silver. Last fall I tried a lot of firetiger and was not impressed.
Whatever color you go with, if it is working, stick with it.

i agree with the article,

if it ain’t chartruse, it ain’t no use

BRUCH,

I agree with Derek on this question. Chartruese, although a great color for walleyes in most systems, definately not the only go to color that pays dividends to an angler day in and day out. I fish Mille Lacs about 70 times a year on open water and fish crankbaits about 69 of those times every year. Colors of choice often have fluctuated by hour, day, week or month due to desired forage, water clarity, water temps, depth ranges, lure speed, sunny, overcast, wind or calm conditions as well as many other unpredictable frontal weather factors that us anglers deal with on a daily basis. The only reason I have mentioned this is because I have seen color patterns fluctuate dramtically in a day or a week or a month and have seen conditions where one color will definately out shine another and then an hour later things shift 180 degrees. Color has often been a very controversial factor in fishing conversation, but is definately valid factor when pursueing your targets.
Ever wonder what color is most desirable in 25-30 feet of water? How about suspended fish feeding upward in the water column, and what color stands out here? I have wrote an article that will explain more on this and how I approach my crankbait fish! Look for this in a few weeks.

Bottom line is chartruese is a great walleye color but keep an open mind when deciding color patterns and let the fish determine what they want and when they want it.

Nope Chartreause isn’t my favorite. I love Exude Chartreause Flake. But depending on which type of plastic I’m using they come in numerous shades of chartreause.Here’s a few favorites. Steve

These JB lures for ice fishing below in the chartruse color are my goto color. The Weasel in the lower left corner is my favorite lure. I have caught more fish on this lure in the chartruse color.

Hey guys, on the ol’ Miss when the water gets really clear I do really good on purples and blues. Just wondering how those colors work on the big pond since it has really clear water throughout the year??!