Jigs & plastics: What are your favorite colors?
Come early spring or late fall, there seems to be one common question that many of my clients frequently ask. That question is this: When it comes to jigs & plastics, what are your favorite colors?
We’re talking about walleye fishing here and most people already know that I’m a huge fan of the plastics provided by B’Fish’N Tackle.com.
This question has come up so often, that I actually keep a list of my favorite colors filed away on my computer. That way I can just copy & paste the list into and email before sending it off to whoever ask.
The list of my favorite colors applies to the waters of the Wisconsin River. To be even more specific, they apply to the Wisconsin River below the Prairie du Sac dam, below the Wisconsin Dells dam and on the waters of Lake Wisconsin, although they seem to work pretty well for me on the Mississippi river as well. I’m sure others will have many of these same colors on their list but perhaps not in the same order.
The biggest thing to remember here is this: My favorites can and do change on a day by day basis. The starting point for my day of fishing will usually be my ending point from the previous day as long as conditions are pretty much the same. But after that, it’s up to me (or you) to figure out which colors or combination of colors is going to work best on that particular day.
I’m not going to get into techniques at this time. My color choices can & do vary by depth so techniques can play a role in color choices but they still generally come from the same list below regardless of whether I’m pitching, dragging or vertical jigging these plastics.
Ringworms have been around the longest so I’ll begin with those:
Top Ringworm Colors
1) Chartreuse Orange Core
2) Chartreuse Green Core
3) Electric Blue Pearl Tail
4) Firecracker Chartreuse Tail
5) Chartreuse Pepper
6) Purple White Tail
7) Fire-N-Ice Chartreuse Tail
8) Gold Cracker Chartreuse Tail
9) Purple Chartreuse Tail
10) Firecracker
Paddle tails are by no means new to the walleye fishing world. They do offer a slightly different profile and they give off a different vibration. There have been many days where I could not get bit on a ringworm but if I put a paddle tail of the same color in front of their nose, they would readily hit that.
Clearly color is not the only factor for walleye fishermen to consider. Profile & vibration must be taken into account.
If you start with ringworms and it’s not working out, be sure to give paddle tails some time on the end of your line. It can make a big difference!
Below is a list of my favorite paddle tails:
Favorite Paddle Tail Colors
1) Chartreuse Pepper
3) Electric Blue Pearl Tail
4) Chartreuse Green Core
5) Firecracker Chartreuse Tail
6) Purple Pearl Tail
7) Purple Chartreuse Tail
8) Gold Cracker Chartreuse Tail
9) Great White
10) Catalpa Orange Chartreuse Tail
Authentix 4” Moxi’s are relatively new to the scene. I got my hands on a few last fall and gave them a fairly good workout. The Moxi’s put some good fish in my boat and they are going see more time in the water a long side the ringworms & paddle tails this spring.
Below are my top 4” Moxi colors:
Top Authentix 4” Moxi Colors
1) Chartreuse Orange Core
2) Chartreuse Green Core
3) Fire Cracker
4) Chartreuse Pepper
5) Oystershell
6) Great White
7) Stewarts Pro Blue
Precision H2O jigs have been around for a number of years. You can put the plastics mentioned above on any jig head and they will perform just fine. But there are some definite advantages to using Precision H2O jigs. Like the keeper barb on the shank which does an excellent job of holding ringworms, paddle tails, moxi’s (any plastic for that matter) tight to the head of the jig. The extra wide gap hook leaves plenty of the business end exposed after threading on a plastic. And the color schemes pretty much cover all the bases.
My top H2O Precision Jig Colors
1) Orange Tiger Glow Eyes
2) Green Tiger Glow Eyes
3) Hi Gloss Black
4) Orange Chartreuse
5) Sour Apple
6) Purple Pearl
7) Pearl White
Must have jig sizes: 3/32, 1/8, 3/16, 1/4, 5/16 & 3/8
The most important thing is to develop confidence in these baits. Once you’ve done that, there’s a strong chance that you won’t leave the dock on an early spring or late fall walleye fishing trip without a healthy supply of these baits. If you’ve already fished with me, you know what I’m talking about!
Feel free to add your own list below. It’s always interesting to see what others like to use.
