When do you change color when the sun starts going down? Im thinking I hold on to my natural colors longer in the spring here for some reason, maybe when that sun hits the horizon automatically stick something brighter on that will take advantage of active eyes?
This is assuming one is fishing with more natural colors to begin with.
Are you referring to fluorescents as being brighter? Fluorescent colors need uv from the natural light to show up well and after the sun has set these colors settle down rapidly unless its very clear and the moon is near full and up.
I know on my crappies bites that using dark baits [purple is my pet dark color] very early in the morning works well until around 10 and then I switch of a brighter color, generally a bright blue, or I go to clear baits with lots of glitter. I sometimes have to play the color game depending on whether we have sun or overcast. Late in the day when the sun casts long shadows I’ll be back to my pet purple as a dark color and will fish that until its too dark to see.
I think most anglers using plastic use baits that stand out or contrast against current water conditions and clarity simply because fish are able to see the plastic or head color against the water color. If a person is fishing as super low light period, using solid black can help turn the tide for them because there is nothing in a natural environment at fishing depths that’s a dark as the black used to make baits. Black will stand out against the water better than those light, bright colors and is what helps make the color visible to fish.
Two things I will note here….
First: I do not fish any color of a bait as a stand alone color. Any bait I fish will have a chartreuse tail and some may have hot pink or fluorescent orange instead of chartreuse, it just depends on the bite and the day. When people ask what my favorite color is I simply say “anything with a chartreuse tail”.
Second: Since I make my own baits I make every single batch of plastic using UV enhancer in it. It’s invisible to out eyes for the most part but fishes’ eyes are sensitive to it and even in very murky water with just some moonlight on it the fish can detect the baits containing small amounts of the enhancer. Since the enhancer is mixed thru the entire bait and at the bait’s surface even if the bait gets broke off the enhancer will be present at the break. UV enhancer has been a game changer for me over the last 6 or 7 years.
To simplify it a bit, I never put a color on with the expectation that it’ll be better than the color I was using previously. To automatically switch to brighter colors just because the light conditions change seems too presumptuous.
If something is working, I rarely switch. If something isn’t working I switch very quickly. Sometimes I’ll give a new color only 1-2 casts especially when I know the fish are there.
I personally put much more emphasis on size, action and profile than I do color. Very few situations do I focus intensely on color. I find myself and oddball in that regard but it’s what I’ve learned over the years and it works best for me.
Tom:
What a treatise. I saved this one to my fishing files. I don’t do that often but I would say that your knowledge and willingness to share it in this forum is priceless. Thanks so much!
(P.S. I use black all the time because it works. Purple too. I only go bright during the day for the most part. However, because of Tom’s post, I will try some different stuff).
Sunset plastic action from 3/6. The two smaller eyes were caught on dark colors while the big girl was caught on neon plastics. Soooo… you be the judge. I’m not sure color matters as much as technique and just getting the bait in front of their face. They are hungry.
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Tom:
What a treatise. I saved this one to my fishing files. I don’t do that often but I would say that your knowledge and willingness to share it in this forum is priceless. Thanks so much!
(P.S. I use black all the time because it works. Purple too. I only go bright during the day for the most part. However, because of Tom’s post, I will try some different stuff).
Flanders….the biggest part of this equation I left out and that’s flexibility. This comes with experience There are a million plastic baits on today’s table that work great. Color, profile, action, size…. they all come into play. One has to be able to stay flexible enough to change when something isn’t a producer and it can mean a lot of switching to find a worker.
I’m on big gill’s page when it comes to switching away from my go-tos especially if what I have on is putting fish in my hand. Even if the fish are seemingly in some other world I don’t beat a non producer for every long opting instead to keep fishing fast by using a wide variety from the box and changing very often….within 10-15 casts. I’ve had days when nothing I presented that was soft plastic caught fish and then too I’ve had days when I could have tossed a lawnmower blade and caught fish, so what Jacob has suggested, don’t be afraid to try something outside of a comfort zone because one never knows with fish.
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