Often Color Is The Key Sep 01, 2011 by Stan Fagerstrom

Part 1 One of the guys in the booth next to mine didn't know nearly as much about bass fishing as he obviously thought he did. I wasn't eavesdropping. Besides being a bass fishing bonehead the guy had vocal chords a whole lot better developed than his bass angling expertise. The folks seated in booths at the other end of the restaurant were probably hearing him too. What got my attention was what this dude was telling the unfortunate guy who shared the booth with him. Here's a sample: "Charlie," he said, "you've been asking me about the importance of color where bass are concerned. That crap you hear and read all the time about color's importance is just bull____! All they're doing is trying to getcha to buy more baits." I've been fishing and writing about it since shortly after the fall of the Roman Empire. Well, maybe not quite that long. But I did actually sell my first fishing columns way back in1946. Since then I've had the wondrous opportunity to fish over a sizeable chunk of the world for a variety of the species freshwater anglers like best. Fish for bass at Arizona's beautiful Apache Lake and it won't take long to determine lures of a certain color will produce better than others. Often those fishing experiences have ranged from the Amazon to Alaska and from Argentina to New Zealand. Almost always I was with experienced guides. Without exception, every one of those experienced fishermen, make that successful fishermen, invariably recognized the importance of color when it comes to lure selection. Though I usually deal with bass, walleye or panfish in this column, by no means is the importance of color restricted to just those angling fields. I know veteran salmon and steelhead guides who know what a difference lure color can make. Yellow perch are the primary forage for the largemouth in Southwest Washington's popular Silver Lake. The lure shown here is a Heddon Basser. These lures are no longer being made but the fortunate anglers who still own a couple continue to catch fish on them. They match the color of the Silver Lake yellow perch. Those perch are the primary forage of Silver Lake largemouth. I remember conversations with veteran river and off shore guides who have been involved in fishing all of their lives. Do they have favorite colors in the lures they use? You better believe it! I recall one guide in particular. One of his favorite lures was the Luhr Jensen Hot Shot. I had been with him when he used these lures effectively for the migratory species. He wanted those lures to be of certain shades, depending on a number of factors like water clarity, speed, etc. The late Denny Hannah, a great guy and for years one of Oregon's most respected guides, told me the same thing. When he was after salmon or steelhead you'd find him rigging with specific colors, depending on time of year and water conditions. I favor miniature plastic worms for a lot of my crappie fishing. Little grubs used on tiny jig heads in the 1/16th-ounce and 1/32nd-ounce class are deadly panfish baits. The grubs I like best are those that have a unique tail action. I visited about them once with one of the nation's top panfish lure makers. I asked this manufacturer about his best selling colors in crappie baits. I told him I'd always found a combination of yellow and white to be a consistent crappie producer. I was surprised at his reply. "Stan," he said, "we've heard that same thing from fishermen in other parts of the country. The yellow and white combination seems to be a consistently good crappie producer in areas of the United States besides your own."

Bass fishermen who have fished as much as I have over the past half-century must have discovered color plays a role where largemouth are concerned. I lived smack on the shore of Southwest Washington's Silver Lake for more than 30 years. One of the most effective lures I found for Silver Lake largemouth, especially in spring and summer, was a floating/diving lure called a Heddon Basser. That lure isn't made any more. The yellow perch finish in that lure was by far more effective than the several other shades I threw from time to time. Few plastic worms have proven their effectiveness more often than the salt laden Senkos developed and marketed by Gary Yamamoto, himself a tournament winning bass pro. Here, again, some colors work better than others. If one color doesn't produce, change to another of a different shade. Sometimes it can make a big difference in your results. And that made nothing but sense. I say that because the primary forage food for the bass in Silver Lake was yellow perch. The lures in other shades didn't even come close to the productivity of the one that matched the color of the primary forage. The last thing I'm saying is that colors other than those resembling a yellow perch wouldn't catch fish. I used Bassers in everything from red and white to black. But day-in and day-out the yellow perch finish caught as many fish as the rest of the colors combined. I made some slight changes in these Mack's Lure Stan's Spin spinnerbaits before one of my visits to Mexico's famed Lake El Salto. I wanted colors that I thought more closely resembled those of the tilapia that are a major source of forage for the Lake El Salto largemouth. It paid off. I boated a 10-pound, 4-ounce fish on the lure shown at the right. I hooked a second whopper on the Stan's Spin shown at the left but that one got into some submerged trees and got away from me. I threw that perch colored lure more than the others, of course, but there were times when I purposely used different shades in the same lure just to see what happened. As soon as I was satisfied those other colors weren't doing the job, I'd tie on my yellow perch Basser. Many times a lure in that color brought action where there had been none before. I've got additional thoughts to share where the importance of color is concerned. I'll share them with you in my October column. -To Be Continued- About Stan Fagerstrom No one in the western United States has written more about bass and panfish angling than Stan Fagerstrom. Stan wrote his first outdoor column for The Daily News in Longview, Washington way back in 1946. He's been at it ever since. At one time or another his articles and columns have appeared in most of the nation's major outdoor magazines. Stan is also known internationally for his casting skills. He has been featured in outdoor shows all over the United States as well as a number of foreign countries. He is a member of both the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame as well as the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame. He has also been honored by the National Professional Anglers Association. Stan lived most of his life in Washington and Oregon. He and his wife moved to Sun Lakes, Arizona in late 2004. Got thoughts to share on bass or panfish angling? Stan welcomes your e-mail comments. His address is stanfagerstrom@hotmail.com.

---

Click here for Stan's archives.