Stan Fagerstrom
12-01-2001, 05:44 AM
Selecting The Right Lure Color
Helps Put Fish In The Boat
By Stan Fagerstrom
Experienced fishermen, make that successful fishermen, invariably recognize 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 say the same thing.
One of them is Ted Howell, a long time guide who operates out of Longview, WA. Howell has been involved in fishing all of his life. Consider the Luhr Jensen Hot Shots Howell uses so effectively for the migratory species. Ted wants lures like the Hot Shots he uses for trolling to be of certain shades, depending on a number of factors.
Denny Hannah, one of Oregon’s most respected guides, tells me the same thing. When he's after salmon or steelhead you'll 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 categories are deadly panfish baits. The grubs I like best are those produced by Kalin Lures, of Brawley, CA. They have a unique tail action. I visited once with Al Kalin about lure colors, 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 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 Heddon Basser. It's not 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.
http://www.ifish.net/sflc.jpg
This morning the bass might favor a spinnerbait in the chartreuse color pictured here. Tomorrow it might be something else. Picking the most productive lure color is one of the keys to success in all kinds of angling.
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 twice as many. I threw that perch colored lure more than the others, but there were times when I purposely used something else 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 that brought action where there had been none before.
A few years ago I wrote a column for this web site in which I talked about a bass fisherman named Blackie Lightfoot. At one time Blackie traveled the country for a well-known lure company. He pulled his bass boat from Maine to Washington State showing local bass fishermen how his company's products caught fish. I fished with him at Shastina Lake and Lake Siskiyou in Northern California and at Potholes Reservoir and Silver Lake in Washington State. Did Blackie's travels around the USA, fishing lots of different places in the process, convince him color made a difference? You can believe it!
One of the lures Lightfoot favored was a Cordell Red Fin. The first color he turned to in Tennessee or Texas or here in the Pacific Northwest was a gold shade. "I've had really good luck on the gold color in that lure," Lightfoot told me. "It was my most consistent producer for largemouth bass."
Blackie was an artist with the Red Fin. It was fascinating just to watch him fish it. He managed to do things with it I've still not been able to duplicate though I've spent hours trying. Something else he did with the Red Fin was to paint a red stripe along the belly of the lure. He carried a set of little paints in his boat. Every now and then if he wasn't getting the kind of results he thought he should out came the paints.
Anybody who travels all over fishing as he goes has to learn something in the process. Blackie Lightfoot is one of the best bass anglers I've ever met. When somebody like him tells me about the importance of color, I'm going to pay attention.
Next time you visit one of the lower Columbia River's broad bars, take time to talk to some of the old timers who are fishing there. Ask them if they have favorite colors in the Spin-N-Glos they heave out into the Columbia's heavy current. You'll discover they do. They'll tell you this color or that is catching most of the fish.
I remember fishing a stretch on the North Fork of the Toutle River for steelhead one morning before Mount St. Helens went on her rampage. An angler across the river hooked six steelhead while all I got was casting practice. I finally hollered across and asked him what he was using. "I've got a Number 8 Spin-N-Glo in red and chartreuse," he hollered back. "That's what they want this morning."
He was right. As soon as I changed to that lure, I too started catching fish. That color has been my favorite in a Spin-N-Glo ever since for steelhead drifting.
Angler with sufficient smarts to tie an Improved Clinch Knot knows it’s wise to do all we can to bend the odds in our favor each time out. Paying close attention to lure color is one way to do that. If you aren’t, you should be.
[ 12-01-2001: Message edited by: Stan Fagerstrom ]</p>
Helps Put Fish In The Boat
By Stan Fagerstrom
Experienced fishermen, make that successful fishermen, invariably recognize 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 say the same thing.
One of them is Ted Howell, a long time guide who operates out of Longview, WA. Howell has been involved in fishing all of his life. Consider the Luhr Jensen Hot Shots Howell uses so effectively for the migratory species. Ted wants lures like the Hot Shots he uses for trolling to be of certain shades, depending on a number of factors.
Denny Hannah, one of Oregon’s most respected guides, tells me the same thing. When he's after salmon or steelhead you'll 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 categories are deadly panfish baits. The grubs I like best are those produced by Kalin Lures, of Brawley, CA. They have a unique tail action. I visited once with Al Kalin about lure colors, 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 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 Heddon Basser. It's not 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.
http://www.ifish.net/sflc.jpg
This morning the bass might favor a spinnerbait in the chartreuse color pictured here. Tomorrow it might be something else. Picking the most productive lure color is one of the keys to success in all kinds of angling.
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 twice as many. I threw that perch colored lure more than the others, but there were times when I purposely used something else 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 that brought action where there had been none before.
A few years ago I wrote a column for this web site in which I talked about a bass fisherman named Blackie Lightfoot. At one time Blackie traveled the country for a well-known lure company. He pulled his bass boat from Maine to Washington State showing local bass fishermen how his company's products caught fish. I fished with him at Shastina Lake and Lake Siskiyou in Northern California and at Potholes Reservoir and Silver Lake in Washington State. Did Blackie's travels around the USA, fishing lots of different places in the process, convince him color made a difference? You can believe it!
One of the lures Lightfoot favored was a Cordell Red Fin. The first color he turned to in Tennessee or Texas or here in the Pacific Northwest was a gold shade. "I've had really good luck on the gold color in that lure," Lightfoot told me. "It was my most consistent producer for largemouth bass."
Blackie was an artist with the Red Fin. It was fascinating just to watch him fish it. He managed to do things with it I've still not been able to duplicate though I've spent hours trying. Something else he did with the Red Fin was to paint a red stripe along the belly of the lure. He carried a set of little paints in his boat. Every now and then if he wasn't getting the kind of results he thought he should out came the paints.
Anybody who travels all over fishing as he goes has to learn something in the process. Blackie Lightfoot is one of the best bass anglers I've ever met. When somebody like him tells me about the importance of color, I'm going to pay attention.
Next time you visit one of the lower Columbia River's broad bars, take time to talk to some of the old timers who are fishing there. Ask them if they have favorite colors in the Spin-N-Glos they heave out into the Columbia's heavy current. You'll discover they do. They'll tell you this color or that is catching most of the fish.
I remember fishing a stretch on the North Fork of the Toutle River for steelhead one morning before Mount St. Helens went on her rampage. An angler across the river hooked six steelhead while all I got was casting practice. I finally hollered across and asked him what he was using. "I've got a Number 8 Spin-N-Glo in red and chartreuse," he hollered back. "That's what they want this morning."
He was right. As soon as I changed to that lure, I too started catching fish. That color has been my favorite in a Spin-N-Glo ever since for steelhead drifting.
Angler with sufficient smarts to tie an Improved Clinch Knot knows it’s wise to do all we can to bend the odds in our favor each time out. Paying close attention to lure color is one way to do that. If you aren’t, you should be.
[ 12-01-2001: Message edited by: Stan Fagerstrom ]</p>