Poll: New Color Suggestions

From a number of dives here in fl. I've seen piles of red snapper down past 60'.

They do appear grey, but I'm sure predators key in on specific hues or color breaks on a bait fish.

I'm sure the brightly colored
Rockfish out there are best matched with the brown gold and reds.

Inshore, red is one of my top 3
Colors.

I do believe in red as a "valid color".  Perhaps not color as we're used to seeing, but think of it as a shade of gray.  And different shades of red and orange and other colors that don't penetrate the deep are shades of gray.  In combination with other colors, it adds contrast.  That's why I like multi-colors too.  How many times have you caught a baitfish that was a single color?  How many fish have you pulled  up from the deep that are reddish in color?  Think about it ...

-Allen

BINGO! Just because you think that the color is lost doesnt mean the fish does. When larger lings are keying in on baby verms what color are they on the surface? Red Holmes Red. If its all about imitating the bait....why would you discount red? Thats ridiculous.

You guys are right... I admit to using far to strong a word in terming red as "useless".  My point is that contrast at depth is more important than color.  Of course, the loss of color at depth can still lead to contrast.  Honestly I haven't spent a lot of time worrying about color when fishing for lings.  My best luck has been with big white twin tail grubs and diamond jigs.  I figure they would hit a piece of rebar if you jigged it down there.  No offense meant to you red lovers!

Found a few favorites that survived last season.


The irons at the top left are my homemades and are all very proven time and again. The red w/ white belly is my favorite. I call the color vermillon and it involves a few different base coats of orange and pearl. Although I laughed when I painted em the white iron below with various spots and colors proved me a fool. It was the hot lure on several trips when the squid were up.

The swimbaits are as follows. Big hammers at the top in wookie wacker and rainbow trout . Next is a reaction innovations big dipper in houdini. Below that my absolute favorite lure an MC 7" swimbait in Halloween. Below that a robo swimbait in an unknown color.  Finally at bottom my favorite overall brand with a Pearl swimbait in christmas tree.

One that I didn't have on hand but really like is big hammer red calico hunter. Check out the Pearl swimbait colors too. I dislike plain white and anything w/ blue.     

Well, just like there are shades of gray, there are degrees of contrast.  I won't pretend to know the nuances of it all, but I wish I did.

Why does Halloween color work?  I mean what does an orange belly do?  Usually fish have a lighter belly.  So it's not really match the hatch so to speak.  Contrast perhaps?  Yeah, why does glow work?  Extreme contrast.  You know, back in the day, pure black was a popular color.  That's contrast at the other end.  Ever tried fishing a chovie swimbait upside down?  Try it sometime.  You might be surprised.  It's contrast again the norm, the norm being dark top and light belly.

But match the hatch still applies too.  Why else do more natural patterns like chovie (rightside up), smelt, and mackerel work?

And to make things more complicated, it changes day to day or location to location.  You never know what might be the "key".  Sure some patterns are more consistent than others, but they're not bulletproof either.  I remember one summer day out out at The Fort.   It was really slow.  I threw everything I had in my tacklebox at them.  Well, guitarzan had a "knife jig" that was just killing it.  I'm talking about a butterknife he drilled a whole in the center of and attached a swivel and hook to.  The damn thing looked like a helicopter.  But it worked.  I just shook my head, sat back, and enjoyed the show.

-Allen

You know, back in the day, pure black was a popular color. 



Well, guitarzan had a "knife jig" that was just killing it.  I'm talking about a butterknife he drilled a whole in the center of and attached a swivel and hook to.  The damn thing looked like a helicopter.  But it worked.  I just shook my head, sat back, and enjoyed the show.

-Allen

I still use jet black at times for lots of types of fish.  Primarily in stained water, again color doesn't do much in murky water so black seems to provide the greatest contrast.

The knife jig sounds awesome... maybe the chunk of rebar would work.

BTW... Allen, do you get my PM yesterday RE: the sturgeon article?

The irons at the top left are my homemades and are all very proven time and again. The red w/ white belly is my favorite. I call the color vermillon and it involves a few different base coats of orange and pearl. Although I laughed when I painted em the white iron below with various spots and colors proved me a fool. It was the hot lure on several trips when the squid were up.

I still have a couple of your irons. And my favorite was the greenback/redbelly on the top-left. That thing was money!

The irons at the top left are my homemades and are all very proven time and again. The red w/ white belly is my favorite. I call the color vermillon and it involves a few different base coats of orange and pearl. Although I laughed when I painted em the white iron below with various spots and colors proved me a fool. It was the hot lure on several trips when the squid were up.

I still have a couple of your irons. And my favorite was the greenback/redbelly on the top-left. That thing was money!

I was the proud winner of a handful of Meathunter irons one day...still have them all in the shed (haven't fished hook and line since then) and am looking forward to slaying some big fish with them later this year. 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

i like using white or pearl colored....in my head those colors catch the fishes eye just like the underbelly of a injured baitfish.

How about a green watermelon body and a chartreuse tail?  That's one of my absolute favorite color combinations for other soft plastics, and it'd be really cool to try it in a swimbait.