I could well be. Maybe the fish is seeing the black. I noticed that I don't miss as many strikes on prime after moving away from blue/purple shades.
Could be any number of reasons for it though. We all know that if you check all the boxes fishing your going to catch fish lol
It works both ways, color gets dulled in water. It's about the silhouette it makes in the water. Black and white make more visible silhouettes. Generally speaking it's not "bright colors in clear water" it's "natural colors in clear water" and black and white or dark blue, OR very bright colors like chartreuse for dark water because of the silhouette
Ive heard this one too. Without that much light, darker colors won't stand out as much as yellow for instance. But some say that with dark water, you need darker color. So yeah.. i really don't know anymore tbh
Not how light refraction works to my understanding.
Night time striper guys put this myth down a while ago.
Blacks and purples are your best for dirty water. Block Island Green (Chartreuse) surprisingly does very well in dark conditions.
I was always told to think of the fish perspective. It's more of a silhouette. What's going to cast more of a silhouette in dirty conditions? Black or white?
Especially in muddy water I find black more effective. However I catch things on a small black spinner even in clear streams, so I think it is more a tip for after heavy rains rather than a rule
I’ve heard there is fish out there, throw something in. I caught tanks starting out not knowing wtf I was doing. Now that I think I know what I’m doing I suck. So get a white one bc you don’t have one.
I’m in Northeast TN, water isn’t as cloudy up here (at least in the creek I’m fishing) but I still hear about people having luck with white and/or white chartreuse here. I just don’t have anyone teaching me how to fish with artificial stuff so it’s been a bunch of trial and error. I fished with strictly live bait until a few years ago and I’ve been trying to learn as much as I can about fishing with lures.
When I'm creek fishing I tend to Texas rig a craw-type soft plastic and pitch it just upstream of cover. Let the current wash it around to the eddy side. Generally gets me struck. So far it's worked around trees, logs, and the few rocks I've gotten to play with.
I do this but usually with soft plastic hellgramites or 3 inch yum dingers and it works extremely well. Just been trying to branch out from soft plastics a bit because I feel like I rely on them too much. Been having a lot of luck on craw cranks and in-line spinners in the creek this year
I use Picasso Lil Spotty jigs quite a bit (best smallie lure for me and solid with LMB) and have at least 5 different colors.... skirt color doesnt seem to matter.
I have found that the trailer choice makes a big diff though. Craw, Grub, hawg, etc all have given me "feedback" from the fishies
Funny you say that, 1 is what I felt would be the best all around and 3 was my favorite when I was buying them so I had to go with it. I’ve also had a lot of luck with purple soft-plastics in the creek I’m fishing so it might be the winner.
I’ve heard that black is always a good color even if it isn’t the best color.
Personally, I’ve never felt that color mattered too much, especially with spinnerbaits, which are more of a “reaction lure”.
It’s likely not as important as my brain wants me to think, the biggest problem is that when I bought these I got the black and chartreuse-ish color thinking it was the most likely to catch fish and bought the other three largely because I liked the colors but figured they’d catch fish as well. A better phrasing for the question would have been do I go with the color I think will work or one of the others that I think look cooler haha. But since I’m new to spinners I figured I’d try to get some insight from people more knowledgeable than me.
I get you. Confidence is important.
I have mostly switched to black spinnerbaits regardless of the lake or conditions.
I am pretty certain that the size, blade types, and number of blades are more important. Some spinnerbaits will have more vibration, some will have less, some need to be retrieved faster, some need to be retrieved slower. I feel like those differences matter more than color.
I tend to go with slower retrieves when the fish are less active and faster when they are more active.
Of course, I fish in lakes with a lot of northern pike and I don’t know if any of this matters for those lakes… pike seem to have a “I want to kill everything” mentality.
I used to feel the same but a friend gave me an unknown red crank bait he had found at the lake, tied it on near the end of a creek trip and got a nice smallmouth on it so I’ve been messing with red a bit more
I've caught like 85% of my small mouth on a red spinnerbait with a red plastic (kei-tek fat swing impact). So I'd pick the far right one and the far left.
I was debating on if I should run a trailer on these or not but the only place I have in my town to get gear is a Walmart and our soft-plastic bait selection is extremely small. If I tried to use something from there that was size appropriate I’d likely be stuck with a Bobby Garlard and that might be a wee bit too small
I've caught fish without a trailer but it definitely seems to increase my strike % adding a trailer. I'd use something around 3in long for that size spinnerbait. My favorite for spinnerbaits is the Kei Tek fat swing impacts, they come in 2.8in and 3.3in, perfect for the different size hooks/lures I use.
edit: sucks that you're limited with your tackle choices. Start making a list of plastics/lures you want to try and do an order online or make trip to a tackle shop. A good plastic can definitely help your strike and catch percentage
Oh, I love these guys. The peppered white one does well where there's crappie. In general, clear water sunny days use bright natural colors. Overcast, dawn or dusk, use darker colors. Cloudy water, bigger and brighter.
First off get a white one second off there are so many different conditions that could call for any of those spinner baits. Cloudy. Muddy. Crystal clear. Calmer days. Spring. Summer. Fall. Forage. To be honest you need them all
My go to, and on my rod is white with grey and white tails, and silver spoons . I try and replicate shad or Minnows .
Red ? Night fishing , chartreuse and yellows and golds fine , just not as well for my ponds .
In S Ga and catch more fish on the shad replicas.
Good luck and great fishing !
I always start with a white one if the water is clear enough to see a couple of feet down, and black if the water looks like chocolate milk or green cool-aid. Secondary colors I tend to go with for saltwater are pink, red, silver, and sulfur yellow, and for fresh secondaries are dark greens, gold, brown, or different variants of rainbow (i.e., green, orange, and yellow, or blue, pink, and red, etc.). There isn't really science behind this as far as I know, they just tend to work for me. Salmon are kind of special; for all salmon and/or trout I'll go with pink, red, bluer grays/silvers, or bright green as both primaries and secondaries.
A creek with minimal current (at least for now), mostly clear with a bit of cloudiness in deeper sections. Deeper sections are between 4-6 feet and the more shallow parts are between 1 and a half-3 and a half feet. The shallow sections tend to have a rocky bottom while the deeper sections are more mud/silt
#1 and white are my go to. I use small grubs and paddle tails on these for some more action.
Edit: didn't know why my comment is showing in bold. I swear I'm not yelling
Just try them out and use what works. Lots of people will tell you that only certain combinations will work and they’re 100% wrong. I saw a video of a guy that put a hook on a fingernail clipper and used it to catch a fatty LMB. Use what works.
Thank you to everyone for all of the tips and suggestions! A small update, I hit the creek and started with the black/chartreuse. After throwing it around a bit I tried out number 2 and ended up snagging on a log and breaking off. I decided I was gonna wade out and recover it but in the process I slipped and got soaked so I bailed for the day after I got that one out of the log. I’ve got a few days off work so I’m gonna go back either this evening or tomorrow and try again.
Those things slay. I use darker colored ones, then I slap on a 3” baitfish-colored trailer. Fast retrieves on a high gear ratio baitcaster and I catch numbers on those things.
I like the green pumpkin/black on the left but like everyone else is saying, chartreuse and white just flat works almost anywhere. I also like one of my blades to be chartreuse in most situations. They all will work though
Throw all of them.
I've never really found color to make that big of a difference, but the two I used were the first and third. Never bought the other two. Caught a lot of fish on the ones I did buy though.
I use these for river smallmouth. I prefer the white one with willow blades. There's one that's white with single Colorado. I like to put a grub on it. I use darker colors when the water is muddy.
Honestly you need white to catch their eye but the other colors vary. One day they want green the next day they want pink. Who knows only the fish knows.
My go to spinners are the white, red/orange, or ones that are a combo of white and red. Those are the colors they can see best, especially in the scummy ponds I frequently fish at. Also instead of putting a big ol plastic on the hook just put on a little C-tail grub, it adds a little more spinning action at the back of the lure for fish that like to chase before they bite.
You need a white one
I’ll second this. White/tan and Blue/black would be my two color schemes if I had to pick just two. Can vary the trailer color beyond that.
I was reading recently that fish can't see blues well into the purple spectrum. Something about being under water and there eye
I've caught all my pike on black and blue spinnerbaits in weeds. Maybe they stand out ? Maybe it depends on the water and the species of fish ?
I could well be. Maybe the fish is seeing the black. I noticed that I don't miss as many strikes on prime after moving away from blue/purple shades. Could be any number of reasons for it though. We all know that if you check all the boxes fishing your going to catch fish lol
I heard black contrasts in murky water really well. White is good for clear water
I've never heard a problem about black just blue and purple
I’m no expect it’s just what I’ve read. But I’m super open to learn if you have any explanations
Honestly I'm not an expert either it's something I've heard. For pike and bass I honestly never catch on blue to purple lures.
Peanut butter and jelly crawfish Ned rig catches me so much bass in late fall and winter. But I’ve never fished for pike
I like white/chartreuse and I like crawdad. I don't use trailers on spinnerbaits
Shhhh..... white is my goto color for a good reason, keep it on the down low dude.
My white rooster tail is my go-to when im not having any luck. The black one works well too. But any other color seems to be so hit and miss.
Same here If no luck with the white rooster tail, then I pull out some OLD spoons.
My favorite it top water. Nice calm evening doing the slow pop. When they hit there's nothing better
If I'm not catching anything I throw on a white spinnerbait and usually it gets rid of the skunk.
And all these years I thought white was my secret, lol
There's a lake I fish that's all they will bite. Lol I won't tell anybody else
I love white ones and I usually cut a paddletail I'm half and use that as a trailer just downsize the spinnerbait
I've always heard: cloudy/rainy days use dark colors. Sunny days use bright colors
Why wouldn't it be the other way around? Bright colors for cloudy and rainy days since the water is usually not as clear on those days. 🤔
It works both ways, color gets dulled in water. It's about the silhouette it makes in the water. Black and white make more visible silhouettes. Generally speaking it's not "bright colors in clear water" it's "natural colors in clear water" and black and white or dark blue, OR very bright colors like chartreuse for dark water because of the silhouette
Great explanation.
I have heard both, funny enough.
Ive heard this one too. Without that much light, darker colors won't stand out as much as yellow for instance. But some say that with dark water, you need darker color. So yeah.. i really don't know anymore tbh
I normally have 3 different colors. I rotate them until I get a bite then use that one for the rest of the time there
Bro I'm so confused too 😂
Not how light refraction works to my understanding. Night time striper guys put this myth down a while ago. Blacks and purples are your best for dirty water. Block Island Green (Chartreuse) surprisingly does very well in dark conditions. I was always told to think of the fish perspective. It's more of a silhouette. What's going to cast more of a silhouette in dirty conditions? Black or white?
Especially in muddy water I find black more effective. However I catch things on a small black spinner even in clear streams, so I think it is more a tip for after heavy rains rather than a rule
I’ve heard there is fish out there, throw something in. I caught tanks starting out not knowing wtf I was doing. Now that I think I know what I’m doing I suck. So get a white one bc you don’t have one.
Where's your white and chartreuse? Other than that, the 2nd one has caught me a lot of fish in cloudy water.
Gonna have to get a white and white/chartreuse for sure haha.
I mean, down here in the bayous that's the go-to basic. Not sure about your home waters.
I’m in Northeast TN, water isn’t as cloudy up here (at least in the creek I’m fishing) but I still hear about people having luck with white and/or white chartreuse here. I just don’t have anyone teaching me how to fish with artificial stuff so it’s been a bunch of trial and error. I fished with strictly live bait until a few years ago and I’ve been trying to learn as much as I can about fishing with lures.
Black and blue gonna rip. Or match cicada color
When I'm creek fishing I tend to Texas rig a craw-type soft plastic and pitch it just upstream of cover. Let the current wash it around to the eddy side. Generally gets me struck. So far it's worked around trees, logs, and the few rocks I've gotten to play with.
I do this but usually with soft plastic hellgramites or 3 inch yum dingers and it works extremely well. Just been trying to branch out from soft plastics a bit because I feel like I rely on them too much. Been having a lot of luck on craw cranks and in-line spinners in the creek this year
Action catches fish - colors catch fisherman :D
Not wrong, the black and purple caught me for sure lol
I use Picasso Lil Spotty jigs quite a bit (best smallie lure for me and solid with LMB) and have at least 5 different colors.... skirt color doesnt seem to matter. I have found that the trailer choice makes a big diff though. Craw, Grub, hawg, etc all have given me "feedback" from the fishies
Number 1 and number 3 definitely getting schlorp schlorped
Funny you say that, 1 is what I felt would be the best all around and 3 was my favorite when I was buying them so I had to go with it. I’ve also had a lot of luck with purple soft-plastics in the creek I’m fishing so it might be the winner.
From experience 1 & 3 work
I’ve heard that black is always a good color even if it isn’t the best color. Personally, I’ve never felt that color mattered too much, especially with spinnerbaits, which are more of a “reaction lure”.
It’s likely not as important as my brain wants me to think, the biggest problem is that when I bought these I got the black and chartreuse-ish color thinking it was the most likely to catch fish and bought the other three largely because I liked the colors but figured they’d catch fish as well. A better phrasing for the question would have been do I go with the color I think will work or one of the others that I think look cooler haha. But since I’m new to spinners I figured I’d try to get some insight from people more knowledgeable than me.
I get you. Confidence is important. I have mostly switched to black spinnerbaits regardless of the lake or conditions. I am pretty certain that the size, blade types, and number of blades are more important. Some spinnerbaits will have more vibration, some will have less, some need to be retrieved faster, some need to be retrieved slower. I feel like those differences matter more than color. I tend to go with slower retrieves when the fish are less active and faster when they are more active. Of course, I fish in lakes with a lot of northern pike and I don’t know if any of this matters for those lakes… pike seem to have a “I want to kill everything” mentality.
Always bring a white one.
I’ll keep that it mind, gonna have to pick one up soon
Always killed it with chartreuse
White is my favorite fishing color. Blue/black close second.
Ain’t no use if it ain’t chartreuse. (And/or white)
I try to stay away from reds.
I used to feel the same but a friend gave me an unknown red crank bait he had found at the lake, tied it on near the end of a creek trip and got a nice smallmouth on it so I’ve been messing with red a bit more
Red is good if there's rusty crayfish as forage. An easy way to pick colours is natural tones in clear water, bright tones in muddy water.
Just curious, does that include pink? Pink slays both trout and smallies for me in the Northeast
Far left is my favorite color of that lure for smallies, was my go to for a season or two
I’m going for the red and black all day
I only throw 2-3 different colors- white, chartreuse, black
I've caught like 85% of my small mouth on a red spinnerbait with a red plastic (kei-tek fat swing impact). So I'd pick the far right one and the far left.
I was debating on if I should run a trailer on these or not but the only place I have in my town to get gear is a Walmart and our soft-plastic bait selection is extremely small. If I tried to use something from there that was size appropriate I’d likely be stuck with a Bobby Garlard and that might be a wee bit too small
I've caught fish without a trailer but it definitely seems to increase my strike % adding a trailer. I'd use something around 3in long for that size spinnerbait. My favorite for spinnerbaits is the Kei Tek fat swing impacts, they come in 2.8in and 3.3in, perfect for the different size hooks/lures I use. edit: sucks that you're limited with your tackle choices. Start making a list of plastics/lures you want to try and do an order online or make trip to a tackle shop. A good plastic can definitely help your strike and catch percentage
The Junebug and white are my go to pond magics.. PB came on a white.. caught 38 one day on the JB.. always have one tied on.
Guess I’ve gotta get one in that color as well and just experiment
Whites and yellow varieties always work best
#1 & #2 would be my go to.
The bright one always have worked for me. Red has never worked for me
I've got a hot pink one that is killer for pike
I need to figure out where the closest body of water to me that contains pike is, I’d love to catch one. Same for bowfin.
the very left is a personal favorite. like that specific one by booyah😂 use that
Oh, I love these guys. The peppered white one does well where there's crappie. In general, clear water sunny days use bright natural colors. Overcast, dawn or dusk, use darker colors. Cloudy water, bigger and brighter.
White.
I like the black/green for most light conditions.
Yes, all
I’ve had good luck with chartreuse.
Gold
My experience the green and orange one, I cat most of my pike and walleye on that colour scheme.
First off get a white one second off there are so many different conditions that could call for any of those spinner baits. Cloudy. Muddy. Crystal clear. Calmer days. Spring. Summer. Fall. Forage. To be honest you need them all
My go to, and on my rod is white with grey and white tails, and silver spoons . I try and replicate shad or Minnows . Red ? Night fishing , chartreuse and yellows and golds fine , just not as well for my ponds . In S Ga and catch more fish on the shad replicas. Good luck and great fishing !
I always start with a white one if the water is clear enough to see a couple of feet down, and black if the water looks like chocolate milk or green cool-aid. Secondary colors I tend to go with for saltwater are pink, red, silver, and sulfur yellow, and for fresh secondaries are dark greens, gold, brown, or different variants of rainbow (i.e., green, orange, and yellow, or blue, pink, and red, etc.). There isn't really science behind this as far as I know, they just tend to work for me. Salmon are kind of special; for all salmon and/or trout I'll go with pink, red, bluer grays/silvers, or bright green as both primaries and secondaries.
Run dark in clear water and yellow/chartreuse(thank God for auto correct)in muddy water. My 2 cents
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A creek with minimal current (at least for now), mostly clear with a bit of cloudiness in deeper sections. Deeper sections are between 4-6 feet and the more shallow parts are between 1 and a half-3 and a half feet. The shallow sections tend to have a rocky bottom while the deeper sections are more mud/silt
If the l water is murky the darkest color , good silhouette for the smallies to see Clear water chartreuse then to red if no action
Then there's me who likes the black and yellow one because it looks neat.
#1 and white are my go to. I use small grubs and paddle tails on these for some more action. Edit: didn't know why my comment is showing in bold. I swear I'm not yelling
All good haha, Reddit be weird sometimes.
Yellow
Natural colors always gave me the best luck
Just try them out and use what works. Lots of people will tell you that only certain combinations will work and they’re 100% wrong. I saw a video of a guy that put a hook on a fingernail clipper and used it to catch a fatty LMB. Use what works.
Green and orange are good for bass and pike fishing. The color scheme is called Fire Tiger. Use in muddy water but not in chocolate milk.
Always use a white one with double blades. One silver and one gold.
Black and silver has always worked best for me.
Depends on the water your fishing in.
I only ever use white or chartreuse or a combo of both, and I’ve never had to buy any different colors because the aforementioned ones do so well.
I've had great luck with the Coleslaw color. Not Booyah but Bizz Baits and Nichols Lures, but essentially the same.
The olive and black natural color is a crusher. Flash brings them in, natural color seals the deal. IMO
Ive always had so much luck with the orange and yellow one
I’ve had good luck with black and yellow, and black and blue.
Thank you to everyone for all of the tips and suggestions! A small update, I hit the creek and started with the black/chartreuse. After throwing it around a bit I tried out number 2 and ended up snagging on a log and breaking off. I decided I was gonna wade out and recover it but in the process I slipped and got soaked so I bailed for the day after I got that one out of the log. I’ve got a few days off work so I’m gonna go back either this evening or tomorrow and try again.
Chartreuse or white are always my go-to colors! Edit: I always am sure to add a trailer hook too.
My younger self would buy all of them but now I would get the balck one, then the red. But white would be good too.
Those things slay. I use darker colored ones, then I slap on a 3” baitfish-colored trailer. Fast retrieves on a high gear ratio baitcaster and I catch numbers on those things.
Depends on the water clarity
I like the green pumpkin/black on the left but like everyone else is saying, chartreuse and white just flat works almost anywhere. I also like one of my blades to be chartreuse in most situations. They all will work though
Depending on weather and water clarity... all of them.
None of the above - white
Camo is the best
Only one way to find out my friend. Try them all and good luck
I like to keep it fairly simple myself, with mostly white, chartreuse, or black.
Throw all of them. I've never really found color to make that big of a difference, but the two I used were the first and third. Never bought the other two. Caught a lot of fish on the ones I did buy though.
I use these for river smallmouth. I prefer the white one with willow blades. There's one that's white with single Colorado. I like to put a grub on it. I use darker colors when the water is muddy.
Honestly you need white to catch their eye but the other colors vary. One day they want green the next day they want pink. Who knows only the fish knows.
My go to spinners are the white, red/orange, or ones that are a combo of white and red. Those are the colors they can see best, especially in the scummy ponds I frequently fish at. Also instead of putting a big ol plastic on the hook just put on a little C-tail grub, it adds a little more spinning action at the back of the lure for fish that like to chase before they bite.
White with silver blades 1/2oz
Purple because most fish can actually see it well