Ok, brace yourselves, we’re going to talk lure colour. Some fishos believe it all comes down to the right colour, where as some don’t think twice, preferring the profile of lure over how it sparkles in the water. It’s often the case that if your mate is hooking up and you’re not, your new favourite colour is the one that he is using!
We could argue all day about what fish prefer what colour of lure and what looks better in what kind of water, but the fact is, there are a few little things that you can consider the next time it comes to picking a lure colour.
The first – how deep are you fishing? You may not know it, but certain warmer hues start to lose their vibrancy the deeper they sink. Colours like orange and red start to become grey between 25 and 30 feet. Yellow and pink do the same at the 100 foot mark. This is in comparison to the cooler colours of blue and green, that keep their shades until 250 feet.
How Deep Certain Lure Colours Can Be Seen Underwater
Now we’ve considered how deep we want to go, it’s time to think about the water quality and baitfish in the area you want to fish. We’ve all head the phrase “match the hatch.” It means we should be aiming to mimic, with our lures, the colour and shape of the bait fish that our target fish are feeding on. This is even more important in clearer water, as brightly-coloured lures may look unnatural. However, if you’ve got murky water on your hands, go nuts with the vibrant colours. Even darker colours work well in dirty water, as they cast a good silhouette or shadow.
Hopefully this gives you some insight the next time you wander into BCF and are unsure about what coloured plastic or hard body to pickup next. Or hey, why not buy a few different colours, and see what works the best!
Written by Nick Biggs
