Hey guys, I was thinking,when I started this addiction many years ago up at Plum Island I noticed the big fish were munchin' on mackeral so I bought every type of lure I could find in green mackeral pattern, but my hook up success wasn't what I thought it would be.
Now,years later, I notice a lot of builders (Tattoo, Salty, Bassmaster,and MANY others i'm sure) build BLUE mackeral pattern plugs,and as far as I can tell ONLY blue, not green.Would anyone like to tell why?We've all heard "match the bait" but that would be blue back , for herring or green mackeral for macks.
Guess i'm just curious as to why the blue mack.The things you think about while yer delivering mail....:) johnny "the Ratt Boy"

some time maybe 9 years ago
the only thing the bass would eat was a small Blue pencle popper By gibbs.
there was tinks in the ditch and if You didnt have one You was Bumming.
Blue and silver has always been a good combo
I been using them since I can remeber and still have the goo goo eye in The Cave hanging.
I understand what Your saying why not green
actually when I make My own they have a green Hue to them.
But for the most part Blue and silver

when I see macs in the canal, they look more blue than green.

Thanks for the input guys and just for the record, blue mack was one of my "go to"schemes last season.:) johnny"tRB"

I gotta tell ya, when Hawg Hunter Brad first started making pink mackerel poppers, I laughed my arse off. But damn if they didn't out-produce green most days when macks were in the Ditch.

Guess who came out with a pink mackerel 3-1/2 oz PP and a Canal Special in the same color last year? ;)

Originally posted by Mike P
I gotta tell ya, when Hawg Hunter Brad first started making pink mackerel poppers, I laughed my arse off. But damn if they didn't out-produce green most days when macks were in the Ditch.

Guess who came out with a pink mackerel 3-1/2 oz PP and a Canal Special in the same color last year? ;)

that's because 2 or 3 years ago everyone was slaying the bass on the pink mac pencils. That's why I made some too.

From what I've seen, they seem to change quite a bit, depending on where they are. In the open water, they always eem to have alot of blue tint to them. In shallow water over sand, I've seen them with more green in them. Then in the surf when there's a lot of sand stirred up and they're right in the break zone of the waves, they have alot of brown in them. Funny, what is always there is that pink tint on their sides and belly.

Ok, history lesson time. One, blue Mackerel has been a pattern in the Gibbs line for over forty years plus. Stan started shipping to California when shops out there started requesting his plugs. When he started to fill orders for Mackerel of course he shipped them green mackerel, which of course Atlantic Mackerel are when alive and healthy ( anyone who knows anything about fishing live mackerel knows the atlantics turn blue when stressed out and are about to die, whereupon they stay blue). Anyway the Clifornis guys quickly informed Stan that Pcific Macks are blue all the time healthy or dead so he started painting blue mackerel pattern for the west coast and thats how that started. ( if you take a Gibbs blue mack plug and hang it in a southwestern facing window, mack side out, over the winter, the blue fades and the plug produces even better) Now the pink mack design was a gibbs first as well in the early seventies and was initially painted on darters. When word got out that Pink Mackerel was hot, #^&#^&#^&#^& Pleska, a wholesale tackle dealer out of Worcester, who I onced worked for as a side job, had Plastics Research and Developement, now known as Pradco, paint up a bunch of pink mack 6 inch and seven inch super windcheater rebels in the winter of 76'. Old man Mac Reed of Orleans was the first to by some when #^&#^&#^&#^& showed him and they caught fish immmediatly, the rest is history. #^&#^&#^&#^& was also responsible for the developement of the bone rebel which has been re-discovered by Bomber. Thisd was after I started dipping whole rebels in flat white ceiling paint, hooks and all in 77' and started to take fish on Monomoy when no one else could by a fish in August of that year. Then I noticed if that you sanded down a beat up rebeol or redfin that the bone colored plastic underneath was interesting and after rigging up a couple Re-fins one night and demonstrating to #^&#^&#^&#^& how well they worked he called Pradco and two weeks later we had brand new bone windcheaters with us on the beach and once again old man Mac Reed was the first to stock them in his store in Orleans. History lesson over, there will be a test tomorrow.:cool:

Shhhhhhssshh on sanding down Rebels and 'Fins to the bone color :mad: ;)

The best ones to do it with are the old "G-finish" ones because the paint just flakes right off :D

Or.... the chrome bombers with most of the finish off... end up chrome head with scuffed body.... shhhh!

painting a pink bomber yellow is killer after it gets all scratched up

:err: WHOA!!---- WHOA !! ,Flaptail, hold on you just blew a circut in my brain! :err:
You are a plug hisotry EINSTEIN!
The guys on this forum are fishin plug geniuses!
I need to stop studying for a while and plan my SPRING BREAK!:D

Steve, Thanks for the history lesson, good stuff, I didn't know about the fish turning blue.
Also Creek Chub popper's, chrome, work much better when bone color is showing:) johnny "the Ratt Boy"

I am with you on that Johnny.

when live line Macs. I would toss them when they went to blue back along with alot of other People that would live line them.
Yet they take a blue mack plug.
Im sure a green mack would work.
Maybe Bassmaster can make Me some

Looks like you need help after class. Please sign for extra help on Tuesday or Thursday,Signed, Professor Flaptail.

Thinking like a fish here, maybe the bass see the blue mac plug as easy prey since it is near death or atleast appears to be near death or stressed because of the blue color, and it is still alive and swimming so it's easy to pick off and won't make the bass chase it.
Fish On ---------------------------><>>>>>>>>>

Good stuff!, I knew I came to the right place to ask this question.I've heard of squid changing color but not fish, interesting...johnny "tRB"

Slip gets a Gold Star and goes to the head of the class. Professor Flaptail. Also, he gets a homework pass for being so observant!

Professor Flaptail
Want to prepare for next semesters course, what text book will be required?:boots: