Plug Colors Part II

[BigFish]

Good of NIB to clarify. I enjoyed Bills article very much but I understand what NIB was saying. I enjoy threads like these....they make you think a bit more!

[Flaptail]

I am a fan of basic colors, black, white, yellow or a combo thereof. That being said, and seeing as how I am a sucker for a pretty face as my basement cieling will testify, there are a number of schemes that work but they catch more fisherman than fish in my humble opinion.

Bait fish patterns that exactly replicate a pogie's colors let's say don't really give you much more of an edge of simplym all white. I think it's how it moves and how it's manipulated.

Night fishing on a beach under the new moon how much color do you see? Hold the milkyway's haze and all you see is a dark silhouette even if the plug is blaze orange.

I think bass do see color to an extent and maybe daytime plugging is where it becomes more important, at night not so much.

I have my favorites but I always remember what Stan Gibbs told me if he could only take two plugs to fish what would they be? A black and silver Rebel and a Blue/silver Rebel.

Gold/black, purple/black, white w/ pink stripe, all white, all yellow and yellow/silver/white catch consistently for me.

Then again, what the hell do I know?

[Back Beach]

Black/white/yellow is all you need. That bascially sumrises what everyone said. A few minor deviations/combinations, but those basic three won't hurt you, ever.

[chuckg]

Old time surf rats swore by three colors. White, light blue and black, why all the confusion? If these fish were so wary you wouldn't see 30-40 lb fish being caught on white topwater plugs, their brains are the size of your little finger's nail...

[eelman]

Originally Posted by chuckg

Old time surf rats swore by three colors. White, light blue and black, why all the confusion? If these fish were so wary you wouldn't see 30-40 lb fish being caught on white topwater plugs, their brains are the size of your little finger's nail...

exactly.......

[chris L]

how about clear ? let the surrounding make the color . Im not sure color matters since fish feed from below but I like the colors . I see sounds and hear colors . and voices , voices I hear voices and I dont want to do what they are telling me . I will have to ignore Igor cause he wants me to do bad things

[BigFish]

Most plugs have white bellies and that is all they see in my opinion! The action and the bottom of the plug! Like Flap says....at night just a silhouette!

[tlapinski]

Originally Posted by BigFish

Most plugs have white bellies and that is all they see in my opinion! The action and the bottom of the plug! Like Flap says....at night just a silhouette!

Look at a plug from below in the water and you'll see this is not completely true. Fisheye made a post a while back, and I stumbled on to the same thing a few years back while snorkeling. Bigfish, use the search feature...

[NIB]

Right i think it was called Bells window or something like that.
Basically the top of the water from below has a mirror effect.So when u look at a plug that is just below the surface u actually see 2 images one of the plug an one from it's reflection from above.In essence the top color of a plug can be important.That is as long as these fish with pinkie nail brains that only a few have mastered in a hundred yrs.buy into it.

[ThrowingTimber]

snells window.


http://www.seafriends.org.nz/phgraph/water.htm

[tattoobob]

Everyone is missing the most important color there is to fishing, that is brown/white, ask any old timer about brown and white plugs.

[Flaptail]

Originally Posted by tlapinski

Look at a plug from below in the water and you'll see this is not completely true. Fisheye made a post a while back, and I stumbled on to the same thing a few years back while snorkeling. Bigfish, use the search feature...

Fisheyes pics were day time shots.

[Flaptail]

Originally Posted by ThrowingTimber

snells window.


http://www.seafriends.org.nz/phgraph/water.htm

See Dave Ross's book "The Fisherman's Ocean" he has th best description of Snell's Window in it. Every saltwarer fisherman should own a copy ( me and Numbskull kinda helped with the book)

[mrstriper]

rebels...my go to, day and night...and ya gotta love the price...

[eelman]

Originally Posted by NIB

Right i think it was called Bells window or something like that.
Basically the top of the water from below has a mirror effect.So when u look at a plug that is just below the surface u actually see 2 images one of the plug an one from it's reflection from above.In essence the top color of a plug can be important.That is as long as these fish with pinkie nail brains that only a few have mastered in a hundred yrs.buy into it.

ya but....um that may be true for humans...but how about a fish...there is no way at all of knowing none..how a human sees a plug is most likely a 180 on how a fish sees it....You want some Revalation be all to end all "Plug Bible" of an article...the sad truth is that will never happen because no one in the universe knows how or what a fish sees and why exactly they strike etc..Its all talking heads, everyone unless they are a fish is just selling snake oil..If it works it works..it is what it is...The Whys?? only fish know and they take that to there grave.

Far to many people put fish on Human terms its unfortunate because there not humans.

One thing in my mind is what I feel to be true...its the fisherman that catches the fish...Not the plug. There can never be a definative book on plugging because there is not anyone who could write that. Thats why its called fishing not catching. If you use Black and it works then stick with black...whatever...But if you think the guy selling the plug with gold leaf engravings is going to somehow make a person a better fisherman...no way...

I think a good bit of advice would be to learn how to fish before decking out a plug bag with all the fancy plugs...I have caught plenty of good size bass on dannies that had no paint job right of the lathe..At the mouth of a certain river, they caught as well as the colored plugs no difference at all !

"Break though study" "Fish can see this at so many feet " at 10 feet down red turns white" its all bull.......NO ONE KNOWS....

I know first hand the sluggo works great in all black all the time, however many cannot duplicte steves success and get frustrated and toss in the towell, that tells me its the fisherman, its a knack, its a feel, you either have it or you dont, and yes, it works that same way with an eel or a yo-yoed bunker...some people are just good at what they do, put the same plug in two different fishermans hands and the results will be different.

Keep the colors basic, practice fishing the chosen plug and dont have a meltdown over plug colors..........

And hey, when all else fails...try the lowely eel, they work sometimes and its like plugging...the best of both worlds a live bait you "plug" and its already got your two basic colors black and white...But I know this is not the place for eel talk.......

[DZ]

Give me a GOOD plug - no paint - it will catch fish. Most of my old Gibbs didn't have any paint left and they were hot - I was afraid to put paint on them for fear they'd lose their "karma". I'd like to see some of the builders "stain" their plugs. Now that would be different.

Dz

[Slipknot]

Originally Posted by DZ

I'd like to see some of the builders "stain" their plugs. Now that would be different.

Dz

Been doing that for years now DZ

Action is usually most important, the fisherman catches the fish.
Somedays, color is key, but if you carry some variety, you'll be set.

[DZ]

[QUOTE=Slipknot;438693]Been doing that for years now DZ

Bruce,
I know you and one other builder who made me a stained plug upon request. You're ahead of the game - a forward thinker. Many thanks.

DZ

[numbskull]

Originally Posted by Flaptail

See Dave Ross's book "The Fisherman's Ocean"..................... Numbskull kinda helped with the book)

Nah, Steve, I fish with Dave from time to time, but I certainly didn't contribute anything meaningful to his book. I agree with you, however, that it is well worth owning.

[likwid]

striped bass are colorblind.

[JoeP]

I still think natural colors are the best bet. Not saying the basic time-tested white/black/yellow don't work fine. But, why not increase the odds a bit more and use plugs that actually look like real bait.

Put it this way, it's a pretty good bet that live eels, live pogies, live herring, a few sandeels on a hood (Cape Cod), etc. will work better than a plug 99% of the time. So why not use plugs that look the most like eels, pogies, herring, sandeels, mullet, etc.

Plus, they look nicer...

[Rockport24]

Canalman, if you keep making plugs like that spook that I got from you at MSBA, I'll buy them in any damn color.
by the way, the little weight thing at the bottom of my plug fell out (smashed it against the rocks too many times).

[Ed B]

Some of the best and most extensive writeups of these topics I've seen comes from research done for the freshwater bass guys. Can't blame them, that's where the money is and it's their nationwide target audience. Oftentimes some of their findings with freshwater stripers as well as other gamefish are included as well.

A really great book in addition to Ross's is "Knowing Bass"
by Dr Keith Jones. Jones is a research biologist for Berkley and has spent much of his life testing and studying gamefish. He has done significant study of colors and coloration patterns. Berkley Corp clearly states up front that Dr Jones had free reign to publish scientific findings of his testing at Berkley without interference from Berkley to remove any impression that the company might be trying to sell extra fishing tackle. A fascinating read at least to me anyway.

Jones did find that fish had preference to certain colors and a two tone pattern. But if you fish at night when fish probably can't distinguish color, it probably won't matter a whole heck of a lot. At least not to the fish anyway.

Ed

[Canalman]

Originally Posted by Rockport24

Canalman, if you keep making plugs like that spook that I got from you at MSBA, I'll buy them in any damn color.
by the way, the little weight thing at the bottom of my plug fell out (smashed it against the rocks too many times).

I'm working on fixing that too.

[NIB]

Originally Posted by #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&

ya but....um that may be true for humans...but how about a fish...there is no way at all of knowing none..how a human sees a plug is most likely a 180 on how a fish sees it....You want some Revalation be all to end all "Plug Bible" of an article...the sad truth is that will never happen because no one in the universe knows how or what a fish sees and why exactly they strike etc..Its all talking heads, everyone unless they are a fish is just selling snake oil..If it works it works..it is what it is...The Whys?? only fish know and they take that to there grave.

Far to many people put fish on Human terms its unfortunate because there not humans.

One thing in my mind is what I feel to be true...its the fisherman that catches the fish...Not the plug. There can never be a definative book on plugging because there is not anyone who could write that. Thats why its called fishing not catching. If you use Black and it works then stick with black...whatever...But if you think the guy selling the plug with gold leaf engravings is going to somehow make a person a better fisherman...no way...

I think a good bit of advice would be to learn how to fish before decking out a plug bag with all the fancy plugs...I have caught plenty of good size bass on dannies that had no paint job right of the lathe..At the mouth of a certain river, they caught as well as the colored plugs no difference at all !

"Break though study" "Fish can see this at so many feet " at 10 feet down red turns white" its all bull.......NO ONE KNOWS....

I know first hand the sluggo works great in all black all the time, however many cannot duplicte steves success and get frustrated and toss in the towell, that tells me its the fisherman, its a knack, its a feel, you either have it or you dont, and yes, it works that same way with an eel or a yo-yoed bunker...some people are just good at what they do, put the same plug in two different fishermans hands and the results will be different.

Keep the colors basic, practice fishing the chosen plug and dont have a meltdown over plug colors..........

And hey, when all else fails...try the lowely eel, they work sometimes and its like plugging...the best of both worlds a live bait you "plug" and its already got your two basic colors black and white...But I know this is not the place for eel talk.......

Bill, I love ur simplistic veiw on things.There's alot to be said in keeping things simple.No one can argue with ur success..
I wish I could be like that but I'm a plug junkie..
Thats right I admit it..
My name is Tony an I'm a Plug Junkie..
I wonder if our fore fathers thought in simplistic terms what our world would be like today.Well we would not have gone to the moon an had all of the great inventions that have come with it. Hell we would probably still cook our clubbed meals over a open fire.
It's so simple, even a Canalman can do it..
Sorry Dave a little pun for fun..

Perhaps I like to think about things.I happened to find the snells window thing very interesting.Like U I am not sure what it means to a bass.I like to think they DO see the top of the plug..See my glass is half full..I like keep a open mind to new things.Sure I run the risk of making it harder than it is.I believe as a fisherman, U should always be thinking about what the fish do, see, feel, smell.All those things that might help us catch.It's what we do.When i stop thinkin i'll just pitch a bait pole.
As far a defintive plug article. One could be written to go thru the whens an why's of different styles of plugs. It could be a book.Dave Manzi did a excellent article.One of the best I have ever read on needle fish.He has had some great post's on the subject also.I could do it but they don't have enough money for all of my stuff...
Any one worth there salt knows sometimes color makes little difference.This summer we where getting good bass over 30 lbs on plain jigs.A ball jig no hair no paint..???
Good surfcaster's also know that there are times if u don't have the right color or style u ain't getting squat.If fish are color blind or its dark an they can't see.How do u explain that.Perahaps they have Infa red night vision.There are scientists that spent endless hrs investigating the cones or whatever in the eye of certain specie's of fish to determine what they might or might not see.I think Mike Laptew's is great in makin this clearer for us.In the end it's Like u said we don't know we ain't fish an they ain't talkin...
I agree for a beginner keeping it simple is a must.Work ur way thru a few designs.A few different models to cover most of the water collum.Learn em well, that is ur best bet.I have been saying it for yrs also.Keep ur color selection simple a few dark a few light.It is more important u know what to do with ur offernig an when to present it than color...
I will add my to my thought's this...
This is not my dad's fishery.There are 1000 times more fisherman today.Sometimes it's not as simple as black or white..I like to try things to keep me ahead of the pack.When u do that u learn what the fish tell ya..Thats when they talk.An I'm All ears.. It is what has worked for me.I'm pretty happy with my results.
To each there own..

As far as plugs are concerned..
I still have em in all colors of the rainbow..An
It does make me feel good...'
Me llamo es Antonio.
And I'mo a plugo junkio..