Smallmouth Bass: Favorite Colors

[manitoubass2]

What are your favorite colors for bronzebacks??? What how when and why?

Please chime in with your thoughts and experience. I'd like to have a thread topic like this for numerous species, so lets try to keep it to smallies in this thread...

For round head jigs, I strongly prefer black. It works well in clear or muddy conditions.

For grubs, def. the best I've used is a salted, black grub with a silver tail. Again, it works well in muddy or clear conditions.

Spinner baits, I use only two colors, white and black. No other colors seem to produce for me, so its been narrowed to these two colors.

For bass jigs I like a motor oil and pumpkin colors. They seem to produce bites at a good rate, although I don't fish these jigs enough.

Crawfish and creature baits, again, Black, lol. I really prefer black with red fleck, or black with blue fleck.

Cranks, Firetiger, a normal minnow pattern and a strong red crawfish pattern are what I prefer. I love digging a DT 6" crawfish into shallow rocks, in 2-3 FOW.

I got more, I'll post some more after. Please chime in!

[MikeH]

I usually go with a white horsehead jig and a silver blade. I run through a bunch of tail colours though. On the islands I normally go with a minnow / shad colour tail on the jig, or something with a two tone high contrast like blood red / white.

[Woodsman]

Yellow and green surface ..like the frog.

[photo_rob]

Green/watermelon with chartreuse tail (senkos). Or natural perch colored cranks.

[OldTimer]

Smallmouth are my favorite freshwater species to fish for.

Things really vary from place to place and tome to time, but overall the most successfull and that I will try first:

Spinners - silver
Twister Tails - black
Tubes - motor oil
Minnow baits (rapala/rebel): blue or purple back/white belly
Cranks- perch , blue chrome, yellows
Top water - any white belly in the daytime, dark colours at night

[Windsorfisherman]

I like to use bronze or brown colour tubes and for jerkbaits I like natural colours like perch and shiner. I mostly use tubes because the smallies I fish for are usually deep but when they are shallow I use jerkbaits.

[MichaelAngelo]

(03-09-2012 05:06 PM)OldTimer Wrote:  Smallmouth are my favorite freshwater species to fish for.

Things really vary from place to place and tome to time, but overall the most successfull and that I will try first:

Spinners - silver
Twister Tails - black
Tubes - motor oil
Minnow baits (rapala/rebel): blue or purple back/white belly
Cranks- perch , blue chrome, yellows
Top water - any white belly in the daytime, dark colours at night

I've read a lot of things suggesting dark colours at night and in murky water. Would colour make a difference in low-vis situations? I would think something bright would do better than black=P.

I wonder why.

[OldTimer]

(03-10-2012 02:20 AM)MichaelAngelo Wrote:  I've read a lot of things suggesting dark colours at night and in murky water. Would colour make a difference in low-vis situations? I would think something bright would do better than black=P.

I wonder why.

Big difference between low-vis and low light.

I have read, more than once, that black offers higher contrast in low light conditions - both in and on the water.

I have found that my most productive "after midnight" top water bait for smallmouth has been a solid black hula popper type plug. They are also are a hoot to fish with in the pitch black - as it's total touch and sound fishing with no vision to help you at all........

Interestingly enough - I can also say that in my experience fishing for rainbows at night in the Owen Sound Sydenham and Pottawatami rivermouths - that solid black or "skunk" flatfish or plugs out-performed bright colurs and flourescents by a long shot.