color selection

[EatSleepFish]

with all the musky baits and array of colors out there, i was wondering how a guys supposed to choose the best color without buying $300 worth of baits.

[Lals]

If you can find a way to not buy $300 worth of baits over time I think we would all be interested

Back to your question, I think it is most important to get styles of lures -- Bucktail, Spinner Bait, Top Water, Jerk Bait and Crank Bait, so you can fish all situations. Regarding colors, if I had to chose just a few, my confidence lures seem to have some black in them -- Black and Red, Black and Silver, Black and Fire Tiger, etc.

[delmuts]

hopefully the guys will chime in here!

for surface lures , i'm not convinced that color makes to much difference. otherwise; pay attention to the forage base of the lakes/rivers you plan to fish.many times you will want something close to them. also the water clarity. clear water, more natural color,but in murky, more flash or brightness, or sound.

[Dano_the_jigasaurus]

It really is going to depend on the types of waters you are fishing. Whites, blacks, browns and naturals are great for clear waters. Murkier waters I would go with more brightly colored baits. You could do naturals with bright accent or secondary colors. Black/orange or chartruese, White is always good, pink, also take into consideration how much "noise" the bait is going to make. Delmuts basically summed it up. If you post some more specifics I can try to help you more or just shoot me an email [email protected].

Dan

[10,000 Casts]

there is a lot of logic involved in color selection.

give us some more information on what lakes you primarily fish and when you plan to fish them?

Do you want to troll open water or cast primarily?

I will give you an example,

I fish lake Bemidji a lot. It has about a 12 feet sechi disk reading. Its not a very clear lake but not murky by any means. In start the season, I find myself throwing a lot of white. Durring the day, I like a little flash, say on a silver blade or the tail on a suick or bobbie bait.

Now on the other hand, once the algi bloom hits, the water turns greener and the visabiliy is cut down, this is when I like to use oranges and yellows. The lake has ciscos and Perch as a forage base.

Every lake is different and every fisheramn is different.

To me it also depends on the day, on overcast days, I like to throw darker baits, on sunny days I like to throw lighter colr baits.

Their are times when the whole color thing doesn't make sense and I believe that the most important thing is to find the fish.

hope this helps a bit

John

[EatSleepFish]

the three main waters i fish are island lake near barnum , which has a visibility of say 10 ft, its a fairly small lake. St.louis bay, which most of you know is murky by anyones standards, and mille lacs. we do a variety of casting and trolling usually casting first thing in the morning, then switcing to trolling once the arms start to ache (usually around noon through 3) then switch back to casting as the sun goes down. im 15 so im on a limited budget, and cant afford to buy 2 colors of each bait that i need. i also use my musky equipment for northerns but i dont think theyre too picky anout color. was thinking about buying a magnum bulldawg, a 1 3/4 - 2 1/2 ounce spinnerbait, and a 8 or 10 inch jointed believer. so if anyone has any input to what the best colors for these are id appreciate it.

[Lals]

I would suggest -- Bull Dog -- Black and Red Tail or Walleye, Spinner Bait -- M&G Smallmouth Color or Ginder White and Chartruse and -- Believer -- Perch

For more opinions on favorite Bull Dog color check out Musky Hunter Message Board. There is a thread on that subject right now.

Good Luck,

[10,000 Casts]

Bulldog - walleye, cisco or white for the rock piles on mille lacs (Keyes Outdoors did a show on Mille Lacs and it is one of the coolest muskie shows I have ever seen. I believe it was with Hammernick as a guide. Any way, they were using the sherbert color, but that was late fall)

Spinnerbaits - hard to go wrong with tandem Rad Dogs

yellow/gold, firetiger/yellow

Believer - for your first one, Perch or fire perch is pretty good.

John

[Dano_the_jigasaurus]

IMO you should get some bucktails get one in a natural (white, black, or brown) I would suggest white. Then get one with a loud color. Black w/ flo. orange or chartruese, Red, Firetiger...... Otherwise you should be taken care of everyone else has had great suggestions.

Dan

[markkstanley]

To quote Jon P any color as long as it is red I do not get to hung up on color - way down the list in the decision process. Location, type of lure and speed at which to fish are far more important. Pick the type of lure you like to work and maybe get one in natural colors and one in brighter colors and forget about it. I have seen muskies hit a pink bait (not mine!) and what in the lake comes in that color?

[cjac]

I like the LOTW Perch pattern in the Bulldawgs. I catch fish on it simply because I use it.

Situation specific lure selection to Mark's point is a key. Sometimes it's the "match the hatch" adage, other times it's a contrast. Speed and size and lure type, in accordance with water temps, etc. are more key to me. If I ever figure it out, I'll let you know.

[10,000 Casts]

what these guys are saying about colors is certainly true. Every bit of it.

When you are on a limited budget the key is to find lures that you have confidence in and keep throwing them. Perch Pattern, orange and black, firetiger, silver and black, silver and white, gold and black are all very good and have been staples in the muskie world for a very long time and there are more that I didn't name. What I would suggest is not to buy any thing that is way off the wall in color.

Any of the colors that have been mentioned can be hot one day and dead the next, thats just muskie fishing.

Mark, Whats wrong with Pink?? haha Bass guys seem to like it.

John