(Editor's note: The following is the latest installment in a series of fishing tips presented by The Bass University. Check back each Friday for a new tip.)
This is the first Chalk Talk summarizing a video from the Bass University Basics collection. As the name suggests, these presentations are meant to stress the fundamentals, making them a great jumping-off point for novice or intermediate anglers, but that doesn’t mean advanced tournament fishermen should sleep on them. Quite to the contrary, by reinforcing these building-block lessons, advanced anglers can dial in their tools and get back to basics.
Lure color selection is a perfect topic to start the series because it’s one that overwhelms a lot of anglers unnecessarily. “It can be intimidating to walk into your favorite tackle store and lock at the wall of baits and see all of those colors,” said Mike Iaconelli. If you get stuck on finding the perfect hue, down to individual scales, you’re going to drive yourself crazy, and Ike wants “to assure you that picking colors is easy.”
There are two main factors, he said. The first is matching the hatch – “mimicking exactly what the fish are feeding on in their natural environment.” If he’s headed to a distant fishery, Ike will simply type the name of the water and a word like “forarge” or “baitfish” into a search engine. That’ll give him a good starting point. If it’s close by, he may put on his polarized glasses, drive down to the shore and scan the shallows or turn over a few rocks to see the dominant prey.
He reminds anglers that “you don’t have to own every color that’s made.” He wants one or two that mimic local soft-rayed forage like minnows and shad. That usually involves a base of white, silver or pearl. He wants one or two that mimic local rayed forage like bluegill, perch or tilapia. Most often these will utilize yellow or chartreuse with green or black backs. Finally, he wants one or two that resemble local crustaceans like crawfish and crabs, and this is best accomplished with some form of browns, oranges or dark greens.
In order to dial in his color presentations, he also considers water clarity and light penetration. With respect to the first one, “the clearer the water, the more neutral and natural we want that color to be.” In stained water, where there’s 2 feet of visibility or less, he’ll go to the “opposite end of the spectrum,” relying on really bright colors.
Light penetration affects color choice the same way that water clarity does. Ike’s general rule is that under brighter skies he wants to tone things down, keeping them natural. As skies get darker, he wants his lures to be brighter or feature more contrast.
Color selection is a simple problem to solve, but nevertheless remains one that ties many anglers’ minds in knots as they head to the lake. Ike’s advice is that they shouldn’t get overwhelmed, and by keeping things simple, you allow yourself to fish the moment.
If you want to learn some of Ike’s other keys to lure color selection, including some of his favorite nighttime patterns, check out his full video, available only by subscribing to The Bass University TV.
