Does colour really make a difference

I was recently buying some lures from an online website and found the choice of colours available in various hard plastic lures overwhelming to choose with some baits available in 30 different finishes. Anyway, got me doing a bit of research on the subject and discovered colour may not be quite as relevant as we had thought. Obviously factors like type of lure, water conditions etc play huge part but from what I read some colours are barely visible at certain depths and most become gray or black after just a couple of feet down. Reds and yellows vanishing first and blues staying visible to rays of light to the deepest depths. For example, are top water lures just a silhouette against the sun above for fish viewing them from beneath the surface - seems this is why the ghost colours are more successful catchers ( or are they?) as seems plain old white is a favourite with some anglers. Would be interested to hear any thoughts on this subject as quite often the unpopular lure colours are left for the bargain basket at knocked down prices.

overall, ... nah
i wouldn't get too caught up in it, its just a lot of bling
plenty of other fishing factors to consider that are of more importance.
get them as close to the natural food source colour as possible i reckon, surely that will do.
mind you, if you have a particular colour that you have had success with in he past then using that same colour again will give you a lot of confidence, which is great

just my 2 cents!

For me, I generally stick to natural looks. But having said that I do have a few exceptions;
-I've found a darker lure works better for me at night time.
-Bright colours on bright days seem to work
-Clear lures on those really bright days with crystal clear water.

From speaking with one of the boys from Labrax Squad he convinced me to try using pink in both surface and subsurface lures. So if you meet me with a few gay looking lures I'm not about to come out!!

Bass go about their business on a day by day basis and during the time they spend close to our shores their search for food is of prime importance to their survival. They store this bounty that they catch and eat as a lipid reserve to help them survive over winter in less than ideal conditions. Lower water temperatures during wintertime causes a slow down in metabolism and other processes, whilst during late winter and early spring physiological changes in preparation for spawning further reduce appetite.

They are opportunistic feeders the vast majority of the time and in a good example of the range of sources that they can consider as food a recently caught fish contained a large cuttlefish, a giant sandeel and two hard backed crabs and was also in the process of eating a 7” senko worm which he considered as another item on the menu!
The capture and storing of  ‘living’ energy is a full time job especially if you have competition from other members in your group trying to do the same thing!
Swimming along in a shoal of equally hungry fish their senses highly tuned to the capture of prey, the response to feeding opportunities is based around the following (not in any particular order)
Movement (or behaviour)
Shape
Size
Colour
Each of these elements ‘trigger’ a possibility of food. During opportunistic feeding times which is the vast majority of the time, bass will simply eat anything that is presented correctly, i.e. moving at the correct depth! But we all know that this is not always the case – how many of us have felt the frustration of fish, follow after follow with no take.
In this (selective) instance fish are responsive to movement and take up positions to eat but then refuse to do so – other elements in the make up of ‘prey characteristics’ become part of the decision to eat or not – that secondary trigger might be any one of the elements above – shape size or colour.
Fish see colour during daylight hours only – their eyes have evolved to perceive contrast and movement in ways in which we cant – detail is not perceived. I often hear anglers say I cant catch something on a ‘hot pink lure’ but this is only because we are limited to – ‘this is how we see it in our world’.
Fish living in the multifaceted and fractured world of an underwater environment may on occasion perceive ‘hot pink’ against an underwater background or light much easier than a grey or an olive. It gives you an angling colour contrast edge. During opportunistic feeding times you as an angler are not necessarily trying to present lures or flies that are ‘naturally realistic’ in terms of finish, there’s no harm in this but its not always necessary.
During opportunistic times if fish can see something better or more obviously against an underwater background and current light conditions by virtue of contrast and you then combine this with good movement and animation you are on a winner. Remember prey is always trying to hide, be invisible, you as an angler are trying to present prey that is more obvious to predators or not as the case may be, don’t make it more difficult than it already is.

Predatory fish respond to movement
Predatory fish perceive contrast better than detail
During opportunistic feeding times fish competing for food rely on less of the stimuli to eat your fly or lure
Conditions will affect the way and where fish are feeding
Time of day, position of fish and direction of light source combined with tide flow could be fished better with one colour than another
Behavioural movement imitation can be significant
Make things easy for bass to eat your fly or lure

Wow EXCELLENT post from Jim ! You are a Bass fishing guru and an inspiration for Irish anglers and further afield. Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge with us.

In addition to the sensory factors you mentioned Bass utilise to successfully target their prey and evolve in such a hostile environment, they possess the same five senses as man, sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste plus a sixth, the lateral line, a series of sensitive nerve endings that stretch from just behind the gill to the tail, so proves so many factors come to play in successfully catching these beautiful creatures. One factor that every angler needs is LUCK as don't underestimate this factor too.

super post Jim

A lucky fisherman = putting the best lure in the best place at the best time and using the best technique
An unlucky fisherman = farting about and trying any old thing and hoping for the best, regardless of any consideration of tide, weather, etc.

If you watch competition anglers and look at the preparation and attention to detail the regular winners put into their angling, you can see why some win and most don't. The same goes for recreational fishing....

@ Jim could you comment further please on the issue of direction of light source? thanks.

Let’s say its mid July, and let’s say its 05:30 in the morning. We are bass fishing just over the change of light; we all know this is a key time at this stage! We are also find ourselves in a rising tide scenario with the tide topping at say 08:30, current is running from right to left AND the sun is rising off our right hand side – the rocky nature of this scenario provides holding/ambush lies and areas and by their nature bass are facing into the tide/current as the sun is rising in front of the fish which means they are facing into the sun as well.

Now reverse this situation to later in the day towards evening time. The tide runs in the same direction at say 17:30 the fish face in the same direction, into the tide, however the sun is now behind the fish as they face into the current.

I realise this is a highly idealised and specific scenario but there are occasions like this that happen probably more frequently than we realise and I have no doubt that the fish behave differently in the two scenarios. In the first one a lightly coloured lure in a bright light field is likely not perceived as effectively as a darkly coloured one and vice versa -

There is also the inherent colour of bass themselves, optimised to be fragmented in that grey world of half light, fractured, bubbled and moving they may at times themselves be more visible to prey in certain light situations than others.

In the scenario above prey might see bass more easily in the morning light as they move down the tide but not as easily in the evening light....

The tortured and lonely mind of a bass fisher

Ah jaysus Jim you've gone all poetic on us ! joking aside , great read and 'food for thought' for all . When you refer to the Bass and their underwater world you reminded me of a book I read many moons ago called "under the sea wind", good stories on the life of various fish from their perspective (including being the prey) and life cycle.

Too many hours spent in the sun I'd say TL, brain is fried!

Wiser men than me have no doubt gone down similar paths, I guess it's a lot to do with time spent on the water and I think like many things you can go too far or maybe not far at all, much depends on personal contentment.

I think we could spend a long time trying only to find that what we thought was sound is probably wide of the mark a lot the time....but there are definite things to find every now and then, not many mind, real gems are rare.

I could be wrong but chartreuse doesn't occur in nature, don't think I could fish for bass without knowing I had some flies with me that are chartreuse and white Or blended lavender grey white with a sprinkle of UV.

I was always told to match the hatch. Didn't work in Kinsale last year as I tried Mackerel colours and caught Mackerel. Sprat colours (the hatch) and still caught Mackerel . Iwas trying for Bass.

I was always told to match the hatch. Didn't work in Kinsale last year as I tried Mackerel colours and caught Mackerel. Sprat colours (the hatch) and still caught Mackerel . Iwas trying for Bass.

The bass were most likely feeding on the mackerel......you needed a bigger lure

Great stuff as ever jim and one part which struck a cord with a recent session was the colour choice.
We arrived at a venue that was stuffed with sandeel. Pollock hitting them at intervals and at times air-born in the process.
So.....of course I reach in a pick an orange lure, precisely as I wanted it to stand out from the millions of sandeel it was passing through.
I caught 10 pollock and the two lads I fished with had just 2 between them. I'll be hoenst and I say learned that trick form I think yourself or another similar experienced angler some time ago. I was told dont always match the hatch. Im not saying it works all the time but I guess its definitely worth keeping in mind.
I will say the lure was the exact same size as the sandeel which probably does help.