If you could only have 4 different colors of plastics..

[cjam93]

Hey guys so the more I read about color of plastics the more confused I get. Some people say the muddier the water the brighter the plastic you should throw, while others say the muddier the water the darker the color you should throw.

So in an attempt to simplify things, my question is this, if you could only have 4 various colors of plastics, what would they be, and in what conditions would you use them in? I am simply looking for colors here and not types of worms.

Thanks for the help!

[bassmaster3541]

Watermelon/ watermelon candy, pumpkinseed for clear water.

Dark Water, green pumpkin, black/blue, black chartreuse

[bobsquatch13]

Natural Shad for clear waters
Watermelon with red, green & black flakes for virtually all
Black/Blue laminate or Rootbeer with copper flakes for murky water

[merc1997]

junebug, brown and pepper, plum, and black.

[waylon koehler]

Watermelon/red and red bug for clearer water
Junebug and Black for tannic, dark, or muddy water

[Drake691]

Black/Blue, Bubblegum, Baby Bass and Smoke/Black

[Mike Cork]

Piece of cake! I only use four

Watermelon red, black blue, black red, June bug

[d.branch3]

watermelon red, plum, black blue, black red,

[LgMouthGambler]

Shad, Watermelon red chart., Black/Blue, Black/Red.

[EdgemanP1]

Black, junebug, green pumpkin, and watermelon seed. I also carry chartreuse, red, blue, and orange dye markers to add color to those plastics if I feel it will enhance the bait.

[Creel Limit Zero]

Black, junebug, green pumpkin, and watermelon seed.

X 2 here.  In fact, that's really the only 4 colors I carry period.  Take away the guess work, why have 20 different colors of a plastic. 

[Dunham Fisher]

Black, junebug, red shad, and scuppernong.

[tholmes]

I usually only carry 4 colors also.

Tequila Sunrise
Junebug
Black / Black neon
Green Pumpkin

Tom

[K2Racing]

Watermelon red for clean or light stain
Junebug for bream time and stained water
Black/blue for both
Black neon for both

Sometimes the forage calls for black neon and black/blue even if the water is only slightly stained. I like the concept of silhouette it causes and gets them to react more than natural baits sometimes that I feel they study and decide whether to eat it or not...

[H8R]

Watermelon spk
motoroil
Purple spk
Chart/blk.

[PBrussell]

I see a trend developing here.
Green pumpkin
Watermelon red
Junebug
Black (either black/blue or black/purple)

[Jared LeBlue]

Piece of cake! I only use four

Watermelon red, black blue, black red, June bug

Ditto

[PBrussell]

So here's a question that might blow all of our minds. If there is a trend among fishermen with the predominant colors they use (and it would appear there most certainly is), why all the color selections? The answer can't only be there's a vast variety of colors to catch fishermen, not necessarily fish. I do believe that's a big part of the answer.

[bigjim5589]

I've been fishing for about 50 years, and have had the most success with 3 colors, regardless of fish species targeted, or what type of lure, or flies. White, black, chartreuse. Add green pumpkin for plastics to make my 4th color. 

[SenkoSam]

why all the color selections? The answer can't only be there's a vast variety of colors to catch fishermen, not necessarily fish. I do believe that's a big part of the answer.

X3

Confidence is number one. My confidence colors depending on soft plastic design:
black or black with red or blue flake
smoke or clear with light gold and black flake
smoke with chartreuse and black flake or with blue flake
light rootbeer with green and black flake
green pumpkin with black flake
chartreuse with black flake
pearl

(Sorry for the big selection)

[bigjim5589]

why all the color selections? The answer can't only be there's a vast variety of colors to catch fishermen, not necessarily fish. I do believe that's a big part of the answer.

That's certainly one reason we have some many colors to choose from. Lure makers need to sell lures & it's a human trait to want choices, so the variety is there. Those colors that don't sell well, get discontinued, no matter how productive they may be for some folks. Of course as Frank said, confidence has as much to do with why we select specific colors.

I guess I didn't answer the question of why & where. White- is a color that we see in many baitfish & some critters that fish eat, particularly the belly area, so IMO white is a natural. It's also the extreme end of the light to dark range for colors. Technically, it's not a color, but the combination of all colors, but fish don't see it that way, not do we. I'll use white any time or place that I believe that imitating baitfish is the best approach, and more so in waters with greater clarity. Works well in clear or stained water, sometimes in muddy water.

Black- as dark as you can get! The other extreme of color opposite of white. Again, there are many things that fish eat that are dark in color, so black fits well. Black creates a good profile against almost any background & a very well defined silhouette. Black works well in clear water, stained water & even muddy water. Doesn't matter what "colors" a fish species can see, they can see black. Black is my choice most of the time when I believe a dark color is best.

Chartreuse- Depending on the color spectrum chart you look at, chartreuse is approximately at the center. It's an easy color for both fish & humans to see. I don't really know why it's so productive, but it is. It's a color that also works well in any water clarity. What I'll select when neither white nor black seem to be working.

Green Pumpkin- Not even sure why I first tried this color, and there are many variations, but it's been a good one. Again, I believe it fits many prey species that fish eat, or at least in part. Since I needed to choose a 4th color for this thread, this is the one I have more confidence in that anything else, except the first 3 I mentioned.

Also, as Frank mentioned, the design of a plastic has as much to do with it's productivity as the color, and also fits in with confidence. For example, I like the old Sassy Shads, and know that some folks would use it in green pumpkin color, but I tend to go with one of my other 3. I really don't have much confidence in that type of bait in green pumpkin. Now a grub, ribbontail worm or senko type worm, yes, all 4 colors I have a lot of confidence in using.

[SenkoSam]

I really don't have much confidence in that type of bait in green pumpkin.

What's good for one may not fit into the color preference range of another, based on what we've been exposed to such as media claims that have bombarded us for decades. It's hard not to ignore past and present propaganda that really reveal nothing why fish bite lures in certain colors.

What it most likely comes down to is a fish's physiology, color wave length changes in different waters with different amounts of sun light. (For example, white is not white at sunset in green stained water.)
The rest is just conjecture such as, natural is the way to go or simulating forage is usually a sure thing. Too many exceptions to any rules about color lead me, like all of you, to limit my preference based on my liking a color for how it looks in the water I'm fishing.

[BOATS]

Red Shad, Red Shad Green Flake, Black, Black w/ Emerald

[EdgemanP1]

So here's a question that might blow all of our minds. If there is a trend among fishermen with the predominant colors they use (and it would appear there most certainly is), why all the color selections? The answer can't only be there's a vast variety of colors to catch fishermen, not necessarily fish. I do believe that's a big part of the answer.

I think that at some point, every color out there can draw hits. The trends that I see tend to be according to location, or natural and dark colors. Some colors are similar. For instance tequila sunrise and red shad. Then there's plum and redbug. As has been said confidence is the biggest key. I've caught fish on my four choice colors everywhere I've fished. There may have been a color that the bass were biting better, but they would still bite one of those. I prefer to keep my choices simple and having 8, 10, or 15 different colors on the boat to choose from would only complicate things. For me the K.I.S.S. principle does apply.

[shlomo]

Green pumpkin, watermelon seed, red bug/plum and black. The first two colors probably catch the majority, but that ol' redbug comes in handy! Black's hard to beat at night sometimes.