This is WHY matching the hatch is important!!

[Capt. BassinLou]

Little did I know that I was on a collision course of spectacular peacock fishing on this outing. While tweaking my swimbait approach through out the trip, I stumbled across a hot spot!! Let's just say the fishing got a little crazy. Enjoy!

[hondo2doc]

Capt. Lou that was a great video thanks. I just can't seem to get the swim bait thing working for me.

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[Capt. BassinLou]

Capt. Lou that was a great video thanks. I just can't seem to get the swim bait thing working for me.

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Thanks my man, appreciate you watching. You can always reach out to me, I can help and walk you through it. Don't give up on that bait. It's very, very, effective.

[coldfront]

I came to bass fishing from fly-fishing.  presentation, precise locations... mimicing the baitfish/prey was already deeply ingrained.

as for 'matching the hatch':  here on my water, that seems to default most days to our 'yellowtails' (threadfin).  a white/clear (sight flash) swimbait with a touch of yellow/chartreuse on the tail really gets bit.
at times I'll also move down (really cold weather) to tightlining a small jig and 2-3 inch minnow bait (but in ayu/yoy bluegill type colors). 


am a firm believer in 'color matters'.  which sets me up to get into the 'debate' with those folks who believe in 'color matters:  it's either white or black'.  that's not been my experience.



lou:  with those peacocks and from what I've seen of local 'bream' forage in florida... a tinge of orange might be 'what's for dinner'?

[bigjim5589]

Great video as usual Lou, and very informative! 

Like Coldfront, with my fly fishing back ground, I also firmly believe in the concept of matching the forage. However, I haven't seen it to be necessary to get too detailed, and a generic approach has worked well for me. I think based on what I saw in your video, that's what you were doing. The exact swimbait and color pattern probably was not as important as it's size/profile and how you fished it. 

Recently I've read some discussion about what fish can see, and it appears they don't see fine detail very well, so it's doubtful that having fine detail in a lure makes much difference as far as productively, but I do agree with Coldfront that at times an added color, such as orange/chartreuse or yellow, might trigger strikes that a basic color scheme might not. I have seen that when bass are keying on the Sunfish species here in the lake and they all have some bright color on their breast.

We also have shad in the lake and White Perch, so shad can be imitated with most white baits that have olive or gray/pearl backs & some silver in the sides, and White Perch of course are basically white with darker backs and have some gold/pearl color to their sides. The same baits might even imitate them both, with the difference being the profiles of each prey species and how they act. That's where trying different retrieves and cadences becomes important.

I really feel a lot of folks get too wrapped up in how a lure looks and don't consider enough how they should be fishing them and adjusting.  Looks are not everything, as your video has shown. 

Again, great video and appreciate that you share them! 

[coldfront]

on top of color Jim, I've been paying more an more attention to 'flake'.
clear water, metallic.  some black.
dingy water:  black...

[bigjim5589]

on top of color Jim, I've been paying more an more attention to 'flake'.
clear water, metallic.  some black.
dingy water:  black...

I think the type of water we fish may have some bearing on that. I can agree that sometimes a color with flake or glitter seems to produce better than the color alone. With powder coating my jigs, I'll often mix glitters & flakes into the powders, and the resulting color, does appear different in the water, when the waters fairly clear. I don't notice that as much with some soft plastics, but those with a lot of glitter do look different than the same base color alone, especially in clearer waters.

Our water here is tannic stained, and it seems to me that dark color soft plastics produce better for me, if there's also blue glitter in them. Greenpumpkin with blue glitter works well here. For the most part, I can't say why that is however.

I've used several soft plastic swimbaits in various colors and depending on the day, they all produce, but they're all generally of similar size & profile. I do like the Lockett Lures swimbaits and have them in several colors, and they all seem to get some bites here. 

I'll go big (6" or longer) sometimes with both soft & hard swimbaits, but also see that they have a different action to them than the smaller soft swimbaits.  I'll still use the Sassy Shad style soft swimbaits and they swim different than a bait like the Lockett Lures or Kietech. 

I also like black, and black with blue glitter works great here. Black has been a go to color for me for a long time, and not only with lures, but flies too and even in clearer water, and I agree with you about using it in dingy water.

[Capt. BassinLou]

I came to bass fishing from fly-fishing.  presentation, precise locations... mimicing the baitfish/prey was already deeply ingrained.

as for 'matching the hatch':  here on my water, that seems to default most days to our 'yellowtails' (threadfin).  a white/clear (sight flash) swimbait with a touch of yellow/chartreuse on the tail really gets bit.
at times I'll also move down (really cold weather) to tightlining a small jig and 2-3 inch minnow bait (but in ayu/yoy bluegill type colors). 


am a firm believer in 'color matters'.  which sets me up to get into the 'debate' with those folks who believe in 'color matters:  it's either white or black'.  that's not been my experience.



lou:  with those peacocks and from what I've seen of local 'bream' forage in florida... a tinge of orange might be 'what's for dinner'?

Great video as usual Lou, and very informative! 

Like Coldfront, with my fly fishing back ground, I also firmly believe in the concept of matching the forage. However, I haven't seen it to be necessary to get too detailed, and a generic approach has worked well for me. I think based on what I saw in your video, that's what you were doing. The exact swimbait and color pattern probably was not as important as it's size/profile and how you fished it. 

Recently I've read some discussion about what fish can see, and it appears they don't see fine detail very well, so it's doubtful that having fine detail in a lure makes much difference as far as productively, but I do agree with Coldfront that at times an added color, such as orange/chartreuse or yellow, might trigger strikes that a basic color scheme might not. I have seen that when bass are keying on the Sunfish species here in the lake and they all have some bright color on their breast.

We also have shad in the lake and White Perch, so shad can be imitated with most white baits that have olive or gray/pearl backs & some silver in the sides, and White Perch of course are basically white with darker backs and have some gold/pearl color to their sides. The same baits might even imitate them both, with the difference being the profiles of each prey species and how they act. That's where trying different retrieves and cadences becomes important.

I really feel a lot of folks get too wrapped up in how a lure looks and don't consider enough how they should be fishing them and adjusting.  Looks are not everything, as your video has shown. 

Again, great video and appreciate that you share them! 

Appreciate you guys for watching thank you! As far as the colors and the forage these peacocks chase after. We have plethora have bait fish in our waters. Several native species along with a host of exotic species. I changed up the bait colors several times, and what I noticed the most believe it or not besides the colors, were the swimbait shapes. The smaller slender swimbaits were being hit more frequently versus the swimbaits that were meatier.

[Donald Garner]

Lou, great job on putting the video together.  Tks for sharing the trip and tips with us.  I really enjoy watching your presentations.  Congrats on the catching