Insider advice for choosing the best blade combos.

Contrast Can be Key

In-Fisherman contributor Ralph Manns is an avid angler as well as a fishery scientist who has devoted much thought and study to the vision of black bass. “Two key factors are whether a lure can be seen, and then whether it looks edible and catchable,” he says. “Bass can be selective, hitting only lures with the same colors or flash of the currently targeted prey. Usually this color fixation occurs only when bass have found an abundant prey supply and are feeding competitively.

“Visibility depends to a large degree on background color. Is the lure above the bass, under them, or at the same level? Is the background dark rock, green vegetation, or blue sky? A dark lure on a dark bottom or a green bait in vegetation is camouflaged and natural in appearance, but may go unseen. Solid colors like bubble gum or chartreuse that are interesting in silhouette may look phony on the bottom. But over a dark bottom, a bass may, for example, notice and approach a pumpkinseed-color spinnerbait with a chartreuse trailer.

“That sort of partial camouflage creates a lure that’s hard to define but easy for bass to find because the trace of chartreuse contrasts and adds visibility. Two-tone spinnerbaits work well when fished near bottom, while those fished well above the fish would best mimic silvery baitfish.

“The cone cells that give bass color vision have maximum sensitivity to blue-green and red-orange. Red against green water or a vegetation background creates high visual contrast. Other pairs of colors that each stimulate different eye cells, like blue and yellow or green and orange, make lures easier for bass to detect.

“Red may be attractive by imitating blood and injury. In brown or silty water, however, where red to yellow light is predominant, red-orange and brown lures reflect available light and may be the most visible color.

“Red light is absorbed rapidly in the top few feet of water, regardless of water color. Green light penetrates deepest in green water. And in clear and deep water, every light frequency but blue is absent. All other colors tend to darken with increasing depth. In the depths, blue lures reflect light while reds are dark.”

Other Color Considerations

Texas anglers have long relied on red Rat-L-Traps and other vibrating baits in spring. At this time, rising water levels have made the water murky and have left dense beds of hydrilla and coontail several feet below the surface. Anglers fish red lures above the grass, barely ticking it, to entice a strike from below. Perhaps red in contrast against green vegetation, as Ralph Manns mentioned, contributes to red’s effectiveness.

Innovative anglers have found red-hued spinnerbaits equally effective and more snag-free. Rick Collis, veteran guide on Lake Fork, fishes a Johnson spinnerbait with a red head and chartreuse skirt almost exclusively in spring when the water’s dingy. “Red is just a killer color at that time, maybe because bass are eating a lot of crawdads,” he notes. Adding chartreuse gives an extra attractor in low visibility conditions.

“Bass feed heavily during the prespawn, and any help you can give them in finding a lure helps. That’s why I use Colorado blades, to give off more vibration to let fish know something’s out there.”