Were you fishing for bass before crankbaits were “crankbaits?” If you called ‘em “plugs,” you can recall the many cycles and trends in color selection for this historic and staple category of bass baits.
Colors Trends Through Time
First came the red-white Pikies and the Lucky 13, then metal-lipped coach dog divers like the original wooden Bomber and plastic Smithwick Waterdog.
These creative colors were gradually supplanted by more realistic perch finishes, then the black-back silver-side white-belly motif ushered in by the Rapala Minnow in the early 1960s. Gold editions gained fame in Florida and other areas with darker water.
With the popularization of Fred Young’s hand carved and airbrushed Big-O in the early 1970s, new color schemes appeared. Parrot, firetiger, bone-orange belly, chartreuse-black back, and Tennessee shad captured fishermen and fish alike, though the new novel lure shapes were doubtless partly responsible for the exploding popularity of crankbaits at that time.
Crayfish hues rose to the top in the next decade with Bomber’s R Series baits, followed by Bagley’s balsa divers and Mann’s rattling cranks. Anglers began paying more attention to colors, feeding a luxuriance of new hues. The chrome-blue back and silver-chartreuse back emerged around 1970 and continue at peak popularity today. Color variety reached its zenith in the late 1980s with Storm’s Wiggle Wart, which was available in more than 100 colors.
The first of several shifts to ultrarealistic photofinishes came along in the mid-1970s, with high sales but less than overwhelming acclaim by the nation’s judges, the bass themselves. Still, the realistic finishes were made possible by new technologies like pad printing, which in its evolved form allows for today’s extra-sharp natural and bizarre patterns. Realistic gills and scales adorned Bagley’s Small Fry Series, making these balsa baits a top seller for the past 25 years.
Countershading entered the crankbait scene, contrasting a darker belly with a lighter back, the opposite of most natural prey. This attempt to stand out from the school demonstrated flashes of success, but the concept wasn’t long lived.
Hardbaits became flashier, too, with the advent of sparkle finishes created by suspending glitter in the gelcoat, a development credited to Lee Sisson. Those finishes, epitomized in Norman’s Sunshine gelcoat and Bill Lewis’ Spark-L-Traps, remain popular.
Trends Today
To be successful, the tackle industry must respond to color preferences of lure buyers. “In a way, it’s like reading the stock market,” says Brent Northrup, marketing executive for Bass Pro Shops. “We must anticipate demand and be ahead of it, which isn’t always easy in the fickle fishing world.”
Northrup notes not only regional trends in the popularity of crankbait colors, but also that climate can play a role. “During the drought in Texas and other parts of the Southeast the last two summers, reservoirs were low and water clear. That seemed to spur a greater demand for natural baitfish colors.
“In the past, wet springs and summers have boosted the demand for colors like firetiger and chartreuse-blue,” he adds. Northrup gets a good handle on the color preferences of American bassers. Each year, Bass Pro Shops sells about three million hardbaits. The company has its own line of crankbaits, and shoppers can select from the offerings of a dozen or so crankbait manufacturers.
“Many anglers are aware of the ‘Texas Red’ phenomenon,” Northrup notes. “Stores in East Texas can’t carry enough bright red Rat-L-Traps and Storm Mag Warts in spring. But other lesser-known regional color demands exist as well, like the furor over the Phantom Green Craw color of Storm’s Wiggle Wart in the Missouri-Arkansas region. Enough of this bait can’t be stocked. Now, PRADCO and Norman Lures have added this color to their lines.
