A Simple, No Nonsense Guide To Color Selection

We sell ..a lot of colors

At the time of this writing, 36 to be exact.

Which is kinda funny, cause in the beginning we decided we were only gonna sell like 12.. lol

One of, if not the biggest hurdle for artificial anglers is color selection

With infinite choices and everyone shouting from the rooftops about which one(s) they think are best and the endless stream of contradictory advice, throw one color all the time, change it up, color doesn’t matter, color is everything, etc.

It can get kinda confusing, but at the end of the day you just gotta get out there and test different stuff and figure out what works best for you!

So take the advice I’m about to give you with that grain of salt, I really hope it helps you, but it’s far from the end all be all, definitive rule, just letting you know what works for me.

I’m personally a big believer in the K.I.S.S. rule.

If ya don’t know, that stands for Keep It Simple Stupid, but I also believe that you can dumb some stuff down too far, make it too simple and you could leave out important factors that could make or break you, it’s a delicate balance..

For example, I’m sure you’ve heard the old adage, “dirty water-dark color, clean water-light color”

While this is a solid place to start, I really feel that it is overly simplified, in that it leaves out at least 2 other important variables.

But then on the flip side of that, you can take the advice I’m about to give you and build on it further by factoring in the natural bait selection in your area at the time and/or what time of year it is and/or what species you’re targeting and/or if you’re trying to present something natural or trying to put something crazy out there to draw reaction strikes, and the list just goes on and on and on.

So, like I said, ya just gotta get out there and figure out what works for you, I truly believe in the advice I’m about to give you, it’s how I make my decisions on the water, whether you take it to heart or simply use it as a foundation to build upon, it’s yours for the taking!

I have 3 main factors that I like to look at initially when I’m deciding which color to throw and then I let the fish tell me if I guessed correctly or not and adjust accordingly.

In no particular order of importance:

·      Water Clarity - Dirty, Clean, or In Between

·      Wind - Howling, Dead or Light Breeze

·      Light – Sunrise/set, Bright Overhead in a clear sky or Overcast and Gloomy

Once I’ve got those factors taken into account, I like to have 3-5 colors, I always try to carry a light, a bright, a white and a dark color that match up to the conditions, plus or minus a couple depending on the day,

I’ll do my best to be inclusive, but keep in mind that Ihave a personal bias towards more natural colors, here are a couple examples of how my theory works:

1.      Clear Water + Overcast day + Light breeze, my light color(s) would be Pearl & Baby Trout, my brights would be Chicken Shart & Pink Punch, my whites would be Golden GinGlo & OG Blood Diamond and my darks would be Midnight Mullet, Texas Broach, Toxic & UV Rootbeer.

2.      Clear Water + Sunny Clear Day + Dead Calm Wind, my lights would be Baby Trout & Bro’s Gold, my brights would be Money &UNTZ, my whites would be Golden GrinGlo(love this one at sunrise/set) &Mansfield Magic and my darks would be Blue Crab, Toxic Rootbeer, Purple Haze & The Beacon

3.      Dirty Water + Overcast Day + Strong Wind, I wouldn’t really mess with light colors in these conditions, my brights would be Pink Punch, Chicken/Bleeding Shart & Candy Corn AFB, my whites would be Pink Colada, Red Glow, Mansfield Magic & OG Blood Diamond and my darks would be Bruiser, Texas Broach, UV Rootbeer.

I could do on and on with combinations of conditions and colors but I think you get the point(you can see all of our colors & sizes here)

It may seem complicated all written out like that but in reality, it’s a fairly simple lens to look at color selection through,

Keep in mind that this is just a simple formula I put together to make educated guesses with, ultimately, the fish will tell you whether your choice is right or wrong, if you throw a light and they don’t play, try a dark or vice versa, until you find what they want to eat that day.

All in all once you’ve gotten some experience under your belt, I really feel the best way to go about this is to just carry a handful of colors/sizes that you’ve developed confidence in over time that you can rotate in and out depending on the conditions and fish’s mood that day.

I really hope this can help demystify color selection for you, so that you can spend more time fishing and less time worrying about whatcha got tied on,

Thanks for hangin out, I’ll catch ya on the next one!