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Lures…. how do I pick the size and colour to use?

By Mark Hutchinson of www.threeguysfishing.com

Growing up, I always thought that the bigger the lure, the bigger the fish. The fact that I never caught small fish and only monsters didn’t do much to disprove this. Looking back now I realize that had I actually known something about lure size I would have caught more than 1 fish every 3 months! The other mystery that still exists to some point is, “which colour of lure do I use?” I used to just pick what looked nice, or was really bright! “This will attract fish!” I would think as I picked up some 10-inch bright green grubs and headed out for some perch fishing. Yeah…

Thankfully, we all learn over time through trial and error along with picking up tips from other fishermen, magazines, and television shows. I’d like to try and shed a bit of light on some of the mystery that surrounds lure size and colour to help you match your bait up with the body of water that you are fishing so that you can catch some fish!

Let’s look at colour first:

What I like to do is to stick to about 15 or 16 different colours. “Mark, are you insane???” you might ask. Well, if you’ve ever really stopped and counted to different colours of lures, especially plastics, there are literally THOUSANDS of varieties. One thing to be very careful of is marketing. What I mean by this is that a lot of the lure packaging is meant to catch the fisherman, not the fish. Trust me, I know. Remember, these companies aren’t in the business for their health!

To be completely honest, if you are fishing in deeper water such as 20 feet and more, the colour of the lure/plastic really doesn’t matter at all. After going deeper than this, the colours all look the same. What you want to worry about more at this point is the SHADE of the lure…dark, or light.

For shallower water though, here are some tips:

In general, you only need to know a few basics. This isn’t to say that there will never be variables in this, but it should at least help you out a bit. There are four main things that you need to consider when out on the water: Time of year, time of day, water clarity, and the natural baitfish that are present.

Time of year

During the winter, fish are darker colours due to cold water. As the water gets warmer, the fish change to a lighter colour, so change your baits along with this. Dark in the spring, light in the summer, and then back to dark in the fall.

Time of day

As the fishing day wears on, the light generally becomes brighter and the light penetrating the water at the depth you are fishing has an effect on what colour can actually be seen. The first colour to fade out of the colour spectrum under high visibility will be the reds followed by orange, yellow, green, blue, and then purple in that order. To put it more simply: Light water, light colour. Dark water, dark colour.

Water clarity

This one’s quite important. Visibility of the lure will play a huge part of how well you do. In general, you will want to use brightly coloured more visible lures in dark murky water since dark lures might only be visible for 1 or 2 feet. Alternately, if the water is super clear such as the lakes where we like to fish in Elliot Lake, Ontario, the fish are spooky to begin with and more subtle, subdued colours work best. Clear lures tend to work very well in these conditions as well.

Available baitfish

This one’s pretty simple. If there are no perch in a lake, but plenty of bluegill, you are likely going to have better luck with a bluegill coloured lure. Now remember, I said “likely.” As much as there are patterns to fish and fishing, sometimes you can throw it all to the wind!

Lure Size

Now that we have a basic understanding of how to choose from the multitudes of colours out there, let’s have a quick look at choosing lure size. Now for starters, there is common sense involved. Don’t use a 7-inch jumbo tube if you’re panfishing!

In general, you can base your lure size on the time of the year that you’re fishing. In the early months, stick to smaller size lures and plastics as the baitfish and other creatures around the lake tend to be smaller in size. As the season progresses you can move up to larger lures. Try to find some baitfish and have a look at their size and colouring. This should help you out quite a bit!

Also, remember that a larger lure may spook fish! If you’re in the clear water situation like I mentioned before, a smaller clear coloured lure will usually give you the best success; however, if you’re out after that trophy pike or musky, a nice big spinner bait or jerkbait might be your ticket as long as the colour is right!

In summary, one of the keys to understanding lure colour selection is water colour and clarity. That can be as simple as using darker colours in the winter and early months of the year and as the water warms graduate to the lighter-coloured baits. Use florescent and bright coloured baits in muddy and dingy water, and lighter coloured baits in clear and warmer waters. Mastering these simple keys will do wonders in unlocking the mystery of colour for you.