A common belief among anglers is to use light colors like white, chartreuse and other eye-catching colors in clear water and bright days. Dark colors like black, shades of brown and green for stained water or overcast days. This helps most of the time but not all the time, in my opinion. I have had times where the opposite has worked for me too. Confusing? You bet!  

According to the NOAA Fisheries Science Center, Most fish are color blind, this despite the opinion of many sport fishermen. Fish can see color shadings, reflected light, shape and movement which probably accounts for the acceptance or rejection of artificial lures used by anglers. Therefore, I feel that color takes a back seat to action, size and even smell of the bait (even though I have soft baits in every imaginable color!) You first have to look at “why fish bite.” That is part of the reason color; action and presentation play a collective role in a successful day on the water.  

Unlike the senses of land animals, fish have senses that exploit water’s ability to carry and maintain pressure waves and chemicals. Using a special sense organ called a lateral line, a fish can feel the nearness of a predator, prey or an obstacle before it can see it. Especially in water of low visibility, fish that swim in tight groups or schools, use their lateral lines to sense and coordinate sudden turns. Large game fish such as Trout and Snook pick up on these vibrations (no matter how minute) when they are in the feeding mode.

Game fish can sense the vibration of fish in distress, home in on it, and then move in for the kill. Color (or shades) is the last thing they will see.  

Highly sensitive olfactory, or smell, organs permit fish to sense chemicals in the water, which helps identify food and other fish. Some fish, such as minnows, are also sensitive to chemicals in the skin of other members of their species. When released to the water during a predator attack, these chemicals stimulate a fright response that warns other minnows to escape.  

One of the first things I try to do is “match the hatch”. This is a tactic I learned from my days of trout fishing with flies up in New England. I will look around and see what baitfishes are in the area. I am not only looking at colors but size of the available bait as well. There where plenty of times when I was out on the water and caught all my fish on a 38MR MirrOlure when they would not hit the 52MR in the same color. A dark colored jig, such as root-beer color may look like a shrimp to a hungry trout or a silver curly tail grub looks more like an errant glass minnow. See what is in the area at the time and match the hatch. Also, the larger Trout and Snook are mostly meat eaters.