Every retail fishing tackle store in North America is sure to be adorned with a wall of catchy looking lure colors. But, the term “catchy” here begs the question — what are they (retailers) truly catching? You! Does a hot looking super natural color pattern automatically catch more fish? Maybe, but without question — it catches more impulsive buys from anglers. While I am certainly in the camp of believers in color preferences with muskies at times, I argue it should never the primary thing to focus on. In fact, I would also contend color ranks way down the list of priorities.
What is more important than lure color? Honestly. lots of things. At the very least, three factors for sure rank far above lure color in my world. Here they are:
#1 — MUSKY LOCATION. This is always first priority no matter the species, and muskies is certainly no different. Think about this argument in its simplest form — it matters little what you throw at ‘em, if they ain’t there. You’ve got to find ‘em first. You’ve got to be on fish. If there’s no musky in the area, it won’t matter. Location is key. Then, and only then, does anything else come into play.
#2 — PRESENTATION. Color still matters little if the lure isn’t traveling at the zone where the fish (muskies) are, nor if it doesn’t attract an attack response. Lure genre, style or category is still far more important to success than color. Simply put, you’ve got to identify the bait that triggers musky follows and strikes. Furthermore, there are nearly always nuances in speed, action and skill required with each lure that is sure to make a difference. Essentially, one has to present this lure in skillful manner creating the right speed, cadence and action. Not to mention the importance of the boatside figure 8 and its importance to your overall success.
#3 — SIZE! In my opinion, lure size also trumps color. The size or profile of the lure is often far more vital than the color choice and quite often spells the difference between follows and strikes. In many cases, most fish including muskies are sure to respond best to a specific lure size even more than the color of a lure. On any given musky outing, a certain lure is bound to draw follows. Without any further consideration of color, going up or down in the size of that lure, usually makes a huge difference in your success. Converting follows into strikes is the name of the game particularly in the musky world and so many variables come into play for sure. Yet I tend to test a follower musky right away with a size change before a color change. So I rate size above color in overall importance.
#4 COLOR. Once you’ve determined WHERE the muskies are (location) and WHAT (presentation) they are responding to, then and only then is it time to really test various colors on them in order to see if one color or pattern is clearly superior to all others. It is the 4th priority and yet the most interesting of them all.
While some anglers swear by a match-the-hatch philosophy, sometimes contrast or standing out in a crowd draws more responses or results. Yet, it often boils down to nothing more than throwing something new at ‘em, too. Confidence plays a role in color selection too. If you believe in a certain color pattern more than others , you are sure to throw it more and thus have more success with it. There are no hard fast rules in the color game. Plus, it can change from one day to the next, and even from one hour to the next.
Summarily, tackle retailers are certainly wise to the game of sales and know that their primary focus is to catch fishermen. In fact, the best retailers in general are masters at this in all genres. So, bare in mind that great looking lure colors certainly catch fisherman. At the same time, consider that most highly successful anglers often rely on only few lures in one or two old reliable patterns. Are certain lure colors really better than others? Yes. But keep color in proper prospective. Location is always #1. Presentation is certainly #2.
