Years ago I had a friend that I fished with that taught me to jig fish.This was done with a saltwater blank 14foot long and the guides were hand wound on it with a coathanger bent into a figure eight to hold extra line.He made his own jigs and put teddy bear eyes from a hobby store on them with super glue.Sometimes he painted these flourescent orange.He would put the jig in a vise and slightly flatten the head before applying the eyes and then would glue rubber bands on the head to look like the feelers on a crawdad.He also did this with spinnerbaits minus the feelers.The the jigs were colored with a magic marker then dipped in polyurethane to dry.Was it the eyes?I don't know, but he was the most successful big bass angler I ever met while stationed at Ft.Knox,Ky.

it definitely matters... bass around here have a policy of not eating crippled fish... so a crank resembling a blind fish would get respected.... maybe even helped while crossing the street....

Most of the time I'd guess it is not important at all. But fishing in clear water with a suspending crankbait might be a different story. The clearer the water, the more important certain visual details are. I wouldn't have guessed red hooks make any difference either but that's a different thread for a different time.

Eyes make lures look cool, especially on jig heads. As far as "catching" goes,

not important at all.