We all read about matching the hatch and we all have had success with black and blue jigs. Can someone tell me what the black and blue jig is supposed to simulate. Whay do they work so well in cooler, darker water? What does the bass think it is?

"what a bass thinks"??   

i gonna say it is the contrast in the dark water...

i'm convinced that below 10 foot or so everything is black or close to it.....in most water conditions...

so imho it is just the movement

as for what that color that simulates??   :-/

i've had pretty good luck with bubblegum trick worms and flukes??   

A bug in general, especially when falling or

swimming. With most trailers, a craw partially

hidden in cover (jig skirt) and standing with

claws up in a defensive mode.

I fish jigs on the bottom, VERY slowly.

Although I prefer BIG presentations,

I still attempt to "hide" the jig next to

rocks and limbs.

BTW, When I fish black and blue, for me that's

a solid black jig with a solid blue or black & blue

trailer.

8-)

Match the hatch is a fly fishing term, and it refers to actual bug hatches.  Doesn't really fit in with most bass angling situations.

As far as what jig represents to a bass, irrespective of color....

Something easily edible.

We all read about matching the hatch and we all have had success with black and blue jigs. Can someone tell me what the black and blue jig is supposed to simulate. Whay do they work so well in cooler, darker water? What does the bass think it is?

Should worry not what it simulates, sould worry if it works my young padawan.

Yoda

I have thought the same thing. Last year, I was walking along the spillway and came across the biggest uglies crawdad - he was in a defensive position (almost as big as my hand) and he was 3 different shades of blue. I have seen greens and browns, but never blue.

So my guess is anything on the bottom that is dark or a version of dark replicates some type of forage and the movement triggers the predatory nature of the bass.

Now is the time for the biologist to add to the thread...

There are a lot of crayfish species that feature some sort of blue highlights, especially right after molting.   Think about this...

Try setting one of these in the lake, baited with a can of cat food. Tie a 1 liter pop bottle to a rope so that the bottle hangs a foot under the surface so people won't likely spot it and ****** it.

I started doing this last year and found that many craws do have significant blue coloring to them. Many of the craws that I caught were dark olive and gray with blue-gray bellies and some hints of purple and bright green around the claws. I got a pretty good idea what color and size craws were living on my favorite rockpiles, and best matched them up with green pumpkin/blue belly jigs with junebug trailers.

http://crawfishbaitshop.com/

Edit: They have these same Frabill traps at Cabela's but I wasn't able to link them because of the BR rules against all-caps posts.

This is why I love BassResource.com!!!

Thanks for the info. I know these work but never knew why. Hopefully it will work when I get back to Fork in a few days.

Just finished eating about 5 pounds of crawdads for some reason i could not find any blue in them. They were all bright orange!

Skeet - Duh, they'd been COOKED red   Many states have catalogs of crayfish species with pics and distribution maps that can suggest the right jig colors.  Here in N.C., most species are medium brown but some in the mountains have Carolina Blue accents.  Best research - turn over a few rocks around the lake before you tie on your jig.

Problem is...although bass can see the full spectrum (n shallow enough water), they are weakest at discriminating blues. Apparently, blue is the point in the spectrum where bass become essentially color blind.

Funny i have never had success with a black and blue jig. My best producer has been a green pumpkin with orange accent custom made jig.

I was walking down my pond the other day and seen a giant crayfish... was mostly blue with some dark patches on it.   

Here's your sign.

But really color dosn't matter much IMO.. I've caught fish on everything in almost all conditions.  Don't get caught up in the details... its more of a shade thing than specific color.

Just finished eating about 5 pounds of crawdads for some reason i could not find any blue in them. They were all bright orange!

Wish there were more places to get crawdads served in New England   At least we can get fresh lobster   I wonder how lobster would taste in cooked in a good Shrimp & Crab Boil?

Leon

We all read about matching the hatch and we all have had success with black and blue jigs. Can someone tell me what the black and blue jig is supposed to simulate.

Black & Blue isn't popular for imitating anything,

it's popular for its underwater visibility, especially where luminosity is scant.

(if they don't see it, they won't strike it)

Roger