i have one of the ragos on order that i plan on using in the spring at smith mountain lake when we have our collegiate tournament there.

I'm also looking at getting a couple of Ragos over the winter, excited about trying them out next year.

i cant wait to try these swimbaits out, it will be my first time throwing them for the most part.

You don't know for sure 100%, but if you have two anglers in the boat, throwing the exact same bait, in two different dolors, and one is getting bit while the other isn't, you can change to the color getting bit, and produce. To further prove this, you can have the angler getting bit change to the color not producing, and see what happens. I've experienced this many times during practice and tournament fishing from the back of the boat. It literally pays to pay attention.

I'd put money down on most guys that say color doesn't matter, do not fish clear lakes often. By clear, I'm talking 10+ feet of visibility. True, contrast, or general vicinity on pattern often gets bit. But if you have found the fish, and found what baits they will bite, its time to play with color. On some lakes, color can even select for species. The wrong color can mean tons of pickerel or northerns on lakes like Oneida and Cayuga.

Again, its important to be in the ballpark, but color is the last thing I start experimenting with, unless I'm REALLY desperate for a bite, LOL.

Ok, here 's my take, I don 't know how many times we have discussed the subject of colors in this holy forum, I 've never said that color is not important, in my personal experience there have been days when color has made all the difference in the world, but those days are rare, I fish two completely different kinds of waters, crystal clear and murky/muddy so I have experience with both, I swear that perhaps 90% of the time I fish indistinctively with the same baits and colors both enviromments with pretty much the same results; now more on the subject of colors, if with what I 'm fishing doesn 't produce first I change the presentation than change colors, only until I have exhausted the other variables then I think about changing colors. So yes, they are there in the list of things to take care about when selecting baits but at the very bottom.

So, color is important ? yes it is .... at the very bottom of the list.