My OG Hard Gill is about as real looking to me as it gets in the water.  I've caught many fish on that bait.  The realism certainly doesn't hurt.

I make lures. Some look d**n realistic if I don't say so myself. But.....

 

As a kid I had five lures. A Red devil spoon (red and white stripe), a jutterbug plug that was red on the front half and white on the back half, a black plug with yellow eyes, and a mooselook warbler. Just a long silver spoon. I've still got them 55 years later.

I seemed to do alright with them. I think the realistic stuff is more for the fishermen than the fish. When we look at a lure we often think (admit it now), "If I were a fish I'd really like this one".  But, we're not fish and if you pause and ponder what you just thought... It really makes you feel sort of dumb for a moment. I've had that moment many, many times.

So, I'll have a dumb thought again right now. I think the fish might think... "If it's moving it must be alive so it must be food. And I eat living things. So, if I can fit it in my mouth, and I'm hungry, I'll strike."

I don't think they're thinking "Oh, chartreuse.... That's my color. I think I'll eat it."

Then again it could just be that I'm dumb, thinking that I know what a fish thinks right?

This is probably user error, but I haven't really caught much of anything on realistic looking swimbaits; the ones I have are weedless and have the hook hidden, so allow you to throw them into weeds and other heavy cover which also seems like a bonus. I did catch my first and only musky on a pike looking swim bait. At some point I may try swimbaits in bright and flashy and unrealistic colors to draw more attention to them.

When I started fly fishing for trout, a good friend who was very experienced fly angler had every fly imaginable.  I only had a few flies.  I asked him if my flies were good enough.  He told me in order to match the hatch all I had to  have was a fly close to the same size, shape, and color of the hatch.  Exact match was not necessary.  He also advised the most important factor was making sure the presentation was correct.  The reason he had hundreds of flies was because he could. Not because he needed them.

       I believe the same is true for bass fishing.  If the bass are feeding on slow moving crayfish on the bottom The most important factor will be fishing something slow on the bottom. If the crayfish are brown with bright orange on them, then I would make sure my offering had some bright orange.  Doesn't have to be an exact match, just close to the size and color. If they are eating bait fish on the surface, than of course the most important factor would be something moving erratically on the surface.  If the bait fish are small than my bait should be small.  If the bait is gold in color, than I would want some gold in my lure.  Doesn't have to look exact, close is good enough.

      There are times for what ever reason, a bass will key in on one factor way above all else.  Most of the time that would be movement- presentation.  There are times however size, shape or color is by far the most important aspect.  When this happens I don't believe the bait has to be an exact match, just make sure what ever the factor is the lure is close.  Switching to a smaller crank bait, if size is the issue.  If the bait has some bright chartreuse, or blue color, then the lure should have bright chartreuse, or blue somewhere on it.  If the bait is long and thin, than something short and fat might not be the best lure to throw.  In Short, I don't think you need something exact to match the hatch, most of the time you can change presentation to get a fish to bite, but an exact match doesn't hurt.  Of course there are times when matching the hatch is not working.  Especially when the main forage is plentiful.   Those times something completely different that sticks out works.   

    

8 hours ago, king fisher said:

When I started fly fishing for trout, a good friend who was very experienced fly angler had every fly imaginable.  I only had a few flies.  I asked him if my flies were good enough.  He told me in order to match the hatch all I had to  have was a fly close to the same size, shape, and color of the hatch.  Exact match was not necessary.  He also advised the most important factor was making sure the presentation was correct.  The reason he had hundreds of flies was because he could. Not because he needed them.

       I believe the same is true for bass fishing.  If the bass are feeding on slow moving crayfish on the bottom The most important factor will be fishing something slow on the bottom. If the crayfish are brown with bright orange on them, then I would make sure my offering had some bright orange.  Doesn't have to be an exact match, just close to the size and color. If they are eating bait fish on the surface, than of course the most important factor would be something moving erratically on the surface.  If the bait fish are small than my bait should be small.  If the bait is gold in color, than I would want some gold in my lure.  Doesn't have to look exact, close is good enough.

      There are times for what ever reason, a bass will key in on one factor way above all else.  Most of the time that would be movement- presentation.  There are times however size, shape or color is by far the most important aspect.  When this happens I don't believe the bait has to be an exact match, just make sure what ever the factor is the lure is close.  Switching to a smaller crank bait, if size is the issue.  If the bait has some bright chartreuse, or blue color, then the lure should have bright chartreuse, or blue somewhere on it.  If the bait is long and thin, than something short and fat might not be the best lure to throw.  In Short, I don't think you need something exact to match the hatch, most of the time you can change presentation to get a fish to bite, but an exact match doesn't hurt.  Of course there are times when matching the hatch is not working.  Especially when the main forage is plentiful.   Those times something completely different that sticks out works.   

    

Great answer!  I have seen many times when a certain color of my baby minus ones outperformed and even shiny versus flat of the same colors makes a difference. I recall times when throwing the small Powercraw with orange pincers outperformed everything else.  I caught more and bigger bass in the smaller 2-3 inch craw than the same bait in a 4 inch version.

From my experience, some more expensive and realistic looking lures do work extremely well, but it's really the action of the lure that sets them apart in my opinion. For example I have some fancy shiny crankbaits and some cheaper ones with nearly the same action with the only difference as far as I can tell being in how realistic they look, but they work the same. In some cases the cheaper, planer crankbait has caught me more fish than the more expensive version. And of course if you are fishing super clear water, it's likely that the more realistic looking the lure, the bigger the difference may be.

Sometimes it's the little things. My most productive popper just popping it is the Megabass Pop X. The primary advantage of these lures is usually that you can walk them where a cheaper popper doesn't walk as well, but the water intake also gives them a very nice advantage when popping them and helps it from making that massive "glug" when you pop it too hard.

 

I think mainly in clearer water is where you might see a difference, especially with slower presentations. Dirty water it doesn't really matter imo.

I'm a Rapala Freak when it comes to the majority of my Crankbait fishing. Their various models have never been a let down. Rapalas have never been one to put out the real image, life image print types. Not the first to jump on board with it. Their color have been a basic standard for years. Sure they added new color patterns.But when they did start putting out the life image I was ready to jump on it with the Shad Raps and DT's. I don't find them to be as productive. No regrets trying them but in my case not nearly as productive. I would never say not to try them.

 

One of my most productive patterns is the original Rapala Bluegill. The have a real image version of a bluegill, no where near as productive. Looks darn good, will say that. They are still one of my favorite crankbaits.   

If you believe that a really nice painted lure works better, then it likely will. Confidence is the key.