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Match the hatch in Dirty water?

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So at my lake the bluegill are very light in color for some reason, I'm guessing this is because of the low visibility from algae blooms, the other day I caught some of these little guys to get a better look at the color on them, all the same pretty much. Would using bluegill colored lures work in this situation? Do the bass even see the bluegill? Or do they feed on them via lateral line? Should I continue to use darker colors to stand out or try to find colors that look like these bluegill? 

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  • Super User

It depends on how dirty the water is.  But if it's dirty enough (like all of the lakes near me), I try to match the size and use either black and blue or chartreuse and yellow.  I don't worry much about realism and focus more on colors that will contrast with the water to present a good silhouette.

Definitely stick with bluegill colors or black back chartreuse they will get bit.

 Copperteuse from Zman is a good bluegill imitator. It has a green pumpkin red flake  back and chartreuse belly. Your bluegill still have that noticeable orange patch on their chins so maybe a swim jig with some orange can do well. Let us know what kind of baits you plan to throw and maybe someone can chime with some really specific colors they use to imitate bluegill. 
 

 Ultimately, we have no way of knowing what the bass actually see or feel but my guess would be that if a bass is accustomed to living in muddy water, then it will rely much more on its lateral line to hunt compared to a fish which has lived its whole life in gin clear water. It’ll be much more of a shock for those clear water fish when their water muddies up. In your case, what’s the typical visibility? What’s changed and how long has it been muddy for? 

  • Super User

My personal opinion is bass are more attracted to the silhouette than the color. 

 

But then again they're attracted to a spinnerbait ?

Stick with the dark colors in plastic (black, June bug, etc) and chartreuse  black back for cranks.   

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