I’m running thru my old reserves of plain old vanilla lead sinkers.  Drop-shot and worm. Everytime I give a sinker to one friend, he pulls out a marker and colors it black.  There is a tackle shortage here.  Black worm sinkers are finally showing up on the shelves.  But I have so many cheap lead ones.  
 

opinions?  I seem to be doing okay with gray lead weights.   But will I do better with black?

Probably, based on the fact that you're losing faith in plain lead ... do they really make a difference? I doubt it

Nah.  Whenever I buy painted weights, the paint scrapes off after awhile, yet they don't stop biting.

The paint probably minimizes me ingesting lead with my beef jerky

I'm surprised you catch any fish with plain lead.  ?

Plain ole lead weights have caught fish for many years, color imho has no effect on the bite.

1 hour ago, Darth-Baiter said:

Black worm sinkers

Are you talking about lead weights that are painted black, or tungsten weights?

 

If you're talking strictly lead, black vs unpainted doesn't make a difference to me. 

 

Lead vs Tungsten is another story, and also carries a much higher price tag.

I prefer painted tungsten, black, green pumpkin/ black flake or reddish.

The color matches the bait and to me it just adds a finish to the presentation.

Every bass I have talked with agrees.

They come painted in green pumpkin and red flake now to. Plain gray, the fish would throw it back at me laughing. 

I tend to match them up with the bait. Just because I have a problem, not cuz it matters. So yes you are missing out. Lol. 

I find it interesting how some swear black sinkers are more effective than sinkers without paint. I do very well with non painted sinkers and never saw the need to use painted sinkers. 

10 hours ago, soflabasser said:

I find it interesting how some swear black sinkers are more effective than sinkers without paint. I do very well with non painted sinkers and never saw the need to use painted sinkers. 

Big O thinks painted weights make a difference, so I defer to him.

I dont know . I've painted lead sinkers with nail polish , painted eyes on them , scraped shiny streaks on oxidized ones with a pocket knife . None of it made a noticeable difference .  It is  good to experiment . Randy Blaukat just uploaded a video in which he quoted Albert Einstein .. Imagination is more important than knowledge because knowledge is limited and imagination is limitless .

I'm surprised California lets you use lead at this point, but that's not a discussion for here. 

 

Color really doesn't make much difference in my opinion. 

Put me in the "doesn't make a difference corner".  Matching the weight color to the bait does look better to the fisherman though, and that means a lot. 

I only use black weights.  I am more concerned with my purse matching my shoes and belt.

1 minute ago, J Francho said:

I am more concerned with my purse matching my shoes and belt.

Don't forget the eye-shadow.

1 minute ago, MN Fisher said:

Don't forget the eye-shadow.

I'm pretty enough to go without makeup.

 

Seriously though, there's some fun in setting up a rig that looks good to you, so matching weights might be a way to do this.  I used to get hand-made beads when I visited Corning, NY to put between the weight and hook as a clacker or attractant.  It didn't prevent the bite, and it was fun, but I'm not so sure it was something special that got me bites I'd be missing now with a simpler rig. 

4 minutes ago, J Francho said:

I'm pretty enough to go without makeup.

(waggles his hand)

4 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Seriously though, there's some fun in setting up a rig that looks good to you, so matching weights might be a way to do this.  I used to get hand-made beads when I visited Corning, NY to put between the weight and hook as a clacker or attractant.  It didn't prevent the bite, and it was fun, but I'm not so sure it was something special that got me bites I'd be missing now with a simpler rig. 

I'm not that OCD about it, but I do have black, GP and un-colored weights that I switch out to closer match the plastic...when I remember to do so...usually I'll just leave the GP one's on as a nice, neutral color.

Back in the early 00s, red weights were pretty popular.

3 hours ago, fishballer06 said:

I'm surprised California lets you use lead at this point, but that's not a discussion for here. 

 

Color really doesn't make much difference in my opinion. 

As long as I don’t cast at 900fps or up into things other things eat.  

6 hours ago, roadwarrior said:

Big O thinks painted weights make a difference, so I defer to him.

If it works for him than good for him. As for me I have no need for painted sinkers. I catch lots of bass, many of them are lunkers, all from land from highly pressured public waters. I am sure the bait monkey disagrees since it wants everyone to buy as much tackle as possible. lol

18 hours ago, Hammer 4 said:

Plain ole lead weights have caught fish for many years, color imho has no effect on the bite.

I agree with you 100%.