7 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

I do a lot of reading on this subject and find it fascinating.  The more scientific term for luck is randomness.   It no doubt plays huge role in fishing.  I read a book a few months ago call the "The Hot Hand" by Ben Cohen.   It was mostly about the hot hand in basketball but covered the concept in other areas.   We've all seen times where a basketball player hit's several shots in a row and suddenly everyone thinks he's got the hot hand.  They start feeding him the ball until he cools off.  This concept of the hot hand has been studied to death in basketball and other sports.  Is it real or can it all be explained by luck?  Countless articles have been written in scientific journals on this subject.  

 

Basketball has nothing on fishing when it comes to randomness (luck).  You change colors and catch a couple of fish.  Is it the new color or is it just luck?  I suspect that some folks catch a few lucky fish and end up having a new favorite color for life.  

 

 

 

  This last paragraph is why I think its important to be objective instead of subjective before choosing very colors, techniques or baits. Just because something saved you day once doesn't mean you should come home and buy out tackle warehouse of every color. We've all done that and that's how you end up wasting fishing time and money ending up with a box full of baits you never throw again.

  Ill even add as it pertains to color that yes its fun to go down the rabbit hole and really dial it in. But day in day out for most baits and bodies of water white(shad)....green(sunfish/perch)...brown black and purple(crawfish) will consistently produce better than most colors. There are exceptions of course...pressure and water clarity can be huge factors. But just because someone hammers them on a drop shot on a orange and red roboworm with the tail dipped in blue JJs magic doesn't mean that color is better in most situations or bodies of water then green pumpkin or brown.

  One example ill give is I got on this bite years ago on a mojo rigged havoc bottom hopper in the black emerald color on my home pond. Suddenly I had 15 bags of them my new favorite color. That bite lasted 2 summers then my water color changed and I can't get bit on it. Never really had luck on it elsewhere. But if I put a June bug or green pumpkin bottom hopper on the same rig I can get bit almost everywhere.

2 minutes ago, DitchPanda said:

Just because something saved you day once doesn't mean you should come home and buy out tackle warehouse of every color.

I 100% agree.....but I still buy a lifetime supply when I get home just in case I'm wrong  ?

21 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

I 100% agree.....but I still buy a lifetime supply when I get home just in case I'm wrong  ?

Guilty as charged to my friend. But I'm trying to do better!

Color selection is just part of the game. At least y’all are smart enough to switch up to make things happen. As Mike L said “give yourself some credit”. I guess a guy can be successful being a one trick pony and keep throwing the same thing but I don’t think so. 
 

I know a guy from the river who probably has $2000 of fishing tackle in his boat. He would buy almost anything and everything. Well this dude got to listening to the game warden (big mistake) that preached to him that all he needed was a firetiger crankbait on the river. Over the years he did catch a few nice fish. He had to have had. He put time in on the river weekly. But that one trick pony would pull that rig up the highway skunked on many of days. That’s a fact. I’m not implying a Bomber Model A crankbait is not good. I’d like 10 cents for every Smallie I’ve caught on one. I know for fact that there are other patterns far more productive then the firetiger. And he had the stuff on that rig. Just chose to not apply himself. 
 

At least many guys on here choose not to be a one trick pony and apply their skills to make things happen. 

Sometimes it's luck, and sometimes it's skill.  I don't try to figure it out.