It seems to me that a bait the color of a bruised banana  in a world of ‘natural colors’ would certainly stand out and be ripe for the taking.  I may have to slip a bunch of those into my tackle bag.

I think people put way to much emphasis on color...I'm guilty of it sometimes myself. I'm in the camp of shape and profile over color. I'm even more in the camp of right spot over "right" bait. They always say just do the best to try and match the forage in the body of water you fish. Well my local ponds has 3 or 4 color of craws...shad...gills...crappies. So to that point I need a bait that has red, brown, white, silver,black,2 shades of blue,orange,green and chartreuse. Another thing I'd like to point out is if bass were that picky they would never hit a purple worm...I've never seen a purple forage of any kind in any water body I've fished. Yet purple is still one of the best worm colors ever made. Just sayin.

32 minutes ago, DitchPanda said:

.I've never seen a purple forage of any kind

I have . I seen purple crawdads also darters that are as colorful as any aquarium fish .

Just now, scaleface said:

I have . I seen purple crawdads also darters that are as colorful as any aquarium fish .

Well I'm not saying that don't exist...I just never see them around here. But I still catch em on purple worms!

I've times where color definitely made a difference, I've seen times where color absolutely made no difference at all, & I've seen times where I had to change colors 3-4 times just to get bit.

I'm also a purple user . They have produced in every color water I  have encountered . 

Color affects different bass species differently.

NLMB I consider aggressive bass and color plays a roll but marginal.

FLMB I consider smart bass that are less aggressive most of the time and color can be a critical factor.

Smallmouth bass are like NLMB except tend to reach to brighter colors.

Spotted bass are like NLMB and more aggressive tend to prefer more natural colors of the prey they are hunting.

Bass are bass but different.

Tom

Just now, WRB said:

Color affects different bass species differently.

NLMB I consider aggressive bass and color plays a roll but marginal.

FLMB I consider smart bass that are less aggressive most of the time and color can be a critical factor.

Smallmouth bass are like NLMB except tend to reach to brighter colors.

Spotted bass are like NLMB and more aggressive tend to prefer more natural colors of the prey they are hunting.

Bass are bass but different.

Tom

I have noticed flmb to be very color selective and not as active as other species. Do you know anything about crappie and their color preferences, are they like smb and like bright neon colors?

Crappie like contrast colors; red & white, chartreuse & pearl white, bright green& black etc.

Tom 

15 minutes ago, WRB said:

Crappie like contrast colors; red & white, chartreuse & pearl white, bright green& black etc.

Tom 

Wow did not know that, will try these colors, thanks!

This is great dialogue.  I used to over emphasize color in lure selection.  Colors or appearance is more of a factor when the water is clear and the lure presentation permits the fish to get an extended look at the bait.  I agree color is one of several aspects that trigger a bass to respond.

Some days I like steak, some days I like pizza. Not sure why. The advertisers are like the fishermen, tossing ads in my face trying to lure me in. "Buy pizza! Buy steak!" Tonight I just went with beer. Those food advertisers skunked today.

 

 

"We are looking at the science though human eyes"

 

And I'm picking out lures with eyes that have a significant amount of red-green colorblindness. I once bought a 100-year-old house that had light pink tile in the bathroom and didn't find out about it for 3 weeks. I thought it was light neutral tan or something. There are different kinds of red-green colorblindness depending on whether you have defective red receptors, defective green receptors, or some of both like I do.

 

I wonder, are some individual fish colorblind or partially colorblind? It's all in the genes. Who knows what they're seeing.