I read in a Bass magazine(cant remember which one)that sometimes Bass see the flakes or fleck in a plastic bait as a cloud of small ,newly hatched fish fry.Instead of striking the bait because its a worm, Senko or Lizard,the fish will actually target the flecks/flakes. In fact the writer of the article was on the boat with Mike Ike and he was the one making that statement and observation. Anyone ever heard of such a thing. Im not doubting it,(we are talking about Mike Ike here,hes good, so why doubt him)but just wondering what everyone else thinks of this.

I saw that article in Bassin' Magazine. Ike said that the bass were feeding on newly hatched fry during the early post-spawn period. He matched the color of the water with the main bait color, and made sure the bait had black flakes.

LOL, I am one of those guys whom screams color does not matter that much, and I really think its a lighter or darker color for the conditions that really makes the difference but, lol, if my tube for smallies is green pumpkin or black, it had better have red flake in it or I just don't feel right, same with my dark melon needs purple flake and smoke needs purple flake, lol. I only use these four colors. Does it make a difference?, probably not, but, like I said, I just don't feel right without these flake color combo's,lol.

Flake adds flash to bait, even if it 's black, it 's the light reflecting properties of the flake what you are looking for.

you flake  ;D

Seriously though.  This thought process makes sense,.....till the guy in the next boat hits them on watermelon chartruese swirl  I think the color works a lot of times because that is the color that was thrown, simple as that.  I could be totally wrong though, happens a lot,lol.

i once read in a  infisherman magazine an article about huge baits for huge bass. of course the main bait was pricey trout swimbaits. but a low cost alternative they mentioned were HUGE tubes. im talkin tubes bigger than your hand. anyway, they were clear-ish w/ alot of flakes. they said that the bass see it as a small school of fleeing baitfish and just attack it.

here is a picture of the little thing about tubes:

dsa,who makes those tubes and have you ever tried one?

the dude from the article, Bill Siemantle, developed them for Lindy, and theyre called "Tiger Tubes". i have not personally tried these tubes, but based on the article they work very well. here is a link to them on bass pro shops website: http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_41815_100007006_100000000_100007000_100-7-6

HOPE THAT HELPED!