I wouldn’t say I listen to Joe Pro. Heck i dont even watch any Pros. I do watch Alex Rudd, Wham, and Milliken on YouTube. Wham & Milliken haven’t said as much or anything about red but Alex Rudd slays fish on East Tennessee lakes using some variant of red/orange/blaze Berkley Money Badger..

Here is Red Hot in our Fogy

I’m fairly convinced the red (orange) color deal is primarily a marketing campaign gone overboard, designed to sell more baits. Iterations in the past such as ‘bleeding’ baits and red hooks all ran a similar course, getting a bit crazy at their peak.

 

That said, there are 3 situations I believe where the red/orange colors truly have value.

 

1. Fishing around any green vegetation, which is frequently a clear(er) water situation. Traps over emerging vegetation in spring would be a prime example. Red and green are complementary colors, two colors that are on opposite sides of the color wheel. This combination provides a high contrast and high impact color combination – and I believe that’s the biggest reason for the effectiveness of red baits in that situation. In clear natural lakes with well developed weedlines, red plastic worms always seemed to work well, too.

 

2. Muddy or clay stained water. This is a brown/orange/ red situation. The reddish/orange/brown water color we see is because of the reflected light, and so oddly enough, those colors will actually stand out well instead of being absorbed, especially in shallow enough water able to receive light penetration or scattering.

 

3. Local color preference. It seems like in certain bodies of water, bass have a penchant for certain colors, and there may not be any obvious reason for it. You really only find these things out by trial and error. But certain waters bass may just prefer red or orange color baits. I believe I’ve found one local lake that seems to be displaying this preference.

Lucky Craft Pointer 128 in Aurora Craw color has caught me several smallies over 6lbs prespawn. It's one of my several different favorites. I think I read somewhere that red shows up as black for fish. 

 

1 hour ago, Siebert Outdoors said:

Here is Red Hot in our Fogy

 

I have a couple of jigs and the bladed jigs in this color. They all catch fish well for me but are really great, for whatever reason, around wood and stumps.

 

My favorite colors in this realm from Sieberts are Amber Craw, Hot Sauce, and Red Hot. 

Hank Cherry won a classic years ago primarily using a red chatterbait. I’m sure that ignited the red color lure sales. Monkey see, monkey buy, monkey do.

Rayburn Red

Toledo Gold 

Chrome Red

 

Late winter, early pre-spawn, & spawn.

 

Reds, oranges, & chartreuses will out produce all other colors regardless of water clarity or water temperatures.

 

Red colors on Toledo Bend is a must have.

Plastics with red metal flake will out produce those without it.

Plum, Plum Apple, Cranapple, & Red Bug are all excellent.

 

All my spinnerbaits have a red head.

 

My #2 Jig-n-Craw color is Black Neon (red metal flake).

 

Ive done real well with red shad culprit worms in a variety of waters.

My 2nd best producing  crankbait is mostly red. Not that I fish with it much though.

I did real well once with the 4 inch orange senko, but never had much success on it after that. Ive caught a couple fish on an orange finesse worm but I rarely fish it anymore…

My favorite nighttime crankbait is a crawfish red Crankin rap. I imagine it looks black.

1 hour ago, scaleface said:

My favorite nighttime crankbait is a crawfish red Crankin rap. I imagine it looks black.

 

I have read that bass see red as being the color black below a certain depth. We may be fishing red lures but the bass think they are seeing black forage. 

Red Square bills and flat sides are very productive for me.

Never threw a red chatterbait.

4 hours ago, N Florida Mike said:

Ive done real well with red shad culprit worms in a variety of waters.

My 2nd best producing  crankbait is mostly red. Not that I fish with it much though.

I did real well once with the 4 inch orange senko, but never had much success on it after that. Ive caught a couple fish on an orange finesse worm but I rarely fish it anymore…

I didnt think about the red shad culprit worms. I caught a lot of bass on those in my 20s

The old guy at the church i do sound for fishes the same lake I do said they were slamming the red baits yesterday. So naturally I now own three new ones. I don't know that I'll be able to use them like he can but I have too many now to not use one

About a week from now I'm gonna dust off my old Devil's Horse with its orange belly and put it into action. Caught me a lot of Bass. 

 

 

These work well from the bank. Rapala Rattlin Rap 3/8 oz. TX and MS. 

 

Good Fishing

So what I'm gathering from this thread is color preference is not nation wide. 

The thousands of different lakes and rivers we fish doesn't have the same forage.

BUT i swear in the spring, if a spinnerbait isn't white with red strands in the skirt it's basically a Christmas ornament 😁.......if your pursuing smallmouth.

Bomber has a red/orange color apple red crawdad.

Lots of red color lures and a few orange, not too many red/orange.

I have had very good success with orange belly lures of several types and red deep diving DD 22’s over the decades of bass fishing.

 My 1st 40 lb limit was on a orange black 300 Bomber.

Tom

I've heard/read that in some parts of the country crayfish look rather orange or red. No doubt in my mind similar lure colors would work in a "match the hatch" type of way on those bodies of water.

 

 

10 hours ago, gimruis said:

Hank Cherry won a classic years ago primarily using a red chatterbait. I’m sure that ignited the red color lure sales. Monkey see, monkey buy, monkey do.

Sort of like this one? 😉

 

12 hours ago, FishTank said:

Sort of like this one? 😉

 

 

 

Just came here to post that you can be lazy and color your non red hard baits red and then when it's not spring you can wipe the red off with rubbing alcohol and it'll be good as new.

 

I almost always add some yellow to my baitfish cranks also.  Just a little juice for y'all 😉🎣

47 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

 

Just came here to post that you can be lazy and color your non red hard baits red and then when it's not spring you can wipe the red off with rubbing alcohol and it'll be good as new.

 

I almost always add some yellow to my baitfish cranks also.  Just a little juice for y'all 😉🎣

I have some the dye markers I use for that.  It will last longer on somethings than others but I do have red and orange. 

 

The bait in the picture is original chatter bait from when they first came out. It was a unicorn back then and I've had it forever. If you look at the red hook it has, you can tell I have only caught a few fish on it.  

Say hello to my little friend ~

A-Jay

15 hours ago, RRocket said:

I've heard/read that in some parts of the country crayfish look rather orange or red.

Ours look brown. Maybe a whisper of green too. No hint of red whatsoever. However, my best producing craw-shaped baits and trailers are blues or black/blue with blue flake. Make of that what you will.

 

I can't catch spit on a red bait around here. Not on a worm, a spinnerbait, a crankbait, or whatever. This frustration got me to polling the local dudes who all admitted the same thing, which is they haven't caught Richard Van Dyke on red baits either. Too young for that reference? Schmoogle it.😉

 

Anyway, I reckon it's a "here" thing, not just a "me" thing.

18 hours ago, Bird said:

So what I'm gathering from this thread is color preference is not nation wide. 

I fish lakes around here that are separated merely by a dam and spillway where they have different preferences not only for colors but for presentations when it comes to artificials. Like two different cultures altogether, and the forage base is pretty much the same. Go figure.

" I fish lakes around here that are separated merely by a dam and spillway where they have different preferences not only for colors but for presentations when it comes to artificials. Like two different cultures altogether, and the forage base is pretty much the same. Go figure."

 

One of fishing's greatest mysteries...I have experienced it too many times.

I've had a lot of success with the Stanley Vibra Wedge spinnerbait in Toledo Gold on the Susquehanna in the Spring.