I don't  know how many times I have read that bass only see the bottom of a topwater lure.  This statement does make sense because the they are looking at a lure that is above them but I'm not sure if this often stated as fact belief, is indeed true. 

 

I took some pictures of a Pop R at different angles.  All of the pictures have the lure above the line of site of the camera.  I know I should have taken the pictures in the water, but my phone is not water proof.  I have looked at lures from below the surface, and the results are the same.  The only angle I can't see at least some of the color on the side and top of the lure are when looking from directly below.  Obviously a bass has the ability to observe the lure from many different angles and distances.  

 

I am not picky on the color of my topwaters, because I don't think color on a topwater lures matters very much, but I do believe a bass can see more than the bottom color of the lure.  If the conventional wisdom is right, then someone please show me a picture that proves me wrong.

 

I haven't been able to go bass fishing for a few months, for various reasons.  Now I know how anglers feel when their favorite lake is covered in ice for months.  Think of this post as a I'm going crazy midwinter post.

 

 

 

Ahhhh in a few months we will be iced and wintered out ughhhhh. But my elbow can rest and I’ll make lures lol. Or try new to that part of the hobby lol. 
 

im a firm believer it doesn’t matter. I like an all black top water. Frog,plopper whatever. But last time I bought a couple poppers locally I got what they had…..it made no difference. They see and hear a commotion. They strike. Just my opinion though. 

3 minutes ago, Joedodge said:

Ahhhh in a few months we will be iced and wintered out ughhhhh. But my elbow can rest and I’ll make lures lol. Or try new to that part of the hobby lol. 
 

im a firm believer it doesn’t matter. I like an all black top water. Frog,plopper whatever. But last time I bought a couple poppers locally I got what they had…..it made no difference. They see and hear a commotion. They strike. Just my opinion though. 

I agree.  I don't think they don't often care what color something splashing on the surface is, but I do believe they can see more than the color of the belly.  

I think they can see the color of it. I think it doesn't matter as much, because when they hit a topwater they are pretty active.

 

I do think that a lure that looks like a fish will be more productive than some wild color.

Sure, when it's sitting still they can't see it. When it's walking back and forth, there's some roll to the bait that would let them see the sides. Or consider a bait like an Evergreen Showerblows that rests at a 45 degree angle. The sides become visible to almost every angle and the back is even visible to a fish high in the water column behind the bait. 

 

 

Dark, light, chrome, translucent.  That's it for the vast majority of mainstream topwaters.  I adjust the type of action more often than color. 

I think they can see pretty much everything except the top/back depending on their distance. 
 

That said, I go for darker colors at night, lighter in the day. When it’s really glassy, I go for more translucent.
 

As far as wild colors go, during the Color-C-Lector approved baits phase in the 80’s, I remember my uncle flat cleaning our clocks with a fluorescent orange Zara Spook. 

My belief is that topwater is the one type of bait for which colors and patterns matter the least. With the cost of baits these days, I'm not buying several colors of them. Heck, most topwaters I only have one of. I have multiple sizes of some.

 

I did buy an older gentleman's entire original Spook collection a while back.

@king fisher

Sorry to hear you haven't been able to fish.

Hope that changes for you sooner rather than later.  As for long winter threads i've made a few, so I can certainly relate. 

When it comes to top water baits , I pick and choose based on size profile and action as well as color or pattern. There is really no way for me to know how a bass perceives the color of a bait.  Might not be the same way as that.I see it.  And what?

About at night ?  Does it even matter ?

That said I like to pick baits that match the local forage in color and pattern in particular and in profile and size.  I have confidence in doing that because these are the Baits that I fish the most. So consequently, these are the Baits that get the most bites for me. One sort of feeds the other. For instance, a perch colored popper is by far my most productive pattern for big small mouth here.  And yet I have caught plenty of very respectable fish on a variety of other colors as well.  

But if I was one a wide open world class  top water bite and I suddenly realized that I had left the perch colored Baits at home  I would be very sad and  my confidence level would not be as high fishing the other Baits.  Of course being wildly neurotic doesn't help me out here at all.

Fish Hard but tie your baits on while blind folded.

🥸

A-Jay

 

I aways try to match the color of the live poppers that I see popping across the water.   😆

Silhouettes. Action, noise, movement 

Don’t you just love it that each frog is sold so that the top of it is facing the outside of the package?
 

This is to catch anglers wallets. Not to catch fish.

 

Don’t be a sucker

The past two summers, I fished topwater lures a lot, catching more than a thousand bass on the surface. Here's the pattern I perceived regarding color:

Black, white, bone and a translucent that allows the color scheme to show through the bait really do most of the work here.

I just viewed a video on bass and color vision. One section was topwater.

1. Bait profile and action are the most important.

2. The bottom of the lure is a dark silhouette. 

3. The exception is a color selection that enhances the lures contrast.

4. Clear water: a translucent colored bait.

Agreeing with @F14A-B and @  Swamp Girl (I see what you did there ;) 

I think color is the least critical aspect of lures. Size, shape, action, and presentation are more the deciding factor, IMHO. I mean if bass were smart enough to not strike a lure because the color was off then they would certainly be smart enough not to strike anything that had sharp hooks hanging off of it. 

39 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

The past two summers, I fished topwater lures a lot, catching more than a thousand bass on the surface. Here's the pattern I perceived regarding color:

 

 

Same.  They eat what colors you throw pretty much.  Color only matters a tiny amount of the time and I think with topwater it's more about what it's doing and how big it is.

Really sorry you haven’t been out.  That’s gotta be like being in the Mecca of the thing you love and being chained to the couch.  I can feel that.

 

Since you’re chained up, look up “snells window” as it pertains to fishing.  That’s a rabbit hole to kill some time.  It applies to anything on the water’s surface, but you’ll find it a lot for fly fishing dry flies as well as anything else topwater.  In short, the angle of what the fish sees bends away from the perpendicular point.

 

This is a good visual.  Basically Straight up and in the water they can see.  Above the water line they struggle to see and what they see in a particular spot is actually at an angle away.  For a round-ish body lure, that means anything that is at the lateral line level of the lure and below the water, they see it.  Above that, they can’t mostly see it.  There is a midline area of the bait that rolls and they see it and the top there is no way physically. To that end, I think I should paint the tops of my lures hot pink so I can see them better.  

 

That said either black or shiny is the answer.  If it is sunny, then make it reflective to take advantage of that.  If it isn’t, make a solid profile. 

 

2 hours ago, ElGuapo928 said:

I think they can see pretty much everything except the top/back depending on their distance. 
 

That said, I go for darker colors at night, lighter in the day. When it’s really glassy, I go for more translucent.
 

As far as wild colors go, during the Color-C-Lector approved baits phase in the 80’s, I remember my uncle flat cleaning our clocks with a fluorescent orange Zara Spook. 

Would you say you have a plethora of topwater lures?

I Always think of burning a buzz bait across the surface and the aggressive strike....... did they really see what color it was ❓ or was it the disruptive nature of the bait ❓ idk

 

1 hour ago, BigAngus752 said:

Would you say you have a plethora of topwater lures?

Why yes I do, Jefe!!

Now, I will qualify my assertion that bass are generally indifferent to color with this: In northwestern Ontario, where the water is so clean and clear that we drank straight from the lake, and where we cast Rapala F13s that sit in the water as much on it, color did seem to matter. We fished fluorescent orange most mornings, but some mornings that did seem to prefer blue...or gold...or chartreuse. I preferred when they preferred fluorescent orange because they were easier to see in the fog of four a.m., but if my partner was outfishing me three-to-one with his blue Rapala, I switched lickety-split. They were smallmouth. With lmb, I tie on whatever is close.

I don’t think color is as important with top water as it is with other lures. That being said, if I open my box up to show off my top water lures, “here are my white and black lures” sound pretty boring. “Here are my California 420, Ayou, Alabama craw, Green Tiger, Hot mustard top waters.” Way more cool. As the kids say….it’s all about the drip! 🤣

Believe color definitely can have an influence on the bass striking a topwater lure, especially in clear water. They look up and colors like red and orange can entice strikes. 

Good Fishing

3 minutes ago, GreenTrout said:

Believe color definitely can have an influence on the bass striking a topwater lure, especially in clear water. They look up and colors like red and orange can entice strikes. 

Good Fishing

I guess there's no definitive answer for every place. When you see a video showing what a bass sees from below it's usually in a swimming pool or a tank. The visibility in my lake is 4' if it hasn't rained in a week.