Which is it?  Color or detail

Living in east central Indiana I do a lot of smallmouth fishing in the three main rivers in my area. Most of my fishing is done using crankbaits about 80% of the time, maybe not always the best choice but it is what I enjoy most.

The subject of color, color patterns and the detail of crankbaits  is always a main topic of discussion anytime fishermen get together so I thought I would do a little testing of my own to see if it really makes any difference. The testing was done with a 3 color bait, one of my personal favorite colors, but using several variations of the same colors. The baits used were the same, Mdl. A Bomber Square bill in the 2 size, no alterations were made except for color. The colors used were dark brown, chartreuse and orange and no other details were added.  All the colors were airbrushed and no topcoat was used, since I would be repainting them often and a little paint loss was no problem. Experimenting with these baits over the last couple of years and have found a few interesting things.

1. No matter which order that the paint was applied made any difference in the ability of the bait to catch fish. Brown back, chartreuse middle, orange belly or any combination to these colors on the bait. No eyes, gill or fin detail was painted on these baits just the color order. Also tried a couple with the colors painted from front to rear.

   

2. If  I detailed any of these colors by adding scales, craw patterns or   eyes it did not make any noticeable difference in catching fish. They sure did look better though.

3. Did the same thing a few years ago with FireTiger colors with the same results.

My own conclusion is that certain colors will catch fish, more by the colors painted than the order they are painted. The key is visibility in most water conditions, not Match the Hatch. I have never seen a bass swimming along side a bait doing a scale count before eating a bait.                        

The right color attracts bass, detail attracts the fisherman. It's a reaction bite application so the bass aren't worried about details, as you stated. nice topic

great post. I think if the bass see it, it looks real due to the presentation, they will react and eat it.

You could have posted your question on here and got an answer in five minutes instead of two years!!! ;D ;D ;D

Thanks for the info though....

The right color attracts bass, detail attracts the fisherman...

Yep. The million different color combinations on lures are simply used to catch fishermen.

A lot of the detailed ones also tout a better build quality and also a BIGGER price. Better hooks, better balance, etc......will probably make it run truer and with better hooks will probably land more fish.

That being said, my little cheapo $4.00 Tennessee Shad Bandit Crank owns my Skeet Reese $15.00 Ghost minnow Crank. Which looks more realistic to me? The S.R. does but I'm not the one trying to eat em.