Does anyone know why all of the old school lure companies used to paint many of their products with a white body and a red head? How did that get started and why? Just curious?

my guess is that it was an imitation of a bleeding baitfish. good question. the old farts will be here soon.

Old fart here! Only reason is that it flat works! I've said right along that a lot of these new fangled "natural" patterns (photo finishes, etc.) in crankbaits is a bunch of bunk. A bass by it's nature is drawn to an easy meal. Don't think it could survive if it was counting the gill covers!

In the "good ole days" of bass fishing, we did not have the lure selection nor the science to have many colors.

We knew that white would always attract the bass no matter what the water conditon, clear, stained, muddy, etc.

The red was to set off the white and then to imitate the gills or an injured baitfish.

The lure was made of wood; had some action; but it flat out caught bass.

Marketing has changed all that. You now have to have the new "dysentery" color to nail those nasty bass of today.

There are the "Bass Primary Colors" for plastics and crankbaits and those are all you need.

The problem is that everyone has their onw "Bass Primary Colors" that work for them depending on each type of bait they throw.

This is what makes bass fishing so much fun.

Im not an old timer (28). One of my best producing baits is a white mouse with a red head. I have never seen a mouse with a red head. But it catches fish, so i dont question what the bass thinks it is.

Old fart here, not THAT old but you can say I´ve been in this hobby long enough to have lived through several novelties ( photpofinish, Guanim, hyper realism and obviously old school ), you need your bait to look like ( in every detail ) forage ---> no, red head/white body, black, yellow, white coach dog ( black dots on white base ) yellow coach dog ( black dots on yellow base ), bone ( white stripes on black base ), silver black back, gold black back, silver blue back, firetiger n´such are extemely basic color patterns and they continue to work as well now as they have done for decades.

In the final run, what catches fish is your ability to outsmart them.

The companies used it to catch you the fisherman. Put an all white, an all black and a white with red head on the shelf and and the white with red head would sell first. Then articles would be written about how the "bleeding" head lure caught more fish than any other lure. Then the next thing you find out is that the "bleeding" head lure is the number 1 selling bait of xyz company. In the end, Raul is correct by saying:

Raul:

In the final run, what catches fish is your ability to outsmart them.

My preference is white (or very light), hard or soft, day or night, fresh or salt.