Finally! The absolute truth about jig color. (Todays version)

I've always said, and I still believe, that a good fisherman can catch fish with any jig or color. Most of the time. However he can sometimes catch MORE by changing jig color or size. Last weekend was a good example. Rick and I were fishing a bridge and catching a fair number of fish. I lost my jig so I decided to try one of the new jigs that Matt (Jigum) gave me at the fishing show.

Later I called Matt to see what he called it (Purple Passion) and to order some more. It's a crazy color that I would not normally use. Well on this day the fish went wild for it. We ended up with over 200 fish caught and released. (You should see the bank fishermen going nuts when you release 2# Crappie)

I think that (todays theory) the fish under a heavily fished bridge have seen so many jigs that they start to ignore them somewhat and something new get's their attention for awhile.

So anyway I guess I will change colors now and then just to see.

Thanks for the tip!

TY, Ernest




Gman

Good info!

I believe the main thing is that crappie see alot of DETAIL . They have to know what they are eating or they would have bellies full of undigestible and potentially fatal garbage in thier bellies. It may be quite possible that the different colors , because of many factors such as wave action, water color, light intensity, depth , ect enhance or decrease the amount of detail a crappie can see. Bass on the other hand, ive seen them eat everything from cigarrette butts, to corks. and ive cut them open and found wood chips, small cigarrette lighters , and other odd things in them, but bass are more reactionary feeders. Great info thanks for sharing Ernest.

I completely agree with this, I see it all the time at fishing barges, fish have 100's of jigs dropped on them all day, then you try a different color that's not normally fished and they go into a frenzy over it.

Great post. For whatever reason for me it's jig head color. I use feather jigs and anything with a red head seems to do well for me. I'll tie on 2 jigs, 1 with red and 1 without, and the red head always out performs the other.

Great information Ernest. Probably one of the most discussed topics when it comes to fishing slabs.

And, if I can put in a little plug here - if any of you guys are looking for a a great instructional video about Crappie fishing, I highly recommend Earnest's video. As someone who still has a ton to learn about fishing for this species, Earnest's video gave me a lot of good information that I'll use for years to come.

So did you change back to another color to see if it was
really the color change that made them bite ?

Perhaps they turned on due to forces we do not understand.


Mo

I was watching Larry Dahlberg fishing with the inventor
of the Sebile line of lures. Mr Sebile brought up a very
valid point. A hot bite is the time for lure testing, and
technique experimentation.
Most people wait until the bite is not happening to try
something new. If they are biting ( or not present) it does
not matter what you throw or how you throw it.


MO

If you read some of the articles a crappies vision increases as the temp gets colder.It has been on here many times.But them crappie love them purple minners.I really think Ernest just got lucky 200 aint enough to make a jig change.LOL Way to go Earnest .Darrell

We did change several times. Caught some on other colors but did better when we switched back.

Ernest,

I totally agree that a good fisherman can catch fish with any jig or color,especially when they are biting. 2 other scenarios-

1. you catch fish on 6 casts in a row-then they slow down...quite often a change of color seems to pick up the bite before its time to move.

2. catch fish on 20 casts in a row-then they totally quit, maybe because of conditions, time of day, whatever-when fishing gets really tough, seems changing colors can keep you catchin a few.

Makes sense EP! Thanks for another great tip.