Does jig color matter?

Based on my limited experience, I say no. I try different color jigs all the time, never notices one gets more hits vs the other.

That's been a topic on here for many years.

Dutch (Hogon's Dad for the new guys) had the best answer and most correct in my opinion.
"Color doesn't matter till it does".

Yes it does matter. See above post.

Yes, it does. This is an easy question if you have been paying attention to the regulars at any crappie house. Can u catch crappie on different colors than what the majority of people in the "know" are using? Sure you can! Does everyone eat the same flavor of ice cream at Braums? No! BUTT- here is the big BUTT in the situation. How long do you stay with one color when you are getting 1 bite to their three? Crappie see different colors better at different times of day and water clarities. So does it matter if you catch more or less Crappie than the guy fishing next to you. That's a personal question that I can't answer. Rocky Road or Vanilla? Tennessee Shad or Electric Chicken? It does matter when it matters as Ken says. You still gotta give them what they want. Just be a good student about what the regulars are telling you. I keep records of what I caught, water clarities, time of day and I use my phone which I always have with me as my sticky note pad. I compile data when I get home and on some waters I only take 2-3 colors and catch all I need consistently. Do your homework and it will pay off. Details and facts don't lie!

Keep them records and pretty soon someone fishing next to you will say... 'Dang it man...what are you using?" You'll just grin and say, "I'm using what the fish want!"

Keep them records and pretty soon someone fishing next to you will say... 'Dang it man...what are you using?" You'll just grin and say, "I'm using what the fish want!"

I rarely stay anywhere long enough to know. I'm looking for active fish and if the bite isn't there, I'm moving on. 9 times out of 10, I'm fishing with a bait with chartreuse in it. The exception is a light blue and white or clear bait.

Rocky Road........ that is all

Sometimes yes, most of the time no, presentation and the fisherman make more of a difference than jig color.

For me I use different colors during the shallow spring spawn than post spawn and summer bite.

Why do I use a different color for the spawn, because I am usually fishing shallow and water clarity is not good during the spring rains(darker colors with chartreuse). During post spawn and summer water is clear and shad spawn is on.

So what you are saying is that jig color does not matter on active fish.

You fish like like do. But there are times I stick with a spot what I would consider too long, maybe I see a lot of fish on the spot or I just caught one so I keep at it a few more drops.... But my personal experience fishing hard all summer with live scope, there is no noticeable difference with color. Ever time I put on a new jig I pretty much change colors for the fun of it, just to see if there is a noticeable difference, and there is not..

But most of the time you are fishing by yourself, how do you really know it does not matter if you have nothing to compare it to?

I always fish with at least one of two people and sometimes the people with me think it matters and switch colors, if one person is catching 3-1 to the other is it color of jig or the fisherman?

Over the last month I have taken out 7 people. Normally I catch more, but not because of jig color, it’s action, placement, and recognize a light bite. That pink jig you gave me, it didn’t fish any different than my other jigs that day. I think comparing against yourself is a better test.

My point is you really never know, I agree most of the time it does not matter, however the day I gave you that jig to try was the day of the tournament and me and my partner had already put over 100 fish in my boat with our two man limit before 10 am. The last tree me and my partner fished before we saw you I put that pink jig on and caught 8 or 9 fish and he only caught 2, we were fishing side by side on the front deck and he was even in control of the trolling motor, we really thought the color changed triggered the fish to bite, maybe we were wrong, who knows.

It was a north wind and supposedly pink is good with a north wind, who knows.

I take offense to this. I didn't think I was getting out fished!

I will say after fishing with you the last few times, I was constantly changing my jig color and saw no change in the action. I've always been the type of person to use a different type/color jig as the person fishing next to me. It seemed pretty even on the number of strikes we would get. The only difference I could tell was changing the size hook I used. Once I went away from the custom jig heads with smaller hooks, it lead to 2-3x as many misses on good strikes.

However, on extremely clear water lakes I do believe jig color plays more of a role. I have fished right next to people who I will out-fish 5:1 because I'm using a realistic colored jig, versus green or other colors.

I wasn’t really referring to you and your Dad, I was really taking about some of my other newbie friends, but I do think I caught more than you and your dad, but I think it is because I fish more aggressively and I have more experience with livescope and dropping jig right in front of their face.

But to settle this, we might need to bring separate clicker counters next time.

Oh my, I want in on this little competition but I say we take my boat since I don't have Livescope(crutch) to even the playing field and everybody pitches in $25, winner of the most fish in the boat wins it all, we take turns on the trolling motor so nobody has an excuse.

Stop fighting the technology, Nellie. You need to up your game and get one, because getting me to fish without is not gonna happen. This technology is here to stay.

If you get livescope however, you might as well get spot lock, because your eyes will switch from staring at buoy/or maps screen to livescope screen.

Considering every time we are on the lake the same day fishing I catch a 2-3 man limit in half the time it takes you to catch a limit I will stick with my old ways of regular sonar/GPS/ and orange bouys for right now.

The day you catch your limit in half the time it takes me I will convert but until then it ain't happening.

Honestly it is pretty cool but I think it causes most people to stare at a screen trying to get fish to bite that are not active or not crappie. I like the thrill of trying to figure out the depth and presentation, not into watching a screen and trying to put a jig directly in front of a fishes mouth. I was never into video games and not going to start now.

My cousin has Livescope also and he tells me how it's cool but he wastes a lot of time watching fish that are not biting, he thinks he caught them a lot better without it because he went from spot to spot and caught active fish instead of wasting time now because he sees fish on a tree that will not bite.

Just giving you a hard time as usual, do what works best for you.

I think this is a great idea. I would 100% be down to fish in the same boat, but there's no way your getting @Fishinguy away from the Livescope.

I'd be willing to take that bet, but we should do 2 boats, have a time limit (3 hours), and the biggest 10 crappie total weight wins. I always like taking money from aggies.

You get your limit faster than me because you fish better spots, bigger structure, and a lot more fish on each spot. Where I’m fishing a lot of spots you have said yourself you would not mess with.

That is the thing with livescope, you fish hard spots. It’s like a new technology to find oil in hard to get places.

I really believe the size of your jig is more important than color. Just my opinion based on my experiences.

Name the time and day anytime, make it worth my while though, Livescope against old school, I'm in. We fish for two hours only, 10 fish stringer, $100 per boat and Guy can even use minnows!

And Guy those places you fish is all I fished last week because of the wind and did very well, I fish that part of the lake when the wind is high and always limit out there as well but since you like to fish there now I go elsewhere to give that area to you.

That place you gave me that pink jig, I have not fished that area since. I pretty much fish new spots every time I go out, and now I fish Fork, so I will be catching bigger fish than you.

I'm game, same terms and deal on Lake Fork competition. Name the day, I used to spend a lot of time on Fork several years ago, I'm sure the trees and fish have not changed much.

I'm in for either lake. You can keep those pink jigs though, that's some fruity stuff. I'll be on Texoma this weekend, but anytime after I'll take your money

You may have caught more fish but I definitely had more clicks than you...…….

I think I caught bigger fish too...

Nice Photoshop Guy. How'd you switch fish?

I told @Fishinguy to quit taking selfies with my fish out of the cooler.

So everyone who believes color doesn't matter only has one jig color in the boat?
And you fish that jig all 12 months of the year?
Water clarity doesn't matter, whether it's coffee brown or gin clear, still fish that same jig?

Whatever is on sale.

Really it’s just this summer using livescope I have formed this opinion. Funny I used to be real particular about the color I use. And when I go to buy jigs, they are out of the color I wanted (like black and chartreuse), so I buy a color I really didn’t want, over the years I have accumulated a bunch of jigs with colors I never used. Well guess what, I’m now using all those old jigs, and I’m not seeing a difference on the bite. It’s just what I’m seeing this summer using livescope on lakes I’m fishing. Gonna be fishing Lake Ouachita here soon, very clear lake, maybe jig color will matter there, I will sure test it.

if color really mattered,...fishermen would have figured it out by now.

Color and size matter! Just my two cents!

Color, line and jig size will definitely have an impact in clear water. Or just maybe your live scope hypnotizes them?

I just pulled the trigger on a 1,000 jig grab bag

I need all the Help I can get!

Color matters in shallow water more than deep. Look at the attached video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAJjdA6b4Ts

That's an extremely cool video. I'd assume with murkier water the color loss would be exponentially greater. Which makes you think color means very little during the summer crappie pattern.

Summer of '17..I fished the exact same jighead and body from mid June till late August when I finally lost it. I almost cried that day. I usually fish 2 rods at the same time, with a different color on the other rod, but 90% of the fish I caught came on that same bait.

I want all you fellas that get all excited about colors to start using Easter egg dye on your minnows. Try blue, pink, orange, all that stuff.

I think so.

I used a pink/white/pink for a while this AM, and nothing. Switched to a blue trouse, first shot and it was game on. Don't know how many, but I kept 12. I do think color matters. IMO

COLOR MATTERS AND CHANGES SEVERAL TIMES SOMETIMES DAILY, OTHER TIMES WEEKLY, OTHER TIMES MONTHLY AND THEN THERE'S THE YEARLY.....

I "KNOW" CHANGING COLORS WORK FOR ME AND THAT'S WHAT MATTERS.....

Yes sir...... I've seen that happen several times..... Don't it fun figuring these fish out....