are we to realistic

[ctom]

The waters I fish up here are all colored waters most of the time and dirty much of that. We see huge amounts of agricultural run-off in this area whenever we get hard rains and in the spring when the snow cover melts. I hardly ever put an opaque or solid color bait on a jig. On really dark, thick days if I am jigging walleyes I will use a black plastic with either a bright orange tail or the bottom 1/2 of the bait bright orange orange, never for crappies though. This is about as black as I get even when the water looks like I could plant corn on it.....I like that quip...thanks.

Every once in a great while I'll tie on a white or chartreuse or hot pink or hot orange head and work thru several colors of plastic if the fishing is flat, but I think I've done that once in the last 12 months. I have a custom blend of powder paint in a color called Almost Blue that is on the line more than any others combined. Its a transparent purple with micro fine blue glitter. It looks purple from one angle but blue from another. I'll try to put a pic of the color up tomorrow. I use this color with every color and profile of plastic I make. This color does as much as black does when black is working yet still has the reflectivity and brightness at all other times.

[Botanophilia]

I'm getting more into natural colors and find them to work very well in certain waters I fish.  Other waters I need to go with brighter, less natural colors.  Not only is water clarity a part of it, but water color can make a difference.  Part of that is light penetration and dispersion, but another part is that fish see color differently than we do.  I'll have to look up the one study an aquaintence worked on, had to do with color vision and visual cues in fish.  (specifically cichlids, but principles applied to all fish)

One of the waters I fish is dark and tannin stained, but the water is clear (not a lot of suspended particles).  Looks about like root beer.  Greens don't work in this water very well, but browns work great.  Along the same lines with bright colors, orange is way better than chartreuse.  And gold better than silver.  Haven't used them extensively, but I would suspect purple would outfish blue on this water.  A river I fish regularly is the opposite, the water ranges from clear to silty with a greenish tan tint.  Greens are better than browns.  Pretty basic stuff, but it seems a lot of people dont think about it.  Reds and whites seem to do well everywhere for me.

Something else people don't always think about is that fish don't follow just color in visual cues.  Pattern plays a big part, maybe a bigger part than color due to the variability in color caused by genetic, seasonal, or environmental effects.  So if the color isn't natural but follows a natural pattern that the fish would prey on they'll likely hit the bait. 

[ctom]

Nick brings up a huge factor in color choices when fishing different waters. Water color and clear water staining can have fish show entirely different color preferences. Nick mentions water loaded with tannin. In our area we see this component get heavy in the local waters when leaves drop in the fall and usually will hold onto some of this staining until spring rains and snow-melt run-off add to the water volumn enough to dillute it or flush the staining away.

Nick also supports my idea that fish see things different than we do, including color. In lieu of that concern alone, I have become a practitioner of over-kill when it comes to carrying so many different colors of baits when I hit the boat. My boat stock rides in a 5 gallon pail and all of the baits by color and shape are in seperate zip-locks. I have ten baits in each one at all times. And if I have a bait at home in a storage box, I have a ten pack in the boat when I go. Many of the baits I made as trial baits are still in ziplocks in that pail even though I don't have any at home. If I had all of this in boxes, I'd have to swim alongside the boat to fish. I do carry my jigs in well organized boxes. lol

In another thread regarding preferred crappie bait colors in another area here I mention my trying to bring some natural bait colors into play with my usual pets. There is also a pic there showing some of the more natural baits I plan to use. I have seen over the last couple of years a definite upward trend in natural looking baits, but I didn't really have any access to those unless I spent the money for those on store shelves. Since I began making these things myself, working up natural colors is a snap, but I still don't think that any of the photo-image appliques do anything to get fish to hit any better. In fact, I think the photo image stuff is used expressedly to sell that tackle to people. How fish see what we drop down to them is a lot of science, so instead of trying to dissect the issue in the boat, I take a ton of colors and profiles along and work thru things as I fish letting the fish dictate what they want.

[gstott]

I've found the water color issue to be true in my area too.  Those ultra clear lakes I fish have a lot of calcium carbonate in the water, so they're kind of a blue green color.  Translucent green plastics do very well for me while something like pumpkinseed does not.  There's a smallmouth and walleye reservoir I fish that has more color to the water, and brown baits are killer there.

[ctom]

I have a custom blend of powder paint in a color called Almost Blue that is on the line more than any others combined. Its a transparent purple with micro fine blue glitter. It looks purple from one angle but blue from another. I'll try to put a pic of the color up tomorrow.

This is the jighead color I mentioned in this post a couple days ago.

Almost Blue


In the sun this color is electric. Why its such a strong color for me I have no idea, but I can fish it in the dark, on very cloudy days, in twilight and strong daylight, at 6:30 AM, noon and again at 8PM.....nothing changes, it just works.

You notice the small fry here too. I was trying a method of getting a blood line explained elsewhere. I sure like the line in the tail, but the rest is sort of funky and the process involves me dipping color which equates to me turning colors not normal for human flesh. Had to try. Short period of wonder, now I know.

[MO QWACK]

CTOM  dude your skills are in real!

[Lamar]

    Can I ask how do you get that blood line in the tail like that ? I've noticed some other pictures from other posters have them and I can't figure it out.

[ctom]

Sometimes I think I'm just dumb for trying things over and over again.  I did a black line earlier that was so-so, but I like vivid in the line and decided to give it another run. This time the top color is a thin blue smoke with some silver and blue glitter tossed in along with just a hint of Turquoise hi lite. This was shot over a belly a bluish firecracker color...the bluish comes from about thirty reheats with blue glitter in it....not a bad color though. Caney/Do-It X2 Hot Pink is the line color.



Lamar....I'm using the Caney Small Fry 1.75" mold with a plate to seperate the top and bottom sections on the first shoot. I use the bottom sections by trimming off the tail and into the bottom section about 1/16". I use a razor blade to trim. Then I cut the piece off the sprue and place the pieces back in the mold on the tail half. In fact I open the mold and lay the bottom shot out and cut and replace each piece in the cavity they came from. Then I heat the top color and keep it hot. I use a tooth pick to dip just barely into the color that I want the vein. I'm talking straight, out of the bottle color now. I just touch the toothpick to the plastic ythat's been re-inserted at the very front, near the incoming plastic gate. I try to keep the dot of color in the center and close to the cut edge but not on the cut edge. You'll note that the cut pieces are just a hair short to fill the cavity, but there is a reason. First it allows the tail to fill when you shoot the top color and second, you can put a dot of color right at the cut edge at the rear. Do the dots fairly fast so they don't run. Close, clamp and shoot the top color you've kept in waiting. Shoot sloooowly and hold pressure for at least a ten count. I get right around a 30 to 50% success rate.

I've tried leaving the bottoms in the mold by removing the plate and seperating the sprue and then just dotting the front of the bottom half and shooting the top color. I really don't like the outcome doing it this way. Try it both ways to see which one works for you.

This should work with any bait that has a distinct top and bottom that can be seperated by a plate.

Keep some paper towels handy. This dipping and dotting can get messy. I have 8 thumbs and two little fingers and that complicates things for me. You can't imagine how many paper towels I use up. This little venture has doubled the rate of use. The wife swears she's putting a sheet meter on a towel dispenser and limiting my number of sheets per day. 

[Lamar]

  Got ya. I was trying to do the bleed with hot plastic and brush it in. It cools to fast. I seen Microspoon has some too. He's got it down to a fine art. Thanks for your help

[ctom]

Microspoons is a pure master at plastic and color manipulation. That man has a world with a fence around it in that department.

[ctom]

I've done several more shoots using this technique for the bloodline and will offer this for anyone who gives it a go. Use the X2 colorant for the bloodline dot of color you use. The regulat color is too thin and migrates all over on the half-plastic the dot goes on. It makes a mess in the mold. Also, if the X2 is too think for you, just a dink drop of worm oil or softener, or stabilizer helps to make the drop setting easier.