Randy describes in detail his system for choosing the correct color for the specific situations you encounter on the water. #softplasticlures #bassfishingtips #bassmaster #fishthemoment #lurecolors
Randy, I have a modification to the Zoom trick worm that seems to really work well. I use a bamboo skewer to add flotation to the tail of the worm. I insert the skewer about a half an inch up the rear of the worm and cut it off using a small pruning tool. I cut at an angle which helps insert the next one. I don't know if you have ever tried this trick, but it does get me a lot more strikes. I uuse it almost exclusively on the trick worm but it may work on other brands as well. Thanks for all your great tips! My catch ratio has doubled just using the "side hook" technique on plastics! I've also been using more jigs and jerk baits then ever and have started catching more bass as a result. Thanks again Randy.....I hope you try the "tail float" modification to the trick worm. Heck man, we may have even invented a new worm!
I find it hard to believe that the tiny changes within 100s or 1000s of color choices would make a significant difference and that we somehow could know that we always have the right color tied on.
I've been Bass Fishing for over forty years and I never stop learning. Never ever stop learning... The only Fisherman I don't like is one who knows everything... 🤔
100% concur and appreciate everything Randy shared. I would humbly add based on my experience as a guide, there is a tangible factor that the color has to appeal to the fisherman as well. I could see a significant and distinct difference when a client would use their “Brought from Home - Local Secret” color over my suggestion. Even though I had been schwacking them for weeks, the client had this mindset that if they weren’t setting the hook every other cast then they would undoubtedly do better with their home brung. Once they swapped to theirs, it was amazing how much their casting improved, their focus on bite detection, slowing down their presentation, even when rigging, they would be as precise as all get out. Lastly and my favorite was, they would try ten times harder to catch because now their decision and local legend color was being tested and they couldn’t let it fail. Happy Hook Sets to All
Got it. Don't get hung up on green pumpkin. Switch to really light green pumpkin in clear, bright conditions and really dark, black green pumpkin in dark or cloudy water. ;-) Hey, just having a good time watching. I caught my first bass in 17 years last weekend! (I fish saltwater.)
Thanks to your recommendation, got my first hookup with weightless, black lizard fished at late dusk. tyvm Randy.!! I really appreciate the quality of your content and your NO hype, straight forward approach.
Great video Randy! The variables and trying to figure them out, is what keeps me coming back. Of course the tug is the drug, but the science of the catch is another drug for me! Casting something unusual is also a huge factor now, as you said! This channel is a priceless resource! Fishing wisdom at it's finest!
Used to catch bass like crazy in 70s 80s and 90s off black and purple worms , but since the early 2000s it's been all green pumpkin or watermelon red , don't get nearly as many bites off the black / purple any more .
Great video! On a side note, I am watching this using Sennheiser HD headphones, and when your wife started vacuuming in the background, I thought that my wife lost her marbles and was sleep vacuuming at 10:30 pm haha
Color selection can be overwhelming or confusing for me. This helped immensely. And... I didn’t know about dyes, may be out of my league but worth checking out. Thanks.
I love these videos haha. Not only for the content, which I really like, but the kids playing outside in another video and the vacuuming in this one (around 7:15). Keeps things real haha. When I was watching the other video where the kids were playing outside, I kept having to pause the video because I thought my girls were running around outside haha.
You shared some dye tips so I'll share 1 of mine. Instead of dipping your baits in the spike it container just put a little bit in the lid and dip it in the lid. It helps me highlighting the tips of my jigs without over doing the entire lure plus I will dip a straw and rub the side of the lure to add a little strip down the the side of the swimbaits I'm going to fish with. Thanks
Great video! I usually think of water clarity, but don’t think about how the wind will effect it. My experience is also that June bug does really good in the morning or at night.
I’ve decided that bass fishing is a lot like being a family doctor. There are all kinds of right answers, a few wrong answers, and a world of gray in between. It’s quite humbling.
first time throwing junebug last week, happened to have it on my swimjig through the grass and got 4 bites and landed 1 in no time, makes sense now lol
Cool insight on choosing watermelons & June bug colors in waters with tannic acidity. Insights between green pumpkin and watermelon are always welcome good sir
It’s all about confidence! I get more satisfaction catching fish on jigs I make, skirts I tie and colors I make with JJ’s magic or spike it. I buy a lot of soft plastics in white and die them.
Do you know of any pros that have severe color blindness? Like Jonny, I am color blind! Do you know why the fishing industry has decided to choose such ridiculous names for their bait colors?! EXAMPLE: “morning dawn” does nothing to describe what colors are in the bait. You and most others could look at the bait and say, “Oh, this brown worm has a purple stripe”. I can’t distinguish the brown or purple. Can’t they just call it “brown w/purple”? I can’t tell you how many anglers I have seen on the water that will say, “just throw something (purple, Red, brown, etc,)”. It seems like a small thing to those who see all colors clearly but the industry has really made it tough on us colorblind folks. No joke, I have to sit at home and ask my wife what colors are in every single bait and then write it on the bag. Anyway, really good info. I had no idea black was good in ultra clear water. Definitely going to try it.
Randy....we are close in age and as a kid my first bass on soft plastic was a black creme worm. I remember I was with my dad not expecting anything and caught a nice 3 lber in the pads!! That got me going with plastics and I haven’t looked back!! Lol!!
Randy I just listened to your choices for plastic worm fishing. Surprised you didn't mention black grape. I've been throwing them for ever. I've got all my partners using them, I'll tell them I'll give them one once we start worm fishing after that no deal. It out fish's all your colors 95 percent of the time here in s Alabama. I use them all to start with but if I want fish in the boat black 🍇 will be on my hook.Zoom trick 6.5 black 🍇 killer. By the way I'm older then you are ha ha.
Randy, I would love for you to do a video on this topic: “If match the hatch is a legit concept, shouldn’t Live Target be overwhelmingly the most successful bait company out there?” Thanks for you videos. Love them!
Watermelon red, bamabug, chartreuse and blue & perch. These colors have produced the most bites for me depending on month and water clarity. Lots of other great colors but these are always in my bag every year.
I live in Central Florida and fish all around all the time. Plus, I'm a bait maker and have been fishing for bass over 50 years. My best advise..... keep switching colors until you get a bite. Our water (with a very few exceptions) is always stained. One day it can be Strike King Moon Juice and the next day black/blue fleck, or pumpkin/pink laminate. If someone put a gun to my head never leave the dock without junebug, black/blue flake and watermelon red. For me I am going to have some serious Combo Laminates - the contrast of colors drives Bass into biting !
My Dad put it on me once on the Coosa with a watermelon CANDY, when I was throwing watermelonSEED right beside him. He was catching 5 to my 1. I figured out, since the spots we were catching were 19 feet deep in fairly clear water, the LIGHT PENETRATION was reflecting off the green and purple glitter of his and not mine. I adjusted quickly! I'm sure Randy remembers when Tom Mann Jr. let the cat outta the bag on the floating trick worm in GA. Back then (the 80's) it was white or merthiolate. We've come a long way.
Agree wholeheartedly on rotating colors.. I jumped a school of bass on a Carolina rig with zoom French fries and caught 16 bass. Catch 3 then rotate, 3 more then rotate. June bug, watermelon and pumpkin seed. Guy in the front of the boat didn’t get a single fish.
My main colors are green pumpkin, black and blue and watermelon seed but I do use several colors depending what the bass want, if I throw a color and they aren’t beating it up I switch colors until I get more bites
On my home lake most non locals struggle. Clear sky After 5pm red shad. Early morning Green pumpkin red flake, noon green pumpkin orange.. cloudy Plum or purple. Never afraid to change colors. Ps. Your tip on junebug in flooded willows or grass is 🎣🥇
Hey Randy, what is your reel cleaning/maintenance regimen? Curious if you ever disassemble reels and do a deep clean/lube. Also if you do any upgrades to stock reels (bearings, drag, handles, etc). Love the daily tips...keep up the great work 🎣
Maybe I’ve missed it in a previous video, but I’d like to see how you choose between fishing a drop shot, shaky head, ned rig, etc in a finesse situation.
Great as always. I have a jig combo that I absolutely love to throw on tablerock. It's a pb&j 3/8oz football jig with a 3.5" glow chartreuse swimbait. Have you ever tried anything like that? Also I hold the rod too high and give the jig a constant pulsating jig as it is falling, alot like a tiny creek jig that you are trying to keep off the bottom. .....if you haven't tried it, hit me up on social media and I'll send you some to try.
Randy, This is without a doubt one of your best, most informative videos yet, thank you! I find myself using Zoom, green pumpkin products probably 80% of the time. Sometimes with dyed tails, pincers, etc. I do have a question and the answer most likely will revolve around productivity as this is how you feed your family, but here goes. Does the "clear" with colored fleck ever come into play for you? In ultra clear water lakes and rivers, I have had some success with Zoom "cotton candy" products and with Kalin "clear" with colored fleck grubs. Not soft plastic, but I've even had success with a "clear" Zara Spook and puppy! Opinions??
I use the kalins clear salt and pepper grubs on some clear water streams when it’s sunny. Throw under bushes and trees mostly, shallow. Otherwise I don’t throw many other clear flake but will throw smoke which is clear with a dark tint and is a killer up north esp with purple flake.
Nice video man. I am always trying different color combinations to see if it will make a difference in the area I am fishing and a lot of the time It will get a few more bites
Interesting. When i get to 6 inches visibility in the water i'm thinking spinnerbait or squarebill with some color in it to get the attention of the fish.
How much you know about small PFAs? I have three around me and they are tough! What’s your advice on highly pressured small lakes. Thanks. I love zoom trick worms and glad you did this one. God bless brother.
A few decades ago, at a local B.A.S.S. Federation Convention, Tom Mann was asked about his favorite colors. He said when he goes fishing, he grabs whatever is in the rejects bin. Then he noted (paraphrasing here) "a fisherman's goal is to catch fish and lure maker's goal is to catch fisherman. A tackle shop display with many different colors of each lure will sell more lures than a display of only one color per lure." Food for thought. Or is it lures for thought??
Thank You! Love the Pro advice on color. I've just recently started wacky Rig fishing, I started out with green pumpkin but bought a package and started using Pink because that's what my friend has luck with. I had some good luck with pink also- what are your thoughts on pink?
Good video Randy. Can you show us how you store your soft plastics please? I’ve been thinking of going to plastic Plano boxes but I’m worried that the moisture and condensation will damage them.
Mike, I've used Plano boxes for years with little problem. But I pay attention to the boxes at the end of the day. If need be bring'm in open them up to dry. Coarse I will not put wet baits in the boxes. Hint get a magnet attach it to your box or boat to let the bait dry.
I wonder was the good old color selector device just a fad that didn’t work ? I’ve never owned one back in the day I wanted one but never got around to buying one
