Green pumpkin gets a lot of play. Mainly because it's the most natural looking color. I also like red shad for plastic worms, or bubblegum for floating worms. I have black worms, June bug, etc. But most of my soft plastics are green pumpkin.. And they always will be til something better comes along.
If the water has a stain, a dab of spike it chartreuse makes it more visible.

 

Green pumpkin is the main standby in the south. Most craws in the area go through that green color and it also can be used to resemble bream.

Not trying to suggest this is the case with you, but it tends to be more true than not for anglers...

When it comes to that "one" color, it is quite possible that because you have caught fish with it, you have developed a great confidence in that one color, possibly to the extent that you work any other color differently. Not on purpose, of course, but subconsciously you may fish the other colors differently, even though you think you are fishing it the same.

Confidence is a very good teacher and for me, if I have been catching fish with albino flukes, and I try other colors, I know I get impatient and work them differently until I make a very conscious effort to work them the same. It's not always easy to use different colors and have the same confidence in each. And it's also possible that each color has it's limitations in a given area.

That said, the colors I have, no matter the region of the country, and the water clarity for each are:

Green pumpkin - all water clarities
Watermelon seed - very clear water
Black and blue - stained to dirty water
Red Shad - dirty water
shad colors - stained to clear

Dipping any of these with chartreuse may also help get a reaction.

I think the main thing about color is that they see it...and it helps at times if the color resembles something the fish prey on.

 

Bill Dance use to say, "any color will work as long as it is blue". I have caught bass on just about every color out there, but if I could only fish with one it would be a dark purple (like june bug). It will definitely catch bass in any color water.

 

If it is green, its the right color. Variations of green pumpkin and watermelon are where my confidence is at, black and blue isnt far behind. If I put on anything june bug, I am usually done with it in 20 minutes and back to something green. Like Wes said... confidence.

 

For some reason, I can't bring myself to throw anything but bubblegum, red, or white as floating worms. Guess it's being able to easily see the worm.

 

I was given this link, it may help.

http://fishingstatus.com/tools/lure-selector

I have seen it give a suggestion in the past, can't get one now.

 

I was given this link, it may help.

http://fishingstatus.com/tools/lure-selector

I have seen it give a suggestion in the past, can't get one now.

The issue with it not giving recommendations has been fixed.

A lot of people will tell you colors don’t matter, and others will even swear by certain colors that they are most confident in. Certainly matching the hatch is a huge factor, but picking the right colors according to conditions can be the difference between a “slow” day or an epic one.

Several years ago I researched for several months how different colors appear in the water at different depths, color of water, clarity of water, times of the day, and even different season. What I found were that several of those old wives’ tales were true. Darker colors should be used on darker/cloudy days, poor water clarity, or early morning/late evening, and lighter colors on sunny days or in clean water. Silver in clean water, gold in dirty water. Dark green in green water, dark brown in brown water. Fall colors in autumn. The list goes on, and most of them have solid scientific backing to prove their truth.

There has also been a good bit of research of what colors fish see, and specifically what colors bass see the best. Yes, black makes a great silhouette and a lot of fish are caught with this color, but bass do see Purple, Blue, Green the best, and in that order, which also happens to be the colors that are most easily seen at depth. Other human visible colors quickly become “grayed” out in the eyes of a bass, according to popular scientific opinion, especially at depth. However, all research suggest that bass see Ultraviolet better than any other color. We can’t see Ultraviolet without a special light, but fish see this color the best. Now here is the kicker… White, Pink, and Chartreuse naturally reflect UV light, as do silver/gold/mylar/chrome of course. Lures/plastics that have these colors or have been dipped/tipped, or have UV additives will outperform those that do not.

The good news is that many of the major brands have UV additives added to the plastics. Here is a video that explains it in more detail and you can see what I am talking about visually.
[video=youtube;TBe1btqbQ_k]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBe1btqbQ_k[/video]

I am so convinced that UV is the key to catching more fish that I bought a UV light and went through all of my tackle and removed anything that did not reflect/glow with UV light, even if it was a black/purple/blue/green in color. And there is a difference between “glow in the dark” (aka luminescence) and UV.

Considering all of the above, that fishing lure selector was built using a formula and algorithm that computes the best colors based on the provided conditions. By changing the water color, weather, time of day, etc., the recommendations are refined. To get a more local fishing analysis, check out the main dashboard/home page: https://fishingstatus.com/home

Here is an example: Falls Lake Fishing Forecast

It uses local fishing reports and provides recommendations based on species of fish being caught in your area. There is a lot more saltwater data than freshwater data, so if it does not have any recommendation, it is because there are not any reports in that area for that time of the year. However, if you add a report and specify the species (largemouth bass for example), it will provide recommendations based on that species of fish. It is currently limited to 78 species of fish, and some areas will have way more data than others. If you use the filters, and even changing the time of day, it can give widely different recommendations based on those scientific principles that I mentioned above.

Anyway, sorry for the long post, but I thought some would find this interesting and may be helpful for picking the right color. Feel free to ask any questions.

 

Ok, I'm gonna be different as usual. I normally fish ponds and not big lakes, so take this as you may.

I stopped fishing about 15 years ago, life got in the way and I lost one of my honey holes. I just got back into it this year.

I've always had the best luck with a grape (not purple) fire tail. I hate Culprit worms and it's next to impossible to find them otherwise.

Since I've come back, I've also had pretty good luck on watermelon seed chartreuse tails.

In general I have had better luck with something that has a bright tail. I mostly fish Texas rigged.

 

Interesting thoughts and opinions. I know I'm not a fish, but when I throw a green or red colored worm into dark water like Falls, it disappears instantly. I like bright colors. And the fish seem to agree. I honestly used to hardly ever use soft plastics. I had bags of them, but hardly ever used them. Was too impatient most of the time. But I've been throwing them weightless Texas recently, and catching a decent amount of fish. But only with two bright colors. Darker colors, I've yet to even get a bite on, and I've tried, believe me I've tried other colors, red shad, green pumpkin, etc, etc. I'll throw one for a while, swap back to my bright color, and fish on!

I started with one bag of them, and ran out one evening. Next day went to three or four stores and couldn't find that color anywhere. The place I bought them was all sold out. Bought a BPS look-alike in a very similar color. They worked, slightly different size, but similar color pattern. Only problem was they wouldn't stay on the hook. I'd seriously throw one off the hook while casting one out of every 3 or 4 casts, and any fish on, would knock the worm off. The fish didn't care that they were slightly larger or slightly different color, I just went through them like a fat kid eating candy at Halloween. Finally found the original ones and stocked up. I've bought several other colors since then, and tried them all, with nothing to show for it. My son just calls them magic worms. If we haven't caught anything in an hour or so, he'll ask when I'm going to go to the magic worm? He caught a perch on one yesterday.

As far as "natural looking". Anytime I've fished with nightcrawlers, they turn light pink or light grey once you dunk them. Never seen a green one. ; )

 

Green isn't a night crawler color. It's a bream or craw color. Dark colors show best in dark water. The silhouette shows better against the brown water.

Fish can see much better than us underwater, but more importantly, they use the lateral lines to feel the vibrations from the baits and then the silhouette to see them.

Try the darker colors. Trust that they have caught large limits of bass in a large number of tourneys across the country. Use them and get confidence.

It really is about confidence no matter the color or bait.

The best anglers overall have fished many different types of baits and gained confidence in them. They use them at times almost exclusively til they catch fish and gain more confidence. The more confidence, the more fish. That's the secret.

Get more confidence in a number of baits. More fish will be caught.


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For me originally coming from up north, plastic worms were always 1) black; 2) "motor oil"; and 3) purple/grape.

Then at some point my local bait brand up there went out of business. I have seen motor oil in the catalogs but at the store the closest I could ever find, visually, to what was called motor oil up north was green pumpkin. These old worms and grubs I had looked like green pumpkin but the brown color for the motor oil name was visible when holding it up to the light. That's how I originally found green pumpkin, was that they looked similar but without holding it up to the light. Now I use green pumpkin over 90% of the time for bottom baits like worms, creatures, and jigs. I agree with lewisfishing its a crayfish and bluegill imitation. Watermelon seed does pretty well too.

 

I have always liked black with blue flake or black with a red flake. Those colors work well for me. June bug does really well also.

 

After reflection, my favorite colors are:
1. Green Pumpkin Blue Flake
2. Green Pumpkin Magic
3. Green Pumpkin Purple Flake
4. Green Pumpkin
5. Green Pumpkin Blue Flash

 

xfernal's link, when set to Falls Lake, confirms my worm color choice. ; )

 

How has no one mentioned pumpkinseed??????????

 

I'm with you there!


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Not knocking the color by any means but I haven't bought pumpkinseed in years. I'm sure it can work...goes with confidence I suppose...I used to use it when I started bass fishing but find the greens to be more consistent.


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Wes, I have noticed when I throw regular pumpkin speedcraws on a Texas rig, I catch just as many as one of the green pumpkin variants, however, on a Carolina rig, it's either the green pumpkin or nothing.

 

Man I've caught probably 1000 bass growing up on pumpkinseed zoom or culprit worms, never really used that color on anything else but worms, but on farm ponds or black water it was unbeatable. Its every old man's secret weapon around here.

 

Not sure why I don't use pumpkinseed anymore, Jerry, other than I don't use worms a lot. And when I do, I have so much more confidence in the greens than the pumpkinseed.

Interesting that my favorite green is related to it, though...green pumpkin. Hahaha!


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