Most of the baits that we can buy in our local tackle shop are brightly coloured, and distinctly at the ‘warm’ end of the spectrum. Reds, oranges and yellows dominate, whether you are buying boilies, groundbaits or predator lures. The huge bait industry knows what colours are most attractive to anglers buying their baits, but this doesn’t always mean these are the most attractive to fish!
Over the years I have caught well on green, blue and almost black baits, colours that we rarely see, especially when it comes to hookbaits.
So, does colour really matter, at all? I think it does, and we can use this knowledge to our advantage.
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Alternative colours
If you are looking for a colour that really stands out underwater, then blue takes some beating. Blue light penetrates well, even in murky water, and so a light blue bait will be easy to spot, especially against dark silt. There is also likely to be an inquisitiveness when it comes to blue baits. Fish are unlikely to encounter them very often in freshwater, so carp, in particular, will check out this colour to see if it is edible.
I use cake-making dyes to achieve bright blue baits. While not all baits will take these colours well, they can be used with porous baits, such as luncheon meat, and incorporated into pastes.
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Another colour that stands out surprisingly well underwater is green. Swim Stim groundbaits and pellets are fine examples of green baits that look much brighter underwater than they do on the bank. For this reason, I tend to use green baits in moderation. Loading a Method feeder with a green groundbait makes a great source of attraction without laying down too much feed.
Green hookbaits have scored very well for me, although with the exception of hooker pellets, you will be hard- pushed to find these baits commercially available. Green luncheon meat has been a winner, especially on clear rivers for chub and barbel, making it a bait that is very different from the norm.
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Two-tone baits
One of the easiest ways of making a hookbait that really stands out is to combine two contrasting colours.
This could be as simple as combing red and white maggots for roach, or using two different coloured wafters for carp. This is, to some extent, hedging your bets, and it doesn’t really matter whether it is one of the colours, or the combination that works best.
I tend to use baits with very different colours as a combo. Dark brown and white, or red and yellow, produce a hookbait that cannot be missed. Two-tone boilies were all the rage back in the early days of ready-made baits, and you can recreate this effect yourself by mixing together equal amounts of different coloured blocks of boilie paste before rolling out the bait.
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Try UV
As I have already mentioned, baits at the blue end of the spectrum, and into the ultraviolet range, penetrate much better through water than red colours. Fish can see further into the UV than we can, so do fish even perceive colours the same as we do?
Over the last few years I have been investigating UV colours, and UV reactivity (where chemicals transform UV into visible light) and have found this to be an important factor in my predator fishing.
Using a UV (black light) torch, it is possible to ‘see’ the effect of UV light on different baits, and often the effect is quite pronounced. So, the question is, just because a bait appears to be one colour to us, does it actually look like this to fish at all?
It goes to show how difficult it can be to pick winning flavours or colours based upon our own perceptions. So keep an open mind, and be prepared to experiment, no matter how wacky your bait choice might be.
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