Is Your Lure Changing Color Underwater (And Spooking Fish)?
- By: Joseph Simonds
- on
Ever heard of an underwater lure color shift?
Imagine you’re about to bite into a hamburger and it changes from brown to neon orange as you pick it up…
What would you do?
Throw it away!
Burgers aren’t supposed to change colors…
But if you fish with artificial lures and you’ve ever seen a fish suddenly turn away from your lure, that’s probably what the fish was experiencing.
See, in the water, certain lure colors can undergo color shifts.
This can spook off the fish off (meaning you don’t catch as many fish as you could).
Most experts recommend just a few lure colors, but when you go into a tackle store you see aisles and aisles of different color lures.
This is where the old saying, “Fishing lures catch fishermen not fish,” comes into play.
All of these options and colors are to get us buying more and more lures, not to help us catch more fish.
So I created this video to share with you exactly what an underwater lure color shift is, what lure colors experts recommend, and how you can avoid wasting your money on lures that just don’t work.
You can watch the video version of this podcast below, listen to the audio version by clicking the play button underneath it, or listen to it on iTunes, Stitcher, or Spotify.
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Underwater Lure Color Shifts [VIDEO]
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Underwater Lure Color Shifts [PODCAST]
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Related Podcasts:
- UNDERWATER SCENTS THAT ATTRACT & REPEL GAME FISH (RESEARCH RESULTS)
- THE #1 SALTWATER FISHING LURE OF ALL TIME
Mentioned books:
- What Fish See: Understanding Optics and Color Shifts for Designing Lures and Flies, by Dr. Colin Kageyama
- The Scientific Angler, by Paul Johnson
Is This The Best Lure Color? [VIDEO]
Click here to get a FREE pack of Slam Shady Paddletails
Conclusion
Before I learned how to actually catch fish, I was guilty of buying all sorts of crazy-looking lures that caught my eye in the tackle store, not realizing that many of them were undergoing a color shift in the water and actually causing me to not catch fish.
Do you do that, too?
These lures are made to catch fishermen, but if you want to catch fish, one of your best options is to stick with a lure that’s white with some gold and silver flash, like the Slam Shady.
It doesn’t undergo a color shift and is the same color as most baitfish your target species is looking for.
You can get a free pack of Slam Shady paddletails at SlamShady.com.
We only offer one free pack per household, so if you’ve already got your free pack, you can get more at our online tackle store, FishStrong.com.
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Thanks Joe. Very interesting and something I would never research on my own. I am new to both saltwater fishing and the club, however I am very pleased thus far. I do not know that I will ever learn everything I need to know about fishing, but with the help of Salt Strong I am having a good time trying. I have received my free Slam Shady’s as well as my first order of various other items. Can’t wait to put them all to the test. PEACE!!!!
Got my lures today and the came open up delivered that way from post office
Hey Cory. Sorry to hear this. We’ve had a few issues with the post office lately. We’ll reach out to you to make sure you are whole.
Thanks for taking my call this afternoon Cory and I have your replacement package going out today. Let us know if you need anything and we thank you for your understanding and for letting us know of the issue!
Hey Joe, I love the slam shady it will always be in my tackle box for now on! But I’m curious why the slam shady is translucent white instead of a solid white? Is there going to be a difference between the two or a time to fish one or the other? Thanks!
Great question, Dan! We tested both for quite some time and had more strikes per cast with the current Slam Shady color. If you hold it up to the light you’ll see it’s still solid (not completely translucent/see-through). Something about that color!!! Appreciate you my friend!
Thanks Joe, makes sense! I noticed you don’t have Yellow tail snapper on your list of caught fish, unless I missed it. Ive caught a few on the slam shady with a slow and falling retrieve. Since you guys don’t have any Z-man slam shady in stock would the pinfish and Houdini be a good substitute since the color is similar?
Hi Malcolm from Cape Town South Africa. Very interested in your color video. Have you done any work with trolling lures? Do you think it will be large factor with trolling squid lures and Rapalas? This is for deep sea fishing for Tuna. Mainly in clear water or with a slight touch of green.
regards
I have fished for years. In northern lakes, Florida lakes, saltwater.
I have fished with white a lot haven’t much luck with white. I don’t know why.
I have my best luck with any dark color with sparks
The 2.0 and new lavender Lady Shady??? haha
Lavender Lady Shady… I kind of like the ring of that!
Very interesting ??? But, it seems many people are using the Alabama Leprechaun with good results ???
Absolutely! Just because it’s not white/pearl doesn’t mean it won’t work. Fish have hit the craziest things on reaction strikes (like the redfish that ate a red lego on camera). The main takeaway was that the success of Slam Shady is due to the fact that it takes on the color of the water and is least likely to ever experience an underwater color shift.
My two go to lures are a slam shady and white/pearl 3′ gulp shrimp. As far as jig heads, I always use red. In shallow water, will they do a color shift ?? Since I heard this yesterday I added Z Man jig heads to my cart.