What is the best colour lure to use for bass fishing in the UK? There is a saying I created many years ago when I wrote an article in one of the UK's fishing magazines, and it still holds true, "Confidence is 9/10th's of the lure". Having confidence is hugely important when fishing, but no matter how confindent we are, if your mate is catching on something different or a different colour, you know dam well you are switching or at least taking notes for another trip.
We all have our own ideas when it comes to which colour lure to use when faced with different light or conditions, so here is my own take on the subject. Of course, fish being fish there are no rules set in stone, and they will take something you don't expect them to. I have been using and selling lures for over 20 years now, so with my own findings and the fact I know what colours my customers use, I have a rough idea that kind of makes sense to me and seems to work (most of the time).
So all I look at is the colour of sky, and the colour of the water. This will be a bit of a long one so make a cup of coffee and get comfy!
There are basically two types of pattern/colour, you have clear sided lures (with or without a flash plate), and you have solid coloured lures. In my opinion you just need confidence in either for certain situations. I tend to use a clear bodied lure when the water is clear, and on "normal" water conditions I will use a solid colour. So check out the clarity of the water to find the first step of your choice.
Here is a selection of Xorus Patchinko lures, some are solid colours, some have see-through sides.
Check out how clear the water is behind me in this picture, and the Megabass Xlayer I was using is almost completely see-through:
So, here we go on my simple choices:
White Lures: At dawn or near any white water, and wierdly at night. If it is dawn and the water is very clear then a white top/bottom lure with clear sides can be awesome! White lures will actually work in most situations, and I have always said to customers "If you don't know what colour to put on then start with a white".
Chartreuse Lures: We all love a chartreuse/yellow back lure, I sell crazy amounts, but when is best to put one on? I like them on either bright/sunny days or strangely the exact opposite on dull over-cast days, especially when the sea is calm like just before a thunder storm. Here are two pictures of my old pal Bob showing off exactly what I was saying about an over-cast/thundery day and a sunny/bright day with the same yellow back lure.
Red, Orange or Pink Lures: I have found these can fish at most times, but when fishing at dusk (sunset with an orange glow in the sky), or over red weed and kelp (this is definately worth remembering, try a red or reddish/brown lure over kelp, it is deadly!). We have pink granite rocks here in Jersey so orange or red on a lure seems to also work well near rocks here too. In the picture below I was casting this Duo Hacker (deep diver) over a kelp covered set of rocks.
Orange or red on a lure work very well for me in dirty water too, as does pink and even a black lure!
Another fantastic colour at sunset when the sky has an orange glow is a full chrome lure. I have seen this colour absolutely smash fish one evening, my friend stood next to me caught 13 good bass on a chrome lure, I had one on a white lure and the other friend with is had one on a chartreuse lure.....the chrome lure was all they were interested it. By the way we were all stood on a small boat, all casting to the same spot, all of us had the same lure on but different colours!
Natural Pattern Lures: When you know what the bait fish are in front of you then it is an ideal time to "match the hatch". With many of us knowing our UK bass love eating sandeels, we tend to use long sandeel shaped lures & natural sandeel colours, but in recent years the sardine and sprat shoals seem to be increasingly moving north, so our bass are now switched on to eating shad shaped lures and sardine patterns. Sales of lures like the Madness Mad Shad have really increased over the last few years, and I am sure this is due to us seeing more sardines in our waters. In the last few winters we have had huge shoals of sardines here in Jersey all winter long, something that never happened a few years ago.
Of course as I said at the begginng, we all have different ideas of what works for us, and if you have confidence in what works then stick to it. I just wrote this blog as I have many people asking me what colour to use. I hope this helps.