Choosing the Best Freshwater Fishing Lure

You can dramatically increase the success of your fishing trips by learning how to choose the best lure. All things being equal there are two tips that will work in your favour when fishing. Here are the two best ways to choose a lure that will help you land more fish in less time!

How Clear Is The Water?

The colour of the lure you use when fishing can greatly influence your chances of successfully catching fish in clear water. You need to look at the water you plan to fish in. If the water is clear you can use more natural colours like blue or brown. If this doesn't work, changing to a brighter colour of lure that will be more highly visible will improve your chances.

Look At What The Fish Are Eating

If the water you are fishing in is clear, take a look at the colour of things that the fish are feeding off and try to match the colour of your lure accordingly. Fish are far more likely to take your bait if it resembles things that they are looking to eat. Spend time observing the colour of the food sources in the water where you plan to fish and your experience will be far more successful.

Wait! How Do Fish See Colours?

The first two tips still apply, but you first need to know how fish see colours. It's no good simply choosing a lure in the colour that you see. Water changes the way light behaves and this affects the way the fish will see the colour of the lure you choose. By the time your lure reaches 1 meter under perfectly clear water, less than 50% of the light that made it look, say, bright pink to your eyes is actually making it down there. Your bright pink lure will look very different to fish at 1 meter than it does to you. Lots of things affect light penetration so if you are fishing in dirty water with plankton and vegetation, you lure will look even more different.

Less Colours Are Visible In Deep And Dirty Water

To choose the best lure, you need to understand that less colours are visible in deep or dirty water. You need to choose colours that the fish can see. Consider how fish like Bass like to live in dark, shaded areas of water like under vegetation. There is considerably less light so they'll see the colour of your lure much differently to you. It's like swapping out your living room light bulb for a lower watt one; every colour you see in your room will look considerably different. If you are fishing in deeper or dirty fresh water, don't use reds or oranges as they'll just look grey to the fish.

Choose Your Lure Colour According To The Environment

You have to judge how dirty the water is. Colours like reds, oranges and yellows may not be visible just a few centimeters below the water's surface if it's really dirty. Even if you are tempted to use an orange lure because the fish you are planning to catch seem to be feeding off orange crawfish remember that this is the colour they look to you. Orange may not be visible to the fish, especially if you plan to use a lure at a deep depth. You may have better success with a blue lure that will be visible to fish.