Tiderunner Posted April 23 Report Share Posted April 23 Am I the only one here that tried to "match the hatch"? That is to try to make baits as close to natural prey colors as possible? I use the usual colors, but then I'll make baits in colors that work locally on the waters I fish. Then I really get crazy trying to match the colors of prey. Crayfish, and perch and certain baitfish, are examples. I also have developed a bait color.that I call night crawler it has been deadly for me. But weirdly not in worms or stick baits. Only in a wacky worm similar to the Lunker City Spanky Go figure. a worm color that doesn't work in worms. Never caught a darn thing on worm baits. Only on the wacky worm. How about you? Matching the hatch, or made your own special "secret weapon" color? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Young Posted April 25 Report Share Posted April 25 Pretty much the basics for bass anymore but i will make a few different things i know everybody else don't have. Crappie are a different story though & i experiment a lot with different colors for different water colors & whether the suns shining or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smallie Posted Friday at 11:24 AM Report Share Posted Friday at 11:24 AM I only pour for myself and I have developed a recipe book that works on the lakes I fish. I don't go to great lengths trying to perfectly match local forage. My lakes are mostly clear water lakes and the basic green pumpkin, watermelon and black work fine. I have some flake combinations I think make my baits stand out from the rest but who really knows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiderunner Posted Saturday at 02:57 AM Author Report Share Posted Saturday at 02:57 AM On 4/25/2025 at 12:59 AM, Les Young said: Pretty much the basics for bass anymore but i will make a few different things i know everybody else don't have. Crappie are a different story though & i experiment a lot with different colors for different water colors & whether the suns shining or not. Expand ...A few things nobody else has. I think that's really the reason I do very well on my own color combos. Fish haven't seen it before. Especially too since I fish a lot of the same waters often. I match the usual colors to the conditions, but when chips are down I go with my custom colors. Hasn't failed me yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiderunner Posted Saturday at 03:06 AM Author Report Share Posted Saturday at 03:06 AM On 4/25/2025 at 11:24 AM, Smallie said: I only pour for myself and I have developed a recipe book that works on the lakes I fish. I don't go to great lengths trying to perfectly match local forage. My lakes are mostly clear water lakes and the basic green pumpkin, watermelon and black work fine. I have some flake combinations I think make my baits stand out from the rest but who really knows. Expand What you said. I'm not an artist so my colors aren't perfect. But I want my perch color to be as close to a perch as I can get it. A nightcrawler color I make took a lot of trial and error until I got the colors of a glistening worm. And so it goes.I use the usuals, but if I want to match the hatch, I try to at least come close. Case in point. Using my homemade swimbaits last season, the ones that looked awesome on the workbench, on a sunny day in the water, they were nearly transparent. Caught nada, zip zilch. Next batch added a tiny bit of salt of salt to cloud them up, and bingo started catching fish with them. It seemed to me the bass needed a profile they can see. Once no longer transparent, I caught fish. Just trial and error. when trying to make a bait as close to realistic as prey, then I try to match the hatch. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
