Lure action or paint job?

[sgtbonecrusher]

alright guys, what is it......is it the lure action or paint job that makes fish go after your crankbait?.............discuss

Nick

[savacs]

First is action! and last is paint job. There r times the paint job don't really make a difference, but u need a certain action. this is my opinion. Of course paint jobs come in handy as well............

[Brett]

To me it is proven that it is action,,,,,, this is why all those " special " baits are out there that the fish have torn the finish off and still continue to produce.

[michael merrill]

ACTION

[FiR3 TiG3R]

both!

[apb]

Action is number 1. Color can make a difference some days, but I really don't think the paint needs to be perfect. Just the main colors. You can take a plug with a great action and a crappy paint job and catch plenty of fish. A plug with a pretty paint job and crappy action catches no fish, only fishermen.

Andrew

[Toddo1513]

Action, definitely.

[cullin8s]

It's not either or, but if i had to choose 1 or the other ACTION, and thats coming from a painter :-D

[Skeeter]

I'll have to agree with Brett.

Skeeter

[dtrs5kprs]

...and sometimes the paint job adds to the action. Example: a painted rogue or pointer that works a little deeper, rises a little slower, has a more subtle action due to the added weight of the paint and clearcoat (devcon, etex, FC, whatever). Another example: crankbaits that will run a little deeper and rise slower. I have a ton of painted warts, most will get at least 1-2' deeper than factory warts (pre-normark).

Also depends a lot on the fish and the lake...cold clear water and spots or brownies will tend to favor color, mud and largemouth probably action.

[millsryno]

So if a guy wanted to get some custom painted hardbaits, which ones would you recommend that have the "best" action?

[basstech]

I think action is the most important, but if the color scheme is "wrong" it will keep fish from hitting that bait as well. Being a beginning painter I first started re-painting proven baits that never caught me fish. One in particular is a bomber 6a that was black and tomato red (color C-lector color from the mid-'80's) I've thrown that bait in every possible condition and situation and had never caught a fish on it. Re-painted it and they tore the finish up within two weeks. I still think action is most important but color will turn a fish off a bait easier than turn it on.

[savacs]

It also depends on the confidence u have in a certain lure....

[Dennis from Russia]

It also depends on the confidence u have in a certain lure....

exactly what I meant to say

[Dennis from Russia]

guys, paying so much attention as you do to the paint, I assume you fish in the crystal clear waters and perform the slowest retrieve possible, meaning fish have all the time in the world to study your baits before actually striking.

I am fishing the Don river (Russia's south, big lazy river, muddy waters) and most time I spend trolling. I started out beliving the color does matter. Now I do not pay any attention to it. The only difference is in winter, when the dams are down and the current is weaker, thus the visibilty in water is times higher.

Action catches fish, paintjob catches fishermen. IMHO.

Now that I said it out loud, I sit and try to figure, why the hell I am still reading through the archives of this forum, looking greedily for examples of your paintjobs. Beats me....

[Cranky Fish]

In my opinion, the crankbaits with the best action are:

Bandit

Fat Free Shad

Bagley

DT Series by Rapala

[savacs]

@dennis

U, as most of us, besides the action, want a good/beautyfull lure to look at

[millsryno]

Action may be most important, but color does make a big difference. My family has a "secret" lure we troll with in a certain body of water. It comes in a dozen or so colors. When we troll, we will usually have 5 lines in the water. There is one certain color that WAY outperforms the others. We have tried time and time again, pitting the different patterns up against each other and it never fails. This one pattern of the exact same lure will always at least double the catch rate of the other colors. The key is that you must match the hatch in this particular body of water.

[mark berrisford]

millsryno your magic lure probably has some quirk in it's action that accounts for it's catching abilities i'd guess most anglers have a lure that out catches all others in there box.even though it's colour isn't ideal for the conditions it will still out catch the rest

[bladesandbaits]

Action or Color? : :

I say first and formost is size-size-size.Oh----- did I say size?

There are an infinate number of answers to that question. I mean I hate to analize this one to death but man there is just really no definate answer.

I too have some crank baits that have hardly any paint left on them and you could not pay me to paint them.They hunt and I mean they are damn good ones.

I used to think that action was 1st then color.

Explaination:(actual occurence about 2 weeks ago)

You are throwing one of Skeeters deep runners on an 10 foot ledge and it is running off the ledge in 25 feet of water.

The fish are butting the bait when it comes off the ledge.Occasionally you have one barley hooked in the lip on the back hook.

Solution? Time for a color change.

The fish liked the size and am sure they liked the action but they were not really wanting to kill it.

I changed up and went to a different color and had to perform surgury on them to get the hook out.

I switched to a Tapp lure and stopped getting bites.

Ok enough of the on the water stuff.I think the answer is not definate.For every answer there can be debate that argue's one against the other.

I think the Size-Action-color deal can be broken down like this.

Match bait to size of forage (i am speaking for Bass and Striper fishing here and don't claim to know didly squat about toothie critter fishing)

Determine the depth that you would like to fish (remember the rule 90% of the fish are in 10% of the water)

If cold water clear water use a bait with a tight action and is quiet.

Take in to concideration the clarity of the water and choose your bait pattern accordingly.

Too sum it up all the answers listed before my post are the right answers

It just depends on many other conditions as well but first and formost I believe size is the key.

Now to really confuse the issue:

Think color is the last thing on the list? I wont say yes or no because I have no definate proof.

There is one color of Shad Rap pictured here below that is already responsible for over $40.000 dollars in Flw tournament winnings this year.When other color #7 Shad Raps were thrown behind it by co-anglers and the angler even changed colors the results were minimal.

And by the way the follow up lures were not all custom painted. Some were stock but the custom painted ones kicked the stock baits ass.

So was it the color alone? You tell me. I would love to know.

Blades

[MaddoxBay]

Nice post Blades, I wish I knew the answer :

[fatfingers]

I agree with Blades that the question cannot be simplified to an either/or answer.

In addition to size/color//action, a fourth variable is retrieve, which can be subdivided into speed and pause rate between rips, pulls, or jerks. In other words, two fisherman with the same bait can see dramatically different results depending upon retrieve methods.

If you've done any ice fishing, you're probably witnessed the retrieve difference bigtime. Jigging is sort of an art form and those that get good at can catch fish when all others are scratching their heads wondering where the fish went. In fact, there are times when the retrieve can be more important than size, color, or action, to a high degree. In other words, if it rips, pops, sputters, pauses, bounces off the rocks, or otherwise makes a wrong move, it gets eaten, if the fish are in the right mood.

Finally, I've seen days of smallmouth fishing where you could throw your shoe in the water, and they'd hit it. Almost nothing was off limits, they were chewing anything that moved.

Like Blades says, who knows?

[cranker]

I totally agree with most here that it dont matter what color you are throwing if its not the rite size bait with the rite action for that particular day.I am a firm beleiver that action means everything but I can also tell you that when you are fishing waters that need to be stained pretty well to turn on the bass such as the lakes here in north Alabama, that on any given day you can give two guys the exact same crankbait but one painted in some of the brite and traditional colors for spotted bass and the other painted any other color variation you can come up with and the guy using the brite chartreuse or white colors will win pretty regularly.so in certain conditions if you under estimate the importance of color you just may have a long boring day!

[muskydan666]

Hi guys,

Very interesting topic!I am pretty sure that action is the most important thing BUT!!!It is not always the action that is good looking for us the fisherman that matter the most!?It's the vibration that it will produce!For a example:The very commercial lures like a swim wizz have is unique vibration,almost all the musky fisherman have a swimwizz in is tackle box!the fish will get used to a particular vibration and will no longer be attracted to it!or very little,I think that custom made bait whit a unique action and vibration whit a good color pattern for the condition and type of water that you are fishing is a good way to catch more fish!!!! but that's what I think,doesn't mean that I am rite

Cheers,muskydan666

[RangerZ]

My 2 cents would be primarily action and then color. Here on the Potomac we catch alot of fish in the Spring on Rat-L-Traps. However it seems that until you get some of the paint worn off they don't perform nearly as well. Maybe I should start painting some Chrome/Bone/Blue ones. Super sexy paint jobs are great to look at and a testament to skill that some people have, but unless you are throwing a slow moving suspending jerkbait, all that fine detail is lost on the fish. A good example is spinnerbaits. I have seen guys stare at the finish on the head and not even consider the shape of the head which has a lot to do with how it is going to come thru cover. Bottomline, action is largely for the fish and paint is largely for the fisherman.