COLUMN : THE TINKERER
To say that bass lures come in a rainbow of colors is an understatement . But does color REALLY matter ?
COLOR BLINDNESS
When is color important … and when is it not ?
PHOTOS BY BRANDON ROWAN
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
If it ’ s creative , national award-winning writer Sean Ostruszka is all about it . He combines mad ingenuity with 20 years of knowledge and experience in the fishing business to design lures for professional anglers and top brands in the bass industry .
S ome things in life simply don ’ t make much sense . Lure color is definitely one of them .
There are jerkbaits that look like the real thing and others that look like they were painted in my daughter ’ s first-grade art class . Yet , both catch fish . There are 132 colors of the Yamamoto Senko on the market , but most anglers only throw some version of green pumpkin ( which , while we ’ re on the subject , doesn ’ t actually look anything like the color of a real green pumpkin ).
And while plenty of anglers think any silver or pearl crankbait looks enough like a shad , others get hyper focused on the subtle nuances of their shad patterns , even willing to plunk down $ 10 , $ 20 or more for a custom paint job with scales that are 0.4 mm in diameter and juuuuuust the right shade of periwinkle blue on the gill plates . But why ? Does it really matter ? Whether you think it does or doesn ’ t , you ’ re right . I mean that in the sense that I know there ’ s not much I can say to sway you off your stance . So , I ’ m not going to try . I will , however , examine a few different scenarios like the ones above that don ’ t seem to make sense on the surface and try to apply a little logic . Let ’ s start with the latter one .
crankbaits
If there ’ s a lure that gets custom painted more often than a crankbait , I don ’ t know it , but I get it . There are few things prettier than a custompainted crankbait . It could be hanging in the
26 MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2023