What Color Works Best???
In my years of crafting offshore lures, I have learned one thing that holds true. Every group of offshore fisherman have their favorite color combinations. Here in the North East Canyons we have a saying about Bluefin Tuna lures “you can fish any color you want…as long as it is green”. This seems to be a narrow minded way of fishing, but lets look at the bigger picture. If I am sending Big Eye Tuna lures south, to say…New Jersey, they prefer purple and black lures, further south for Sailfish its blue and white. Browns and oranges are on the list for the Marlin lures in Cabo. (try to sell a east coast fisherman a brown and orange lure…good luck) So what is with this color preference? Is it our perception? Or do the fish really care? One would almost think there are underwater signs that tell the fish crossing the ocean “do not eat blue lures after this point”? Or is it really the truth, a certain color puts more fish in the boat? Some say its to match the bait on which gamefish feed. Well a large amount of Bluefin Tuna here off of Block Island feed on squid, which are generally shades of brown…yet we troll green, or black…maybe purple. But not brown!...why?...hmmmmm
I am going to go out on a limb here, and it may cause serious controversy with the North East Canyon Fisherman, but here goes… I have caught Bluefin tuna on every color combination I can imagine…including brown. Granted having uncommon access to test different color combinations may play a roll. These days our sport is expensive, so it does not make sense for the weekend fisherman to have every color tuna lure possible. What does make sense, is for him to have what works best “most” of the time. So do some research, find out what colors produce best in your area, and give it a go. There is no right or wrong color, just what seems to produce most of the time.
Tight Lines
Capt. Ron Diggett
