Colors

[therealdeal]

Hello All: Coming up to the TFF area in early July and was wondering if anybody could suggest lure color for that time of the year. It is always interesting to me that it seems the color choices change every year. We will be fishing with spinners and plastic worms and I have a gift card to get some lures before I head up.

It sounds like the warm spring might mean the productivity of the lakes may be abnormally high for this time of the year. Any suggestions on color combos would be great!

Best of Luck to All!

[DonH]

I have to admit, I don't really think colors that catch fish are affected by seasons. Water clarity, cloud cover, and wind could have a tremendous effect on success of one color over another, but not the season you are fishing in. I've been coming to the TFF for 50 years, in every season (except winter) and the lures I use always work no matter the time of year.

If I was to go shopping for lures to buy to catch walleyes on the TFF, here's what I would do, and I'd buy at least 2 of each color. We just got back from our spring trip and I lost at least 8 to 10 lures. One lure I had 2 of a certain size and color and it nailed a 21.5" walleye. I then proceeded to lose both lures. By the fall trip, I'll have at least 4 of that baby.

Rapala Shad Raps - size 7 - Perch and Clown colors at least
Hot n' Tots - small size - Silver, Gold, and Chartruese (comes in a ton of colors so pick a couple more)
Bomber Model Long A's (for shallow water where the wind is pounding the rocky shorelines) - Gold and Firetiger
Wally Divers - Gold, Perch, and Chartruese
Storm Wildeye Thumper Tails 3" or 4" (with the treble hook) - Perch
Rebel Spoonbill Minnow - Gold, Silver, and Clown
Flicker Shad - small & large size - Gold, Chartruese, and Redish Brown
Also buy some 1/4 oz. leadhead jigs in case you end up fishing deep water (tip with a 3" or 4" twister tail)

I also love the Cisko Kid 300, but it is no longer in production. When I heard they were going to stop production, I called the company and ordered about 50 of them. Still have close to 20 left, but I get nervous when I tie one on.

The list above will probably set you back a bit over a $150, but you'll have baits that can fish shallow water to fairly deep water (just let the Thumper tails sink as a second option other than the jig).

Good Luck!

[therealdeal]

Thanks for the Advice! It seems like its been quite a warm spring/summer up there so my understanding is that the water clarity might be quite low. If we are looking at low clarity in the beginning part of July does that mean we should look into more exotic colors? natural colors? We usually fish some of the smaller lakes that get pretty weedy.