On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 00:32:48 -0500, RichZ wrote:

Steve @ OutdoorFrontiers wrote:
"Ronnie Garrison" wrote in message
. ..

This is from this week's Inside Line:

Team Yamamoto pro Bob Lester visited the Indiana Boat Show
this weekend. Bob reported on these new trends:

"More than anything else, everything is red.

Next, year, Purple will be the 'new red'.
No disrespect to anyone, but I think we are to easily going against the fact
that years of research and development have gone into how bass (and other
fish) react to colors. In controlled studies done by Doug Hannon he has
clearly shown that bass are attracted to red, and strike aggressively.
This was done back in the early 80's I believe (I will double check my
source). I agree they may have gone a little far jumping on the band
wagon because there is a buck to be made when a craze is started, but to
discount years of research because a tackle manufacturer went overboard I
believe is a mistake.

The media could definitely make purple the color of the year, if they wanted
to. And people would catch fish on purple because that is all they would
be throwing, they would figure because of the purple stand on the jig that
is why that fish bit. But Gary Klien said it best, if there is a tree in
an area that holds a 5lb fish, Denny Brauer will come by with a black/blue
jig and catch it, or Rick Clunn would come by with a crankbait or buzzbait
and catch it, or Dean Rojas with Kermit , etc etc. I think the real point
is that fisherman give way to much credit to the bait they are using
(color, brand, etc) and not enough credit to themselves for presenting the
bait in the right area at the right time.

There are definitely times when size, color, weight , and presentation matter,
but If you fish a bait with confidence and present it confidently you are
going to catch more fish. Once that part is settled, then the subdtleties
come into play and maybe the red (or purple) hook make a small difference
because of fishing pressure, weather change, rising water, I think you get
the point.

I just have a hard time discrediting research done by a respected person in
the field of fisheries biology (Doug Hannon).

Bass fishing is so competitive now, that every single little edge you can get
should be exercised. Anglers are doing their homework, and are able to
understand the fish better. Anything I can do to make my presentation a
little different without affecting its effectiveness I will do. So far
red hasn't hurt me, and neither have scents, as far as I know anyway.

Chris