The Dangly Tails have been for sale for 5 days now, and I already got 4 emails with questions about colors, so let’s put my views on lure colors on paper.
I split all my lures (not Dangly Tails specifically) into 3 categories: High-Viz, Natural, Pure Fun.
High-Viz
The lures in this category are mainly intended to be used in low water visibility (stained water or deep water). There are two applications where I would use them even with good visibility though. The first is bluegill spawning season. The fish is protecting the fry and is not attacking to feed, and I just use high-viz to make sure the fish can see my lure even if I made a poor cast and the lure landed 5 feet away from the fish. The other application is White Bass fishing in Winter. Once u get these things aggravated, they attack anything they see, so I just make sure they can see it, even if my cast was not very good and the lure landed some distance away.
Dangly Tail colors in this category:
- Black Gold. This is a black body with large metallic gold flakes in the body. This is my favorite color for stained water but also for fishing very deep, where there isn’t a lot of light on the bottom and I want some contrast to get my lure noticed. The great thing about this color is that it also belongs in the Natural category, because the bugs and flies that bluegill eat are either black or very dark. If I don’t know where I’m going and I can take only one pack of lures with me, it will be this color!
- White Pearl. This is white body with large metallic silver flakes. This is the same thing as Black Gold, but for Silver color jigheads. It’s high-viz (when paired with a silver jighead it can be even more high-viz than Black Gold) and at the same time it looks like a juvenile shad. I myself don’t fish with silver jigheads and that’s why I rarely use this color, but if u fish with silver jigs, I can repeat for this color everything I said about the Black Gold above.
- Black Indigo. This is a black top, with blue belly. Unless you install it upside-down, in which case the prior sentence would be upside down too. The blue belly actually has some black flakes in it, to make it look more realistic (pure blue belly looked a little synthetic and we added flakes). I don’t like to use Chartreuse color lures because they look too obnoxious to, even though they are unbeatable for visibility. The blue color is almost as visible as green but looks a lot more natural and for me it’s easier to be accepted by the fish upon close inspection. Junebug is one of the most proven colors in all of fishing, so I shouldn’t need to convince you that black&blue is a safe choice. Just like Black Gold it can be very productive even in good water visibility.
Natural
These are the lures that I use in very clear water and cautious fish. Livescope removed many speculations. I can now see that sometimes fish shoot right up to the lure, and they turn around! Why did they turn around? They didn’t like something… the hook coming out of the lure, the big eye of the jighead sticking out like a sore thumb, lure doesn’t look right, or maybe even scent. If you live in the North, a lot of lakes have extremely clear water because of the grass and can be difficult to convince to eat a plastic. Even in the south, some lakes have no algae and super clear water. All lakes have clear water in the winter! In these conditions I use smaller size jigheads, to have less wire coming out of the hook, and I use my most natural colors. Additionally, when fish shallow, unless some really nasty dirty water, I strongly prefer natural.
Dangly Tail colors in this category:
- Alabama Gold. It’s like a earthworm injected with gold flakes – what else do I need to say.. Absolutely fantastic shallow water bait, especially under a float around the bank! Smells like a worm too! The one difficulty with this bait is visibility. It can be hard to see in stained water, especially after a rain when the muddy water has similar color. Also very difficult to see in deep water. I know people use high-viz colors in such situations anyway, but I want to mention it, as it may help someone with his choice.
- Gold Pumpkin. Just like green pumpkin, but with gold metallic flakes instead of the red flakes. What can I say – I really love gold! This bait fishes exactly as the Alabama Gold! Amazing shallow water bait! And just like the Alabama Gold, it can be hard to see in stained water, especially when u have excessive algae in late summer, and also very hard to see in deep water. These two baits are perfect alternatives – if one is out of stock, the other will substitute perfectly. But I still would have 1 + 1 vs 2 of one of them… just for me having options..
- Salty Minnow. Black top with light gray belly, absolutely packed with metallic silver flakes! This bait is literally and metaphorically brilliant! Its actually more vibrant and beautiful than a real-life minnow because it has more contrast and sparkle than the real thing. I fish this bait a little different than the others in the Natural category. For one, the silver flash can be more visible in stained water than the Alabama Gold and Gold Pumpkin (it will depend on the color of the stain). But also, because minnow schools roam around the lake a lot, if I fish for crappie away from the bank, around some brush, I prefer this one over the other two, just because I think minnows are more common offshore. So when choosing natural colors, I would consider the Gold Pumpkin and Alabama Gold as perfect shallow water substitutes, perhaps more Bluegill and Bass oriented, while the Salty Minnow as fishable away from the bank, around bridges, and perhaps a little more crappie oriented.
Pure Fun
Some of the lures I buy (or make) just because how gorgeous they look to me. It has nothing to do with catching more or less fish – the appeal is targeted to the angler, not the fish. But in the end, I fish for fun, not to haul coolers full of meat, so I will not apologize for buying or making lures just because I think they are pretty. It is just so fun to fish with my Black Presso color tied on my Presso Air AGS rig with orange polyester line! As long as I catch any fish with it, I will keep using it. I have noticed that I am not in some small minority in this regard. Creek Fishing Adventures (youtube channel) always uses some lure colors that I call ‘chewing gum colors’. I am sure that these colors appeal more to the angler, than to the fish, even if this is subconscious and the angler is not even aware.
Dangly Tail colors in this category:
- Black Presso. Black top with intense dark orange belly. Unless you install it upside down, but you wouldn’t dare. I just don’t care if this bait catches fish.. You watch one of my videos where I caught fish with the Presso Anniversary and the Daiwa Presso reel and that orange polyester and that lure and come and tell me you weren’t jealous 😊. The color is actually very high-viz as well, but not in deep water. But in shallow water, if u had recent rain and a lot of stain, this color will be seen a lot better than the natural colors. The orange is very intense though – it might deter bites in super clear water and extra cautious fish. This is not something I would fish up north, or in the winter. But for bluegill beds and Presso rods… it just matches like peanut butter and jelly.
- Purple Rain. Vibrant, non-transparent purple with metallic red flakes. Honestly, this color can fit in all 3 categories but I am honest with you and telling you that I developed it because it was so pretty! But Purple is one of the most visible colors, and with the sparkle from the flakes, this bait is one of the most high-viz colors. It is also Natural! Don’t think about which exact insect is purple.. – think about the JuneBug color! This bait is probably closer to JuneBug than the Black Indigo, and I think the metallic flake sparkle make it more brilliant and minnow like. Finally, purple has always been my favorite Winter color. I have said that in many white bass videos, where I fished with the purple color Zman Micro WormZ. But this color is so much prettier than the Micro WormZ, and the tail has about 20 times the action.. Also it always bothered me that the Micro WormZ purple was kind of transparent, so I made my purple very saturated. People don’t think about Purple as universal color, but it really is.