Struggling to catch fish? Try different colored lures

Can a fish be smart? There are no IQ tests for birds or fish or animals, so this is a debatable question that will never get a true answer.

What do I mean by “can a fish be smart” anyway? Come on, I’ll bet you’ve had an unproductive day on the water and told people, “the fish outsmarted me today.” You’ve said it, haven’t you?

Are you really going to admit you have been outsmarted by some creature with a brain much smaller than a shred of grain? I’ll bet you think twice before you ever say a fish outsmarted you again.

In reality, fish aren’t smart, and they don’t think. They behave according to time of year, water conditions, atmospheric pressure and many other factors, but thinking is not one of them.

I think fish get “smart” the older they get. I believe fish become wary of lures when they see the same ones repeatedly. Try using a completely out-of-the-box lure color some time. I’ve done this and gotten bites when the old faithful lure colors aren’t working.

I was fishing with my sons up north, and having no luck whatsoever. I had all three of us tie on pink lures. Yep, we fished with pink C.S. Lures Spinnerama spinnerbaits, manufactured right here in Roselle. My fishing partners thought I had lost my mind. They couldn’t believe I had three pink lures in my tackle box, let alone deciding to fish with them.

Remember “Father Knows Best,” the old Robert Young television show? This was a day where that old saying held true. We slayed the northern pike that day on the Spinneramas. I can show you three fishermen who don’t ever hit the water without a pink lure in their tackle box.

Odd colors are worth trying as a last resort. It’s the strangeness of the color that makes the difference. It doesn’t always work but it is worth giving a try. There are a zillion bass caught every spring with fishermen using white spinnerbaits, so I am not saying a “tried and true” doesn’t work. But an oddball color is worth trying.

I’ve gotten in heated arguments with veteran carp anglers who swear up and down that those bugle-mouthed bottom feeders are the smartest fish in any lake or pond. We can argue that point another time, but there is one thing I have heard an awful lot about. Veteran carp fishermen will swear that once a carp has been caught on a particular flavor of carp bait, it will never bite on that flavor of bait again.

That is hard for me to believe but carp aficionados are so in tune to their carp that they can recognize fish they have previously caught and swear the fish only bite on a different flavored bait in the future.

If you think there are a lot of different baits when you shop at a tackle store, you ought to check out the variety of carp baits available at a carp specialty shop. “Tutti Frutti,” “Peanut Butter and Jelly” and the list goes on and on. It’s hard to believe something that looks like a carp has such a discerning palate.

As always, there are no guarantees when it comes to fishing. There are no magic colors. What I am saying is that when times get tough, it’s time to break out the baits in the least likely colors you can imagine.