Lure Colour, Flash and Glow: Choose What to Change

Pink, blue, silver, striped or glowing? Before changing a lure, ask what you are actually changing. A new colour may also bring a different body shape, sink rate, hook arrangement or light source. If you change all of them together, the next bite will not tell you which mattered.

Start with a lure that reaches the fish and works properly. Then use colour and finish as deliberate adjustments, not a substitute for getting the presentation right.

Colour is not the same thing as flash

A blue jig can have a plain painted surface or a highly reflective side. Those are quite different visual presentations, even though both might be sold as blue.

Turn a reflective jig in daylight and watch the bright areas appear and disappear. That changing reflection is what you are looking at when you assess flash. Inspect both sides. A lure with a shiny flank and a pale back may look quite different as it rolls.

Some lures create flash with moving internal parts. Shimano's description of Flash Boost, for example, describes a spring-suspended reflective panel. It reflects available light; it is not a lamp. Do not assume every shiny lure has that construction.

Give a colour change a fair comparison

Look at the six jigs above. There are long narrow bodies, broader bodies, different eyes and different finishes. If the broad jig catches a fish after a narrow one does not, colour is only one possible explanation.

For a useful comparison, keep the lure model, weight, hooks and retrieve as similar as practical. Fish the same part of the water column. If a lighter jig stops reaching the fish, go back and fix that before deciding its colour is wrong.

Where two anglers are fishing together, swap colours between the outfits. That helps separate the lure from differences in casting position or technique. It is still an observation, not a laboratory trial, but it tells you more than changing five things at once.

For the fundamentals of keeping a metal jig in the working depth, see getting started with jigging.

Lumo coating needs its own check

A pale jig is not automatically luminous. Give a known glow finish some light, then look at it in a dark place. The two views above show why that check is useful: a modest-looking finish in daylight can produce a very different pattern in the dark.

Light-charged glow tackle is well established. Rapala's glow-lure charger is one example of equipment made for that job. Follow the finish or lure maker's charging instructions rather than assuming every coating needs the same treatment or glows for the same time.

We have had productive sessions with small luminous jigs and wondered whether the lumo contributed. That is worth noticing, but it does not prove the glow alone caused the bites. Weight, depth and the way the jig was worked were involved too.

Check the pattern as well as the brightness. Some jigs glow almost all over; others have bands or patches. The striped example above leaves dark gaps between the luminous sections. Those are different choices, not an automatic good-versus-bad ranking.

A bright photograph is not a reliable comparison of two coatings. Exposure, charging and the time since charging all matter. Compare the actual lures under the same conditions.

Glow-stick jigs use a separate light source

The empty recesses and loose tubes make this system easy to recognise. A small chemical light fits into the side of the jig. It is not the same as illuminating the painted surface with a torch.

Use the correct insert for the lure, activate it according to its instructions and make sure it is retained securely. Do not force an oversized tube into the recess or fish a loose insert that can fall out. Keep the tubes intact, away from children, and take spent ones home for disposal.

These jigs also have reflective finishes. That means a single lure can combine colour, flash and a separate light source. Buying another colour is not necessarily buying a completely different presentation.

What changes in deep or dirty water?

The colour seen in your hand is not necessarily the colour seen underwater. NOAA explains that water filters different wavelengths of light differently, with red light absorbed sooner than blue. Background and available light also affect appearance.

That does not justify a universal chart telling you the winning lure colour at every depth. Nor does it mean a red lure simply ceases to have a visible outline.

Use a manageable contrast test: compare a light or reflective finish with a darker or more strongly patterned alternative while keeping the working lure otherwise similar. If visibility is poor, also check whether the fish can encounter the lure at all. Colour cannot correct a jig being swept well above the marks on the sounder. The bonito metal-lure guide applies the same profile-and-depth order to a feeding school.

Build a small, useful range

For each size and style you actually fish, start with a few meaningfully different options:

• A reflective finish that you can assess by turning it in the light.
• A lighter or more solid finish rather than several almost identical foil colours.
• A darker or strongly contrasting pattern.
• A known luminous option if low-light or deeper presentations are part of your fishing.

You do not need all four for every trip. Leave room for a spare of the lure that is working, rather than filling the bag with colours you never use.

Keep brief notes about water clarity, depth, lure model, weight and retrieve. Record unsuccessful changes too. A colour that caught one fish is a useful lead, not a permanent rule.

Our 10 g knife jigs and 100 g jigs cover very different presentations. Choose the weight and profile for the job first. The most useful colour choice is the one you can explain and compare, not simply the brightest lure in the box.