Combos that have gone dead

[Gill-T]

Not sure if changes year to year in water color are dictating which color combos are hitting but I used to be able to count on a nuclear green spin doc and a hammer fly. After 2013 ........el crapo. Can't buy a fish on the combo.

[Ryno23]

Not sure if changes year to year in water color are dictating which color combos are hitting but I used to be able to count on a nuclear green spin doc and a hammer fly. After 2013 ........el crapo. Can't buy a fish on the combo.

There are a few combos that use to be go to for me that don't catch fish anymore. Also, certain spoon patterns that don't catch fish anymore.

Wouldn't throw them away though because I'd bet the house the will come back ard and catch fish again.

[Sk8man]

A lot of things are different now. Fewer fish present, water clarity and  color changes etc. I don't think the fish are into "style changes" yet Sometimes I get a kick out of folks "matching" up colors and patterns as if to be "color coordinated".  I know a reason is to make it appear that you have smaller ones trailing behind larger ones but  I'm not sure even that is a valid rationale.....we tend to humanize things wherever possible in terms of our own preferences. It can be superstitious behavior too (I plead guilty) when something works we tend to keep using it but it may be just that it was close enough to that hungry  fish at that point time and appeared "vulnerable"

Edited August 8, 2016 by Sk8man

[Ryno23]

A lot of things are different now. Fewer fish present, water clarity and color changes etc. I don't think the fish are into "style changes" yet Sometimes I get a kick out of folks "matching" up colors and patterns as if to be "color coordinated". I know a reason is to make it appear that you have smaller ones trailing behind larger ones but I'm not sure even that is a valid rationale.....we tend to humanize things wherever possible in terms of our own preferences. It can be superstitious behavior too (I plead guilty) when something works we tend to keep using it but it may be just that it was close enough to that hungry fish at that point time and appeared "vulnerable"

I would agree with that, but there are days were a certain paddle color and fly do most of the damage. I can put down everything and kitchen sink on other rods and nothing.

[Gill-T]

I am guilty of color coordinating combos mostly to help me work thru a progression of the color palate of lures I own to figure out what is working. Things get more muddled when you start mixing colors

[whaler1]

I pay little attention to color. I think where and how are greater than what.

[rolmops]

Whether fish are in a stream or a lake,they will react to prey(lures and such) in much the same way. Any fly fisherman will tell you to choose your fly according to the current hatch. It is the same in the lake, but the "hatch" is harder to determine. One way to do this is dropping a sabiki rig into a bait school and choose your lures according to what you bring up. Another way is by examining the stomach contents of your first fish and pick your lure size and color accordingly.Two cold winters caused a huge die off among the alewives. The result is bigger alewives ( the smaller lures you used 3 years ago will not work). The lake is clearer,but because every stream and river is low and warm, the algae is much heavier and thicker and greener in the slick lines in the lake . Again your go to lure of yesteryear is now useless. Maybe I'm just mesmerized by things that I do not understand, but I believe that there is some rhyme to my reasoning. One thing has scientific backing and that is that the pigmentation in fish is such that the fish will adjust its  skin coloring in order to adjust to the color pattern present in the environment it lives in. Ergo, lake water color changes and along with it the color of bait fish will change.

Edited August 9, 2016 by rolmops