Countershading: When to Mimic Baitfish & When to Keep It Simple
- By: Pat Ogletree
- on
There is one thing that every baitfish has in common but not many think about. When trying to match the hatch with your lures, it’s important to not skip this small but important detail.
In this video, you’ll learn:
- Why baitfish have countershading (and how it works)
- Why many lures copy this natural camouflage
- When that pattern helps you get more strikes
- Why white and black lures still catch tons of fish
- The real key: confidence + visibility in your conditions
- How redfish literally change color based on their environment
👉 Do you need to add two-toned lures to your arsenal? You’re in luck, our Memorial Day Mullet Lure Sale is happening now. Get 50% off our Lebronze (aka Mullet) Paddletails and savings on the New Mullet HD Bundle—stock up before they’re gone!
Do you have a confidence color that you use most of the time?
Let us know in the comments!
-Pat
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STOP WASTING TIME ON THE WATER!
Do what the “SMART ANGLERS” are doing and join the Insider Club.
Here’s what you’ll receive today when you join:
- Weekly fishing reports and TRENDS revealing exactly where you should fish every trip
- Weekly “spot dissection” videos that walk you through all the best spots in your area
- Exclusive fishing tips from the PROS you can’t find anywhere else
- Everything you need to start catching fish more consistently (regardless if you fish out of a boat, kayak, or land).
Thanks Pat!
I love all the information I can get. It’s one of main reasons I joined salt strong. Especially since I’m a fairly new at inshore flats fishing. Great job
This all makes perfect sense, baitfish are typically as you describe, and the lures look great. However, we have been catching fish (mostly SW FL coastal) for eons on spoons, mostly (Barracuda) chrome color. I have had so much success on red/white ones and even black in tea colored freshwater canals, sometimes with feathers, pork rinds and plastic skirts too.
Years ago, red/white bucktail jigs and ‘Trout Touts’ (soft plastic/rubber tails on round jig heads) were popular and productive with red heads white bodies, also yellow heads yellow bodies.
I have also caught tons of fish on 52M11 mirror lures, which has red head white body top & bottom with sliver flash. I have to this day never understood this red/white coloration, as no baitfish looks anything near similar!
They just continue to work really well which makes no sense. Confidence in what you use and how to use it. Trial and success are my methods.
Thanks, Pat & SaltStrong for all you’ve done. : )
Many years ago when I was freshwater fishing someone said and demonstrated that if the bass are hitting shad throw a frog. It stands out as different and it will get more hits. That did work on freshwater. But since joining Salt Strong I see that if the fish are aggressive in feeding you can throw just about anything in any color and you will catch fish. When it is slow I believe matching the hatch works better. It blends in better not sending any “red flags “ to the fish. My first fish I caught when I joined Salt Strong was a flounder. It was on an Alabama Leprechaun. That became my favorite color.
I get the camouflage for fish lightening or darkening to blend in with a light or dark habitat. Using snook or reds as an example, is it because they’re making it harder for bait to see them or because they’re trying to avoid their own predators? Extending that logic, it seemingly suggests a bait used to catch those fish should stand out, and not try to blend in. Hence, darker baits in clear water, white sandy bottoms and lighter in tannic water, dark bottom. I don’t think that’s conventional wisdom. And then there was that marketing piece about wearing a light blue shirt to blend in with the sky. And why wouldn’t white camouflage based on belly of baits being white to camouflage them from predator fish looking upward. I’m highly skeptical of so many opinions about specific colors as the logic is fragmented. More importantly, I’ve caught fish on white lures at night when some swear by black or purple. I’m sure those colors work but there’s likely more important factors in play than color being the sole reason.
My confidence color is a Z-Man “shrimp” color that’s available in some of their baits; FRED color would a somewhat close SS color. Slam Shady is also a color I use. I prefer a pink or chartreuse colored jig head vs. unpainted lead. That serves the purpose as those who add colored eyes to their paddletails.
Slam Shady because it was the first color I ever bought from SS, even before becoming a member, and it catches fish, Gold Digger and Mud Minnow because I think in these sweet tea colored waters in NEFL it makes a bit of a difference.