Drew9870 said:
My personal favorite is the one that is bright with fishmeal in it.
People may have their favorites, but 90% of the time they are all just as effective, people don't realize hatchery fish are like aquarium fish, and they spent their most important learning years accepting food from humans and never knowing what is natural, their brain does not just up and develop when they get dumped, people think wayyyyyyyyyyyy too hard when it comes to stockers, ford fenders and specific colors of Powerbait are a frickin joke, majority of the time a stocker can be enticed with multiple presentations of the same lure/bait, just gotta understand them.
In my 45 years of experience, there have been MULTIPLE times when color definitely DID make a difference my friend. One prime example occurred at Olalla Reservoir back in the mid 80's.
Those fish hit anything that was green; and ONLY green. I tried other colors, other methods like spinners, etc. But, it was anything green that day. Green Power Bait, Green marsh mellows. As long as it was green, we caught fish. If not, those peeps got skunked (and the bite would die OFF, for those of us who tried other colors).
Some of us started running out of green, and immediately stopped catching fish. A kid on a bike road 3 miles back to Toledo. He then made the 3 mile return trip, on his two-wheeler. He had a bag of GREEN Power Bait. He had purchased each jar, back then, for around a buck fifty. We all gladly handed him a 5 spot, for a jar of Green bait. Guess what? Immediately the bite returned, and everyone proceeded to limit out!
That is only one example. There have been many more. So, I know that from decades of experience on the water...that "color does matter"! For that reason, I always carry 6 or 7 different colors of Power Eggs.
BTW, I am not the only one that sometimes fishes for "pellet heads". Look how many view that "apple pie" thread has had. I wonder how many of them, have been OFFended by blanket statements claiming that pellet heads are stupid (and then infer that so are the peeps that fish for them). Perhaps it would be wise to reconsider such blanketed and repeated comments (particularly from a site MOD)?
I will go along with the train of thought, that hatchery "put and take" trout have been "spoon fed" by humans (so to speak). And they have been conditioned to think, that is the only way that food is "supplied". However, such "conditioning" wears OFF in a fairly short period of time.
Plus, the fish are starved prior to being dropped OFF into their new lakes and ponds. So, they may appear to be stupid for a time. I would be too, if I were starved and in a medical condition known as shock. But, they eventually return to rely on their native instincts when it comes to food--and they are far from stupid.
The defense rests your honor. Thank you for hearing me out.