Just wondering what color line you use and why ?

I've gone back and forth between the 80lb Tuf-line in moss color and the Cortland Spectron in black / white.

Years ago all I ever used was Master Braid in black. Curious in reading opinions on why you use certain colors.

Would like to focus on line color more than brand of line.

Thanks,

Tim

With respect to fish spooking, completely and utterly irrelevant. I use Moss Green because it is the most commonly available; I have used yellow and white before as well.

With respect to presentations, you may find a brighter line works better for line watching; for e.g. jig fishing.

All those years you use black? I always heard that any lure color is good as long as its black. Why is black such a great color for lures? Then why would you use black line? Like Jeff says it don't matter much. I use white. Why? Because I have visual problems and white is easier to detect the end of my line. Do the fish mind? Maybe if the water is gin clear, but normally it doesn't. If the fish did think line color could be detected, why would they hit a lure with your rod tip 4 feet in the water? I'll bet they see those slingblades tips real good.

colors are over-rated in catching muskies. the lateral line, reactions and size mean so much more.

they are good at catching people though.

black double 10
black depth raider
black grandma
black pacemaker
black weagle
black pounder ...

you could do a whole season in 6 baits if you wanted to dragin' it with any leader and any line. spend your money on the reel, rod and your gas-money ... the investment in time on the water is the one that will catch you the most fish.

the rest = the tackle industry catching customers

ambassador of kwan .. deliverer of logic .. mirror to the obvious

I always keep Doug Johnson's (famous LOTW's guide) quote in mind concerning musky behavior ,,,, "If it moves, its food" ,,,, finding musky location is the toughest part of the equation ,,,, finding "time on the water" is the toughest part of the human equation --------- Jocko

I dont know if line color matters or not, I know guys who use bright yellow and catch fish. I have experimented with red line and caught fish. 90% of the time I use the moss green color. Honestly dont know if it makes a difference or not.

Sled you can go with those 6 baits for a season if you like, they are all great baits that will definetly catch fish. However I wouldnt sell people on that is all they need. Its simply not true. The last couple falls were great eye openers for me on what some other baits could do when nothing else worked. The more time you spend on the water, the more you learn about the applications of some of the other baits out there, and how they can shine when the other stuff doesnt.

Time on the water!

STEALTH TACKLE
"CLEARLY THE LEADER"
http://www.stealthtackle.net

Hi:

For line, in most cases, I don't think so. A lot of superline sold to musky fishermen starts out as green but since Spectra fibers don't retain color well they eventually fade to a light brown with time. (This is not an indicator of line deterioration.) I've never noticed a difference in fish-catching during the different stages of fade.

That said, when I used PowerPro's Phantom Red a few years back in clear water, it was a total disaster. The thinking behind red line is that red is the first color of the light spectrum to be filtered out by water, so it would help make this line disappear, or at least less noticeable. Maybe that worked in deeper water applications, but in the top 10 feet or so of the water column (most musky applications) it had minimal effect, if any. I would not use it again.

I am convinced that fish notice leaders. Who knows that they think they are. I am sold on fluorocarbon and will use it for most applications.

Steve Heiting

www.steveheiting.com

Most likely it matters more for your confidence than to the fish.

Personally, for casting, I don't care for anything bright colored or white. I tend to use mostly green, gray, or black lines. But that could be from having more action casting with the darker colors because that just happened to be the color line I had on when the fish were shallow and casting was effective. I had white line on for casting once when the fish were deep and off structure one year, and it was a complete bust casting. Probably I just associate poor results casting with white line while it was actually fish location that mattered that one time. Will I try white again? No.

I've seen my friend absoultey crush the fish trolling red line in clear water with lures runnng down around 16 feet. I wouldn't use it by choice, but obviously the fish didn't care at all about the red color. So why wouldn't I use red line? Just doesn't feel right to me and I need all the confidence I can muster to be effective.

There it is in a nutshell. I use green/gray/black all the time and catching fish on those colors reinforces my preferrences for those colors. If it works, don't fix it syndrome?

Used clear, black, white, black/white, green, yellow, blue flouro, gray, and caught fish on all of them.

I don't suspect it normally matters, but I do think some days it might make a difference. Trouble is, who switches line colors like lure colors?

I'm sure that some days lure color does matter, though other days it may not.

Why would line be different? Maybe this year I'll try different line colors to see, though I don't think that musky action is usually frequent enough to trend line variations along with all the other variables.

Bruce

I don't think it really matters..Just watch Dan Schwartz with his under water cameras and the musky could care less what color the cannon ball was,the camera,all the hardware....Just my 2cents

Wally

Line color moss green.

Bait color DOES matter!!!

Guys,

Just found this Web Site for the first time - I like it!!

Line Color? Lure Color?

To me it is one of the least important things about catching Muskies which I absolutely LOVE TO DO!

After many years of studying Fishing Facts,In-Fisherman,Musky Hunter,Esox Angler,Wisconsin Sportsman etc. I finally decided to read and really study and practice what Spoonplugging by Elwood "Buck Perry" was all about. After 15 years of worrying about what color line or lure I was using I finally figured out what really matters in catching Muskies. It truly is all about depth & speed control of your baits - it makes no difference what lure or color you use if you are fishing at the right place at the right time with proper depth & speed control you will catch muskies.

I have caught more and bigger Muskies in the last 5 years than I did in the previous 15 years simply by practicing what I learned from reading and implementing Spoonplugging.

To me nothing I have read or practiced in the last 25 years has meant more to my fishing success!

Line Color? Lure Color? It make absolutely no difference!

Just put any color line or lure in the right place at the right time with proper depth & speed control and you will catch many Muskies.

Respectfully,

Spoonplugger for ever!!!

Read and was enthralled by Spoonplugging about 30 years ago, and will admit I've caught some fish using bottom bouncing techniques, including my first legal musky, which I caught on a Hellbender, bouncing bottom, and my first musky, which was caught jigging a spoon on a breakline where deep and shallow water merged. (a bar)

That said, even Buck Perry sold lures in multiple colors and taught principles about matching lure colors to water color.

I think much of what Perry taught is not factual. Fact is that fishing success is not as simple as depth and speed control, though they are no doubt significant factors.

Fact is that many big fish spend much of their lives suspending, following baitfish. Sure, there are seasonal factors where they use breaklines and breaks on those breaklines, but much of the time they are unrelated to fishing success.

Oh, by the way, I'm sure I saw some early Spoonpluggers on Sandbar Lake, in Ontario, in early summer of 1970. I watched as they caught huge walleyes, one after another, on trolling passes over a specific spot they had found. It still excites me to this day.

Bruce

I'm also one that thinks line color does not matter.I use a lot of multi color leadcore in trolling applications.What fish see is the shadow cast off from the line because light rays reflect off what it can not penertrate through.That is why I'm like Steve and believe in Fluorocabon leaders that let light rays pass through and have less shadowing for the closest thing to being totaly stealth.In trolling applications my Fluorocarbon leader is 3/4 the legnth of my rod legnth.I believe when a muskies lateral line picks up the sound of the lure and water being displaced in the lures movement,that is their main attention,then with the long fluorocarbon leader they do not see the main line as they aproach to strike.

Capt. Larry D. Jones

It would be more or less relevant according to water clarity, if it matters at all. I can see wanting to have every advantage possible in your favor, but line color is not one that I concern myself over with Muskies. If you have doubts…fill different spools with different colored lines and see how it works out!

I don't think the line color matters, but I admit that I have more confidence in the moss green, so I stick to that color. I would worry more about the leader since you should be using one with any color line. As far as lure color goes, I think it can make a difference in catching more fish if the fish are hot and you are using a color that get's noticed easier. Slow moving lures and in clear water I use floro leaders, otherwise regular wire.

Spoonplugger,

Congratulations on your success!

If the typical fisherman put as much thought into the "where" as they do the how, they would see a boom in catches immediately.

Buck said in the gray booklet, "Generations of habits are not easily displaced."

Mr. Perry said he only needed 3 colors, a bright one, a dark one, and a in between or neutral. However Spoonplugs are available today in 73 different colors and schemes. Buck did this for only one reason and it wasn't to catch more fish, but to catch more fishermen.

Jerry Borst
Spoonplugger/Instructor
Heavy Duty Lure Retrievers
http://spoonplug.net/spoonplug/lure_retriever.html

And the answer is:

NO!

Steve

"Get the net!!"

I don't think line color matters one bit no matter what the water color is. I also don't believe flourocarbon leaders are all that they are cracked up to be. They act like fiber optic cable and literally 'glow' especially when it's sunny and you are fishing clear water from the light being transmitted and reflected through them.

Virtually all saltwater guys have completely abandoned the clear flouro in favor of a smoke color flouro for that very reason. I bet you'll be hard pressed to find a clear flouro leader in a few years as the freshwater guys catch up.

"Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it's not fish they are after" - Henry David Thoreau

Weve been testing and experimenting with Colored and Camo Fluorocarbons since early last year. We have not expereinced any noticable difference in our catch rates with the Colored (Pink) or the Camo, over the Standard Clear. I didnt get my hands on the Camo stuff til mid sesaon and we will continue using it this year as well to see if we can see any noticable difference. My personal preferance is still clear, but weve gotten some nice fish on the colored and camo as well. Id say use what you have the most confidence in.

Same goes with the line color. If you find something works well for you then stick with it.

STEALTH TACKLE
"CLEARLY THE LEADER"
http://www.stealthtackle.net

>Weve been testing and experimenting with Colored and Camo
>Fluorocarbons since early last year. We have not expereinced
>any noticable difference in our catch rates with the Colored
>(Pink) or the Camo, over the Standard Clear. I didnt get my
>hands on the Camo stuff til mid sesaon and we will continue
>using it this year as well to see if we can see any noticable
>difference. My personal preferance is still clear, but weve
>gotten some nice fish on the colored and camo as well. Id say
>use what you have the most confidence in.
>
>Same goes with the line color. If you find something works
>well for you then stick with it.



No, I don't think it matters. I don't have time to think about line color anyway. I like Power Pro.

Just when I commit to flouro leaders, we're starting to find out that they aren't what they are cracked up to be. Figures.

I'll be sending mine back, John, for a full refund.

>I don't think line color matters one bit no matter what the
>water color is. I also don't believe flourocarbon leaders are
>all that they are cracked up to be. They act like fiber optic
>cable and literally 'glow' especially when it's sunny and you
>are fishing clear water from the light being transmitted and
>reflected through them.

I bet you'll be hard pressed to find a clear flouro
>leader in a few years as the freshwater guys catch up.


Power Pro in green is as good as any, even after it's "faded" somewhat. I don't believe that color is that important, if they want it, they want it. Period.

As for the flouro leader comment above, I agree. I eventually see these leaders falling by the wayside along with alot of other flash-in-the pan inventions like 4 stroke outboards, the Cowgirl, side-imaging, and Gore Tex.

I like blaze orange line. Why? So the fish knows something is coming. Hahahahaha.

We need a poll on this. What color line works best? I vote blue cuz that's the color of the sky. ...I think.


...but you'll have to wait to see how I vote once the poll is presented...but I'll vote blue. ...or ...not.

------------------------
Bart Starr

5-1 Record in title games
9-1 Record in playoffs

...nuff said.

I don't think line color matters at all to the fish. Look at many of the lures we throw - what do they look like?

I use either white or high-vis yellow to see the line better. That allows better lure placement and a better feel for how deep the lure is running. It makes running a lure close to cover much easier when one can see the line.

I don't think leaders matter either. Fish are stupid.

Welcome back HerbB.

Steve

"Get the net!!"

After reading HerbB's post, I have a new motto: "Fish (muskies) are stupid". Think about it. We give these things way more credit than they deserve. The are fish. They react. I feel my confidence growing already. At least I think that's my confidence? Hurry up musky season!

Thanks, Steve. Nice to be back.

I used to mess around with different lines and leaders and way to many lures. I have now come to the point that I just keep it simple. About all I throw now are spinner baits and am catching more fish than ever. Only thing is one needs a lot of different spinner baits.

Don't know about the rest of you, but I am sure looking forward to open water season.

A friend of a friend showed me one time that he was using a flat-tipped black sharpie to darken the last 6-8' of his line. Felt it made the line less visible to fish. I bought into it. Still do it.

Haven't noticed a difference that I can point to in terms of fish caught or not caught. However, an unexpected bonus is in super dark water conditions, I know when I'm within 6-8 feet of my bait when the darkened line shows up, and I know mentally about how long after that to go into my F8.

-Eric
"My three favorite words are...FISH, FISH, FISH!!!!!