Entry 180-3
Mark Davis on Crankbaits
Part 3: Choosing the Crankbait Color
Editor’s Note: One of the most-versatile lures in a bass fisherman’s tackle box is the crankbait, and one of the most-knowledgeable Strike King Pros on crankbait fishing is Mark Davis of Mt. Ida, Arkansas, past Bassmasters Classic winner and nationally-known angler. There’s rarely a time or a place when crankbaits won’t produce bass, if you know how to select and fish them properly.
Question: How do you choose the color crankbait you’ll fish?
Davis: My favorite color crankbait is watermelon shad, which is a pearl with a green-back-colored crankbait. I always choose this color to fish when I don’t know what color I should use. If you go jig fishing, and you don’t know what color jig to use, you usually start off with a black-and-blue jig because those colors seem to be the most appropriate to fish anywhere, on any lake, at any time of year.
If I go crankbait fishing, and I don’t know what color crankbait I need to use, I’ll choose this watermelon shad color. I can tie on this color crankbait in just about any color water, even in stained or muddy water, and it has enough visibility that a bass will bite it. In clear, cool water, the colors are light enough that bass will bite it and neutral enough to fish it almost anywhere, any time of the year, under almost any kind of water and weather conditions.
So, when you don’t know what color to use, start with watermelon shad, and you won’t be wrong. I know I can pick up that color lure on almost any day I fish and catch bass on it. As I’ve said earlier, color is my last consideration because if I have the right size lure with the proper action that runs at the correct depth where bass are holding, even if the lure is the wrong color, you can still catch bass on it.
Contents:
- Part 1: How to Select a Crankbait
- Part 2: Choosing the Crankbait Size
- Part 3: Choosing the Crankbait Color
- Part 4: Mark Davis on Cochran, Grigsby and VanDam
- Part 5: Mark Davis on Brauer and Hackney
