Spinnerbait Skirt Colors--Northern States

[bob75]

For those fishing in northern states where the prey fish are bluegill, perch and shad what are your favorite spinnerbait skirt colors?

[smalljaw]

I like translucent colors in clear water and that is due to the natural baitfish look that they give off but in stained or dirty water it is chrartreuse followed by white and of course chrtreuse and white together. I make a natural colored bait that has done very well and I named the color "oneida blue" because a friend won a tournament on lake oneida on it. The body I paint silver with a metallic blue back and the skirt is made up of mostly smoke/blue flake with a little bit of ghost blue as an accent color.

[RIK]

In clear water, especially on bright days, I really like translucent colors. Clear with metal flake, or translucent green or blue with some flake. Not always easy to find. War Eagle has some good colors, and Strike King's smokey shad is actually pretty good - their 'bluegill' is actually a little too dark I think. Small gills are pretty pale in clear water. North Star Custom Baits has some great clear water spinnerbait patterns too. Darker days, pearl white is good more often than not.

Unless you're talking smallmouth. Then, white, white/chartreuse, school bus yellow - bright colors and speed for smallies more often than not. Pink and white can be great...

[bob75]

I fish for LMB in Iowa and Minnesota. Fish for smallies on Lake of the Woods and some of the areas we fish are highly stained with visibility of just a few feet or less and other areas have clarity down to 6'.

Mostly I have spinnerbaits with white, chartreuse, and white/chartreuse skirts. I've a number of spinnerbait heads from North Star Custom baits that I need to assemble which caused me to post.

[RIK]

When I head for Lake of the Woods early in the season, I bring half a dozen or so white and chartreuse 3/8 oz single spins. Hard to beat them. Gotta bring a bunch because the pike and occasional muskie maul them. Honestly, if I had to pick one color there, that'd be it. White's second, plain yellow is good too.

In the clearer water I fish in MN, the translucent colors I mentioned above work for me. If you look at the North Star site, Olive Minnow, Tennessee Shad, Watermelon Magic and Silver Shad are good examples.

[curls]

A great largie or smallie colour for any water that's not gin-clear up north, is firetiger. Closely resembles perch, and with gold or copper blades it really flashes in stained water under any light conditions. For the gin-clear northern waters (MN, Ontario, etc...), sexy shad, or a variation of white/silver.

[smallmouth420]

clear water trans. with either silver/green/or blue metal flake. overcast or stained water chart. top/white middle/orange belly. i think it mimics perch or sunfish/pumpkinseed. also just chart. and white. smallmouth try chart. with double willow chart. blades.

[NJ Jigman]

for smallies here in NJ and also Ct and NY I really like bassdozer's smallie special color for the smallies. It's gaudy, chartruese top w/ blaze orange tips and a white bottom, but even in the clear water it works. for the green fish i like a natural blue gill color in the spring to mimic gills trying to eat bass fry in grassy and wood cover. As summer rolls in and the fish go deeper, i'll start using a sexy shad or natural shad imatation fished on points and around humps and ledges. for this i like a thinner finesse skirt instead of a full skirt 40 strands not 50-60 for the clear water

[NJ Jigman]

here in jersey and other clear water lakes in NY state and Ct, I like a bassdozer color for smallies that i think he calls smallie special. it's gaudy, chartruese w/ blaze orange tips on top w/ a white bottom. for largemouth I like a natural gill color in spring to mimic sunfish trying to eat bass fry and as summer rolls in and the bass retreat to deeper water, i like a natural shad color something sexy

[smalljaw]

here in jersey and other clear water lakes in NY state and Ct, I like a bassdozer color for smallies that i think he calls smallie special. it's gaudy, chartruese w/ blaze orange tips on top w/ a white bottom. for largemouth I like a natural gill color in spring to mimic sunfish trying to eat bass fry and as summer rolls in and the bass retreat to deeper water, i like a natural shad color something sexy

In PA it is the same, over the years I've noticed that smallies respond to color a lot more than their green cousins. I fish the river for smallies but one lake I fish has both largemouth and smallmouth and if the fish are on a spinnerbait bite you can use natural baitfish patterns smoke or or a watermelon red flake and catch largemouth and switch to a bubblegum or chartreuse and the next fish will be a smallie.

[Munkin]

I make one that is grey back with a white/pearl blue tint belly that just wrecks both SM and LM around here.

Allen