Commercial Fishing Tips | When to use which bait colour? - Steve Ringer

If you’re anything like me, you’ve got tubs full of hookbaits in a range of colours – but how many of them do you actually use?

Which colour hookbait to use is down to water clarity

Confidence in a hookbait plays a big part and it’s easy to keep picking out the same one, working on the assumption that you caught on it last time, so why would it be any different this time round? Nothing wrong with that, but bait companies make different-coloured wafters and hook pellets for a reason – they all have a time and place!

Which colour to use is down to water clarity. In coloured water, some colours can be seen better than others. On the flip side, gin-clear winter swims call for a different bait that stands out easily.

Take the Ringer Baits Chocolate Orange Wafter. This has caught me hundreds of carp and bream, but it won’t always be the one I go for. First I will find out what colour works best at the fishery I’m visiting. I’ve had too many sessions where a yellow bait outfishes all others.

I’ve broken the options down into my four main colour choices, but do experiment.

A bright green bait that’s been sat in a tub for months might just catch you one a chuck when nothing else is working!

Fluoro yellows & whites

These are the ones to go for in clear water or in winter. Yellow is especially good, as it’s the same colour as corn, another top clear-water bait.

Yellows and whites are a great clear-water bait

Fluoro pinks & oranges

These are best on heavily-coloured fisheries, mainly for the silhouette that they make. The shadow is easy for fish to pick up.

A flouro pink or orange is best in coloured water

Natural

Natural brown hookbaits work in summer when I’m feeding a lot of pellets. A plain hookbait ‘matches the hatch’ of my feed.

Dull browns work best in the summer months

Washed-out

These baits are very dulled down to look as if they’ve been in the water for ages. Washed-out yellow wafters are a real winter favourite.