Shore Jigging: The Vivid Colored Jigs

In a world where “sardine” coloration prevails, a limited group of vivid colors have found great use in the hands of the few. C’mon! Admit it! Sardine or another natural color is the first you always buy, and once you are convinced that the jig with this color is truly effective, only then you go for some other “bizarre” colors. But is this the rule? Are natural colors the kings on the jigs?

Well I have to admit that even me, I love the natural colors! They make you feel more… safe! And they are effective! But it would be very hard to count how many nice fish I have got with unnatural colors like pink, yellow, white and zebra glow in the last years. Sometimes a vivid color really does the job done and promotes a strike possibly because of visual irritation. But when it is better to use vivid colors?

Early Morning, late afternoon and cloudy sky!

These hours are the best to use colors that have a strong impact to your eye! Remember that fish eye retina, does not adapt as fast as ours in the changes of light! At this point, fish tend to hunt more aggressively, lacking the ability to distinguish many details. A strong color could easily get their attention and promote a massive strike!  These hours are the dusk, the dawn and the days with low pressure when the sky is full of clouds. Days like these, vivid colors have the upper hand without a doubt!

Deep waters

There are times that fish show excellent preference on vivid colored jigs on deeper fishing spots. This is getting even more noticeable if a dark sky is present! Remember these parameters because they just might save your fishing someday!

Muddy or foamy waters

Yes this is another condition that has to do with the transparency of the water in our fishing spot! After a rain, or after a day with very strong wind, usually we find waters with low transparency level. These days, vivid colors will help fish to focus and lock on our jigs!

On the other hand

There are so many times that I got fish with vivid colors even on sunny days and clear waters, when other natural colors failed! So there is a theory that when fish are sluggish and lazy, a vivid color might irritate them enough to make them strike! So don’t follow the rule of “dark light conditions” and do a revolutionary color change, every time you see that natural colors fail!

The vivid colors

“Vivid” could be named any color that is far from natural. Pink, Yellow, white, Orange, fluo green, zebra glow or full glow. Colors that really get the attention, but they really look so unnatural!

So it is easy to understand that vivid colors do own a place in our jigbag! And it is important to remember this! If you cast 99 times a “sardine” and 1 time a vivid color per 100 casts, Sardine color will always be more effective!