Favorite Soft Plastic Colors For River Smallmouths

[Guest]

I decided to list my top ten colors for river smallmouths.

I also listed the bait that Im using in that color.

The first group is moving baits that mimic baitfish.

Houdini- 3.5" swimbait

Ed's Smoke S&P- grubs

Arkansas Shiner- flukes

Watermelon Red/Pearl- horny toads

The 2nd group are crawfish imitiators:

Watermelon Red-finesse worm

Watermelon Candy-trick worm

Cinnamon Brown/purple-senko

Aaron's magic red/blk flake-roboworm

Softshell Craw-roboworm

I also like roadkill from reaction innovations but they've since discontiued that color.

Motoroil is an old school color thats are to find.

[Greasy B]

Pumpkin and Green Pumpkin seem to match the bottom on most streams I fish so any time i fish a weighted plastic bait those two colors are about all I need. For an unweighted bait it's pearl white. Pretty simple.

[drew03cmc]

I only carry green pumpkin.

[Dutch]

green pumpkin and pumpkin seed

[Gavin]

Olives & Browns mostly.

[cnr]

Unweighted minnow bait (Fluke) - White

Bottom bouncing baits - Match the bottom color

[Andy & JoAnne]

I decided to list my top ten colors for river smallmouths.

I also listed the bait that Im using in that color.

The first group is moving baits that mimic baitfish.

Houdini- 3.5" swimbait

Ed's Smoke S&P- grubs

Arkansas Shiner- flukes

Watermelon Red/Pearl- horny toads

The 2nd group are crawfish imitiators:

Watermelon Red-finesse worm

Watermelon Candy-trick worm

Cinnamon Brown/purple-senko

Aaron's magic red/blk flake-roboworm

Softshell Craw-roboworm

I also like roadkill from reaction innovations but they've since discontiued that color.

Motoroil is an old school color thats are to find.

I like those hand painted jigs we threw on Crooked Creek. For largemouth, gotta love the pumpkin seed salty crawls.

[Al Agnew]

Heck, I don't even know the names of all the colors. I just decide to buy some soft plastics and pick out colors that look "natural". One thing that kinda drives me nuts is that nobody seems to want to produce basic black anymore. Everything is black with various colors of flakes or deep purple instead of black...I want BLACK.

Glad to see my theory of matching the bottom color being accepted by lots of people

[Mitch f]

Heck, I don't even know the names of all the colors. I just decide to buy some soft plastics and pick out colors that look "natural". One thing that kinda drives me nuts is that nobody seems to want to produce basic black anymore. Everything is black with various colors of flakes or deep purple instead of black...I want BLACK.

Glad to see my theory of matching the bottom color being accepted by lots of people

I was just about to say Black! Great in the winter!!

[cnr]

Heck, I don't even know the names of all the colors. I just decide to buy some soft plastics and pick out colors that look "natural". One thing that kinda drives me nuts is that nobody seems to want to produce basic black anymore. Everything is black with various colors of flakes or deep purple instead of black...I want BLACK.

Glad to see my theory of matching the bottom color being accepted by lots of people

Kudos to Al for being so forthcoming and willing to share his techniques. I have learned a lot from reading Al's posts (and a lot of other folks on this forum). I think the basic color approach for river smallies is spot on. I think a basic white, black, brown, and green would cover all your situations. No need to be fancy. Technique is more important than tackle.