What Color Soft Plastics Work Best in Clear Water?

What counts as clear

Drop a white bait over the side. If you can still see it past 6 feet, it's clear water. Most of the Mother Lode lakes, like New Melones, Pardee and Camanche, run clear for much of the year. Parts of the grassy South Delta can too.

Why natural colors work

In clear water, bass get a long, close look at your bait. A bright or solid bait looks fake. A natural, translucent bait lets light pass through it, like a real crawfish, goby or baitfish.

Research shows bass see green and red well. Green pumpkin and watermelon tones read as natural food. Black flake adds the speckles real crawfish and gobies have.

Best clear-water colors

• Light Green Pumpkin - Black Flake: lighter green pumpkin with heavy black pepper. A top clear-water finesse color.
• Melon Punch: bright see-through watermelon with red flake, or Melon w/ Black & Red Flake if you want both. Great in grass and shallow summer water.
• Green Pumpkin: the all-rounder.
• Ringo - Black Flake: yellow-green with black flake, for bright sun and shallow grass.
• Purple Haze: electric purple with red and blue flake. A change-up for pressured fish, and it produces year-round.
• Blue Shad on the Terp Minnow when bass are on shad.

Sun, depth and flake

• Sunny: translucent baits and flake. Light passes through the bait and the flake flashes.
• Cloudy: slightly darker, more solid colors.
• Deep water: red fades first in clear water. Below 10–15 feet, red flake reads as dark specks. Black flake and green tones hold up better.

Rig and line for clear water

Color is only part of it. In clear water:

• Use lighter line. A 6–8 lb fluorocarbon leader.
• Downsize. 4–6" finesse baits.
• Use finesse rigs. Drop shot, Neko, shaky head and wacky.
• Make longer casts. Bass see you coming.
• Use a longer drop-shot leader to lift the bait into view.