The Science of Bass Fishing Doesn’t Add Up. Why Do Black and Blue Jigs Work So Well?

Scientific insights into bass vision and lure selection can help you catch more fish.

How can you choose what the best bass fishing lure colors are? Experience says one thing, but science says another. / Kurt Mazurek

I pride myself on my mostly very logical approach to bass fishing. I seek rationale. I need data to back things up. If the answer is “because we’ve always done it that way”, it usually doesn’t sit well with me.

Why Fish a Black and Blue Jig?

As I scrolled through some old fishing photos recently, I was reminded of a small, but troubling point of contention for me—a real chin-scratcher. Why do I have so many photos of beautiful largemouth bass with a black and blue jig hanging from their lip? Why black and blue? What are the best bass fishing lure colors? Sure there are a couple photos with variations of pumpkin or purple, but they are an extreme minority.

And, why is black and blue almost exclusively reserved for a pitching jig? Why isn’t it used on an equal percent of crankbaits, or spinnerbaits, or topwater baits. Sure, you can get those other baits in black and blue, but it’s never the go-to like it is with that jig. For some reason, black and blue has long been my number one color for a pitching jig. I’m confident throwing it in almost any water, any time of year, in any conditions. Based on my perception, my memory and my photos, it seems to work pretty well. And, it’s not just me. Lots of anglers lean on a black and blue jig. But why?

It's difficult to say why black and blue jigs work, but it's undeniable that they do. / Kurt Mazurek

Scientific Insights Into Bass Fishing

Like I said, I love to find answers backed up by scientific facts. Early in my advanced bass studies, I found a book that cleared up a ton of wives' tales and popular misconceptions for me, “Knowing Bass” by Keith A. Jones, Ph.D. During 33 years heading biological research at Pure Fishing, Dr. Jones conducted countless scientific, controlled experiments on bass, collecting real data and forming logical conclusions. One of the book’s chapters covers a bass’ vision, including their perception of color. Unlike a human’s eye, a bass’ eye is best suited for distinguishing the medium-red to green part of the color spectrum. As you head towards the blue and purple colors, a bass’ abilities start to fail rapidly.

In his book, "Knowing Bass," Dr. Keith Jones shares a mountain of Scientific insights into bass fishing. But in the end, black and blue doesn't really add up. / Knowing Bass | Dr. Keith Jones

So then why haven’t red and green lures dominated bass tournaments? In another study described in the book, Jones tested a bass’ preference to strike an identical lure painted a variety of colors. Contrary to what should have been the easy answer, red was the worst performing lure color. Blue ended up middle of the pack. The only color that showed a significant performance improvement was a two-toned, silver and black version of the lure. So there it is! Bass love silver and black. Problem solved. Of course, it isn’t that simple and that isn’t the whole answer. If silver and black offered a huge, consistent advantage, surely fisherman would have figured that out by now. But again, thousands of professional bass tournaments have shown black and silver isn’t the automatic winner.

Bass Vision and Lure Selection

The unsatisfying answer is we humans don’t really know exactly how a bass makes the decision to strike a lure and whether that decision has anything to do with color. For us, color is a huge part of our world, so naturally we focus on it in our analysis of how things work. For a bass, the world is a very different place.

In the case of lure color, bass vision and lure selection are difficult to justify in a scientific manner...and maybe that's okay? / Kurt Mazurek

What This Means To My Fishing

My interpretation of this data, and the way I can feel okay moving forward with my trusty black and blue jig, is that color is generally not that high of a priority to bass in most situations. I know many of you just gasped and scrambled to find the best way to contact me and set me straight. But, if the best, most clean, controlled, scientific data we have at this point shows that the colors a bass can see don’t match up with the colors they chose to strike, then that tells me not to worry too much about it in my fishing decisions. My crude, anecdotal, personal experience has shown that I can catch them very well with a black and blue jig. Contrary to my otherwise logical approach, I’ll let this one small part of my bass fishing game slide with the good old adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

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