Ugly colors.... hey Stan what works?

[Turgeon]

Stan Durst's response in the Jake thread got me thinking, any really productive non-traditional colors you have used that nobody would buy??? Anybody have any favorite colors that produce that you usually don't see on the shelves

[NY Musky Guy]

Stan's Sunset Carp. Awesome color, especially in dark water or overcast conditions.

[Muskie Treats]

One of my favorites I call "Baby Poop". Brown body with chart belly and twister tail. Sometimes I add a few metalic flecks to the brown to get a little flash out of the bait.

[Tom B]

The "baby poop" color, for me, was the Bobbie bait that had kind of a brownish-pink that had a white belly.

The other "color" that almost always works for me is gray.

One thing that I found interesting..... look at the current issue of Esox Angler and check out the article on European pike. In one of the photos you can see the authors tackle box. Appears that any color works, as long as it is "jailbird." Huh.

Good topic

Tom B

[THE_MARV2]

Nothing works if it's not thrown. But there are some mighty ugly colors that will work . I got a suggestion from a new friend of mine that kind of makes sense. His ideas to paint some "uglies" and give them a ugly name and do a series of them. I am seriously thinking about it.
What do you guys think? Would you be willing to buy a truly ugly painted lure to find out if it would catch fish? Or only after you have found out that it does indeed catch fish? If it's the latter than it wouldn't be produced because "someone has to use it to find out" in the first place. I would like to find someone whom would put it to the test. I know there will be a ton of people jump on this one but I only want one person who will fish it to absolute death so it at least gets a decent chance to do it's job and not just thrown a couple times. I need a faithful tester to put this color through it's paces but who ever is picked must promise that they will not throw up in the lake or on the lure. And they must not laugh at it.
Let's go over a couple names for it. Sight unseen it is "UGLY" period.
How about:
butt ugly?
Mr. ugly?
puker?
pigs butt?
crapper?
Any ideas? Who ever is willing to seriously throw and troll this ugly critter ( did I say "ugly critter"? ) place you name in this thread and we will find a way to pick the winner. You will test this color without purchase as I will supply it for the testing. We will get to the rest later when we find out how many are interested in this project.
Any takers?

[THE FERD]

If it's ugly I like it !!! It's normally somthing that most fishermen won't be throwing . An odd color may just be what a fish is looking for . How many times does a musky seen a firetiger lure go over it's head in a day ? But if it has and odd color pattern go over it's head it may be just what it takes to have her come up and take a look ? I'd like to see a few upside down patterns in glide baits for two reasons #1 there easier to see and keep track of and #2 they just look more wounded and easier to eat ?
THE FERD

[ugly reply]

put me down as an ugly candidate...........

did that come out right?


I have a couple of Stan's good lookin baits so why not an ugly one.

[Turgeon]

Thats me forgeting to ck in first wanting to be ugly.......

[Quebec guy]

Mr. Durst, My experience of both musky and pike fishing has taught me that the big girls don't like to play it too sexy. My philosophy has thus become, through the years, that I do not feed the caviar first to the pigs, but I give them the mud I would not eat myself. (Jeez... I hate caviar... bad example!) I would therefore consider myself as a potential candidate who would have total conidence and faith in the lure you would send. Please let me feed them some ugly meal again! Sincerely, Pat

[Musky Mike]

Stan:
In as much as I'm not a guide and don't get to hit the water each and every day, I don't think I'm a good candidate for testing your "ugly critter," but I do in fact like tossing ugly ducklings which other musky hunters seem to avoid like the plague. With that thought in mind, you can put my name down for a purchase when "Mr. Hideous" becomes available to the rank-n-file.

I have long thought the musky fishing lure manufactures were missing the boat by not offering a reverse (upside down) version of what is supposed to be an injured baitfish. I believe FERD has given you a very valid suggestion with his suggestion of such a bait.

Mike Kagel
Algoma, WI

[THE_MARV2]

Hi guys, I had a nice weekend fishing on Lake Webster with Ben Clendening. I shouldn't say this but Ben is working on a prototype again. We hadn't gone fifty feet after we put it in the water when we had a musky on it. It was a 30 incher but a beautiful fish. ( I just love the green on them). Got to see a lot of the fellows from around the area. Got to meet some that drove in for the tourny also. It was really cold and the wind was blowing pretty good. What a dedicated bunch of guys.At the banguet afterwards I didn't get to get around to all I met on the water as a lot of the guys kept me busy with questions. Steve, I think I saw you at the banguet but everytime I started to come over someone else cornered me. Was that Tomcat that was with you? Sorry about not getting to chat more with you. We will have to get together this Summer over there again. I would like to try it out in warmer wheather. In any case, I enjoyed meeting you all and had fun out there even if I did freeze.
Tight Lines to all,

[THE_MARV2]

Ok guys,
The uglies are in process but it looks like I will have to have more than one tested. I will get a hold of the testers picked and we will get onwith the deal.
Remeber, the first one to laugh or get sick is disqualified.

[Crazy Canuck]

Stan,

Have you thought about testing these ugly colours against natural, proven ones? Perhaps you should get two testers who fish together out of the same boat. Have one fish with the uglies and one with the naturals. You could even have them rotate between the uglies and naturals to remove any bias from one tester fishing better or different. You could even have them troll the uglies and naturals side by side with the same line out and at the same depth. If the uglies get eaten more often than the naturals, regardless of the individual fishing it, then you may have yourself a winning colour. I fish with a partner who would be willing to try these out. Drop me a line if you're interested in field testing the uglies against the naturals. In case you want some Canadian influence/input, I fish the Kawartha Lakes in Ontario.


Todd Langley
langley_todd@hotmail.com

Keep your hooks sharp.

[Quebec Guy]

Hmmm... Canuck, I would agree with you on that good-looking-as-opposed-to-ugly colors testing, but I do not think that Mr. Durst can finance our whole tackle boxes! :-) Tight lines everybody! Pat