Crawler Harness Colors for Stained Water.

[Andrew]

What color blades do you fellas recommend for harnesses in stained Canadian Shield lakes. Has anyone experienced a definite preference? Thanks.

[Chad]

Copper never fails up at Lake of the Woods.

[Mike]

Fluorescent orange is great, with chartreuse not far behind.

[Dunn]

Hello,

From my experience stained or dirty water can be tricky for catching Walleye sometimes.

During stained water walleye seem to want to be able to not only feel the vibration of the bait but also be able to see it, without tracking it real far.

I prefer to use something either very dark in color to cast a good profile against the surface of the water, or something very bright, that would cast a good reflection
into the water. Also on the blades for the harness' I also use a little bit larger blade, or switch to a colorado style blade to cause more vibration in the water.

As someone already said on here, Root beer is a good color for stained water, along with most brass, and dark colors such as dark greens or blues.

On the brighter side of the spectrum I personally have found best luck on bright green and chartreuse's, along with oranges. Don't over look the metallic blades
either, or one's with fish scale decals or reflective eyes on them.

These have all seemed to do well on stained water for me, I hope you have some luck also.

Good luck, and Good fishing.
----------------------------
Marshall J. Dunn
Bluewater Research, Inc.
"Inventors, Manufacturers, and Patent Holders of the OffShore Release
Factory Pro Staff

[Todd_NE]

I like to start with a two-colored blade in dingy water. I like the Northland blade with Orange on one side and goldish/bronze on the other as an example. I also add their rattlin' beads in nasty water for added sound. At times, it can really pay to "upsize" your blades in really nasty water too, I've had great luck with #6 or even 7's when #3 & 4's are the norm.

The more I experiment with Hatchet blades the more I like them also, otherwise I'm pretty much a Colorado guy all the time.

Like anytime you fish, start out with different presentations and find the pattern. Many times color is the smallest part of the puzzle.

Good luck

Todd

[Beach]

I have to go along with the orange blades. I have had good luck with orange and follows the thinking that orange bellies on crankbaits produce better. This is not to say that cooper or brass or any other color will not work.:D
Beach

[Eyez]

LAST EDITED ON Jun-21-00 AT 06:29PM (CST)[p]I'm not convinced that color makes much difference in stained water. Vibration is much more important. If the visibility is 2 feet in a given lake, a walleye is going to feel your spinner (or whatever) long before he sees it. At that point color is useful simply for triggering a bite, but if the fish was curious enough to swim over and check out your bait, you stand a good chance of getting bit, especially if you're fishing pretty fast.

So, knowing that, I follow a general rule. Dark colors in dark water or low light circumstances, and light colors on bright days and/or in clear water. With one exception being orange, mostly because that's the color that walleyes see best, followed closely by green. Chartrues falls somewhere in between, which is why I think it's such a good all round color.

That's just my opinion, I've been corrected before, but just remember there's no rules, and keep experimenting.


Eyez

[Eyeshole]

I'll throw in with the vibration over color folks. When the bite is on, I've caught them on just about any color or blade style you can think of. This became evident one year when we ran out and I had to retie old blades as we fished.

That much said, the most effective colors on Lac Seul for me have been Chartreuse and Florescent Orange. Last year I used some #2 Willow Leafs in a color called metallic green and they were very hot as well. Good Luck.

[cmb]

1)firetiger < yellow/or chartruce, green,orange> 2)yellow,green 3)yellow/or chart and orange work best for me on erie. the fronts of my blades are painted while the backs are silver or gold

[James]

All the LOW fishing reports I've read have mentioned hammered blades in gold and bronze. That's what I am taking in 11 days.

[Gonzo]

Stained Canadian sheilds lakes are very similar to LOTW. Been fishing and guiding here for over 25 yrs. The best blade color day in and day out on our lake for me has been hammered gold or pounded
gold as some would say. I prefer a 2 hook harness
with snell lenghts at 3 to 4 ft. If the water you
are fishing is clearer than you thought, lenghten
your snell. Good Luck.