Tips on Jig & Lure Colour Choices When Ice Fishing

Choosing the best colour of ice fishing jig or lure involves considering many factors, including water clarity, light levels, and forage. While there are no hard-and-fast rules for deciding what colour of bait to tie on the end of your line when ice fishing, the following guidelines provide a good starting point.

Glow baits are unique for their ability to store light energy, and then re-emit it for a period of time. To maximize glow intensity and duration, it’s best to super-charge a bait’s phosphorescent materials using a strong light source, such as the Glow Pick 6 or Torch Light UV Jig Charger.

Compared to traditional jig and lure paints, UV finishes reflect more light energy and, in turn, strengthen the bait’s visibility. This causes UV baits to stand out better than standard colours. Moreover, UV increases the vividness and visual appeal of contrasting light and dark colour patterns.

Finishes like Pink Tiger UV, Green Tiger UV, and Purple Tiger UV offered in the Jigging Rap and Rippin’ Rap collections, for instance, boast greater drawing power and are able to attract fish from farther away. Fishing deep during the day, in low light, and during overcast conditions are three examples of when UV baits are effective, but anglers should experiment using UV jigs and lures outside these scenarios.

Jigs and lures painted with both glow and UV finishes are extremely popular. For many anglers, patterns like Glow Green Fire UV and Glow Pink Fire UV eliminate guesswork when choosing a bright, attention-getting colour. The combination of glow and UV gives anglers greater versatility, including the ability to use the same lure during the day and at night, as well as in bright sun or under overcast skies.

Natural colours are preferred when the conditions require using a presentation that closely resembles the forage that fish are eating. Time and again, a realistic baitfish pattern, for example, can prove vital for triggering strikes from predators in clear water, and could see an angler using a Mooch Minnow in Goby or Shad or a Jigging Shadow Rap in Bleak or Live Perch for walleye, whitefish, and lake trout. Natural finishes are also a reliable choice when targeting pressured fish, which may sometimes be put off by bright, unnatural colours.

Silver (or chrome) and gold jigging lures have always been popular with ice anglers. The flash and strobing effect produced by these reflective finishes simulates light flickering of the scales of baitfish, which helps attract fish and trigger strikes. Not surprisingly, many baitfish-inspired finishes feature reflective, metallic accents.

Having jigs and lures featuring metallic colours, such as blues, reds, and purples, gives the angler greater choice for catering to fish preferences. Some examples here include Metallic Red and Metallic Rainbow offerings in VMC’s ice jig collection, as well as Pink Clown, Chrome Blue, and metallic perch patterns (e.g., Leech Lake Flutter Spoon in Perch, Flash Champ in Yellow Perch).

Custom-painted lures have been trending on the ice fishing scene for a while, and Rapala, VMC, and Clam offer many distinct, head-turning colour patterns. Some noteworthy top-sellers are Wonderbread, Glow Pink Wonderbread, Wonder Tiger, Glow Juicy Lucy, Bad Lipstick, and Voodoo Haze.

As custom-inspired colours are less commonly seen by fish, using these funky finishes can prove an effective tactic for stimulating a fish’s curiosity and triggering a reaction strike. Noteworthy too is that many custom patterns involve contrasting colours, which helps enhance the bait’s overall visibility and provide a clear target for an attacking fish. Given these qualities, many anglers find custom-inspired colours effective at catching pressured fish.