If you've fished for any amount of time, you've probably heard someone use phrases like, "You can use any color, as long as it's white."  Or, "If it ain't chartreuse, it ain't no use!"  I know I've used expressions like that from time to time.

For these expressions to be so widely used, there must be a great deal of truth to them.  Right?  Of course, they can't be true all the time.  Can they?  Or does color even  matter at all?  Is it just a confidence thing?

For a long time now my favorite colors for fluke (and some other saltwater fish) have been chartreuse, white and pink.  I do try to match a color to what I think will work best for the current conditions, e.g. stained water, clear water, cloudy skies, rough water, etc.  Having said that, I admittedly, at times, use them somewhat randomly as well, e.g. "This color looks cool!  I think I'll try this one."  

Does it matter?

Fishing on the Irish Ayes the other day, we had a pretty hot fluke bite going. And when the bite is hot that's the time to experiment.  What I learned that day is that color definitely matters (at least sometimes).  Let me share my experience.

My rig was set up as follows:
A white 3 oz. Spro bucktail with a white bucktail teaser hook placed about 12" above the Spro.  I also had a stinger hook attached to the Spro (see Rigging the Bucktail Stinger: 101).
For bait on the Spro I had two Chartreuse 4" Gulp! Swimming Mullets (one on the main hook and one on the stinger).  On the teaser hook above I had a Pearl White 4" Gulp! Swimming Mullet.

Using the rig like this, every bite came on the Spro or the stinger attached to the Spro.  After a while I swapped out the white Gulp! on the teaser with a natural color 3" Gulp! Shrimp.  Still, every bite was on the Spro or the stinger.

Back Bay areas yield nice Summer Flounder (Fluke)

while New England states struggle

When the New York season opened a couple weeks ago, plenty of boats and anglers targeted these flatfish despite the two fish limit at 21 inches per fish. "Fluke fishing out of Shinnecock Inlet was slow for most" said Horst Klein. "After days of tough fishing, we opted to target the plentiful striped bass."

New York and Long Island Sound fishermen should start to see good fishing any day now. In years past, the early season was always productive, especially for those that love to fish bucktail jigs tipped with mackerel strips, squid or Berkley Gulp!

Fluke seek out eel grass and pilings for the protection they offer, making Back Bay regions key haunts during certain portions of the year. In the summer, small and medium sized adults situate themselves on sandy or muddy bottoms of bays, harbors and along the open coastline. Most of the larger fish are found in deeper water (50 to 60 feet). As fall arrives, fluke migrate to the offshore waters in depths from 150 to more than 500 feet.

Read More Here

Our local Delaware River is listed as one of the largest spawning grounds on the east coast.  Every spring, cow females must enter fresh water river systems to spawn.  Stripers have been known to release eggs as far north as Easton, Pennsylvania.  However, much of the spawning process occurs in the tidal sections of Trenton and Philadelphia.  Female Stripers will release eggs into the current.  As the eggs flow freely downriver, the males finish the process.  It is essential for stripers to reproduce in a clean, freshwater environment.  Pollution, high water and muddy water can decrease chances for a successful reproduction.

The peak of the Striper run normally occurs during late April and early May.  However, good numbers of large fish can be caught earlier as buck shad and herring run the river to spawn.  These alternate fish runs provide the Striped Bass with an abundant food source.  The Striper's aggressive nature drives them to constantly eat.  Plus, they need nutrients, as they will expend energy during the spawning process..................

I had a good idea but really was not sure.  It was not till I went to college till I finally realized what these guys were talking about.  I had to take science classes so I decided to take a couple of classes in Oceanography, at Richard Stockton College, in Pomona, NJ.  It was Dr. Stuart C. Farrell PhD. and his description of beach morphology and physical processes affecting shoreline dynamics, that allowed me to finally understand what was going on.

You want to talk about a light going off well it was like the whole room lit up.  After class I talked to the professor and had him go into detail as to what goes on.  WOW, that was easier than I thought.

I hope I can relate what I learned here in as simple terms as possible.  The ocean because of its never ending movement causes the sand to shift constantly there by morphing the shoreline constantly.  This can be seen especially after a storm.  The beach sand is scarped away by the waves and their constant pounding and loosening if the sand.  Where does it go?  In simple terms it sits just off shore waiting for redepositing back up onto the beach once more...