Guys,
Fly fisherman "match the hatch" all the time (if they can).

I can't afford to feed the pike all those $5.00 crank baits and plugs, so hard bait colors don't matter much to me in Quetico. I do know that steel leaders limit my ability to catch fish all day, so I stick with plastics most of the time. I do use the most neutral colors I can find for Quetico, much more so than when fishing in Indiana. Here, it seems the more outrageous the better (fishing pressure, something they haven't seen before), as long as you follow Al's and Owen's advice - speed, presentation (especially erratic retrieves), etc. rather than color matching the hatch.
Of course, these tricks work in Quetico as well. I usually try to hit something (boulder, wood) with my plastics and "jerk" the bait away from the obstruction, then let it settle slowly (I rarely use a sinker or jig head heavier than 1/8 oz.)
I must admit that I generally use dark back / light bottom patterns for my beloved Zara Spooks. For night fishing, I use the darkest spook I can find (frog, usually). Except, at high noon on bluebird days - I use a "shad" pattern (light/light), and do surprisingly well (don't believe whatever Rockhead says in follow-up to this post - he can't hit the water with spooks).

Posted by Skip Guyer on April 29, 2000 at 18:24