The Phenomenon of the color PINK in Brackish Waters for Sunfish......

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

As an active member of Bigbluegill.com the last several years, I have learned a lot and shared many ideas that have proven successful for Sunfish in the waters I fish. Prior to becoming a member I had several secrets that remained in my pocket and only my closest fishing buddies had ever even shared in this success. This isn't to say others weren't fishing the same baits in a similar style and catching fish or using baits of their choice and finding similar success.  I was a young kid with numerous anglers in my extended family and I learned early from my grandpa Foster Abney, who always told me to listen when I got around fishermen and think about things that might help me or work where I was fishing.  I was fortunate to be pretty close with an Uncle on my mother's side of the family that lived one town over in Southeastern Louisiana. He grew up and lived near the banks of the Tcefuncte River in the small town of Madisonville, Louisiana and only fished two bodies of water during his eighty plus year life.  A fact that many folks close to him never knew is he fished live grass shrimp for some 60 to 70 years and I couldn't begin to tell you how many Bluegill, Shellcracker, Warmouth and Crappie that he caught over the years.   One Thanksgiving day in the early 1970s as our 100 member family assembled in Folsom, Louisiana for the best dinners we ever ate, Uncle Kenny walked out to an acre pond that was dug on the family farm to stock with fish for the 20 plus grandkids in the Sharp family.  I was there casting a beetle spin when he asked if I had a scoop net with me. I did and we went over to some grass beds near the shore and made a quick scoop and filled a bucket up with little crustaceans called Grass Shrimp. He said put a cork and a bream hook on there and let me show you something. I eagerly followed his instructions and a few moments later we were pulling out big bluegill one after another.  This went on for quite some time and my Uncle explained if you ever run out of Grass Shrimp "Jeffie" and can't find more, take a pink soft plastic jig and fish that in the same areas. He explained that I wouldn't be disappointed and don't be afraid to tip the hook with a worm, grasshopper or a cricket if you have some.  I went home armed with the advice and went through seven or eight tackle boxes my dad and I had but no pink in any of them. I couldn't believe it but surely I'll find some the next time at the bait shop.  A few short days later my dad and I visited the local bait shop and I rushed the fishing tackle, both shelves and found two packs of little curly tails that had a mix of white and pink, they were mine and I was excited to let Uncle Kenny know I had found some and was eager to try them as soon as I could. His only clue was Pink was the best match for live grass shrimp in our brackish waters. He explained saltwater anglers have realized it for some time but freshwater fishermen have failed to make the correlation and they are truly missing out. In the weeks ahead I will go into detail how I fish these jigs and hopefull answer many of the questions I have received about the mystery of pink.

[Allen Morgan]

Well, I looked, and realized I didn't have any pink dubbing.  I went and got a roll of pink acrylic yarn, and turned some of it into dubbing.  Hopefully, I'll have a pic or two later tonight.

[Steve Totten]

Here are some of the pink scuds,  Whatcha think Jeffrey

[Donald Schmotzer]

 

 I am an UL fly fisherman. One of the flies I like to tie "MM MInnow" (see fly tying for bluegills group) is one of  the hottest wet flies when fishing for BG. I have on occasion tied some of these for a friend that always requested I tie some of them in pink and black. He claims he always catches more on the pink ones than all the others. Maybe there is more to this color combo than I realized. I have had good luck with the pink and black, but I seldom fish that color.....I may need to give the pink and black a little more fishing time....(thanks for the heads-up) I guess it would depend on which bodies of water have grass shrimp.............// tite-lines//

........Don in SC

[DAVID L EITUTIS]

HEY DONALD ,Pink worked for me this past year after Sir Jeffrey introduced me to it and suspect he has more pink baits in his boxes than anyone else on here. I guess alot depends also on color of the water being fished. He has a lot of tanic stained water down there and up here it's different in the midwest..... 

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Pink works great in the tidal waters of the Low Country....not as good on Santee Cooper but the water can be much clearer in those lakes at times......lots of grass shrimp in S.C. so I think you should at least give them a whirl where you fish Don...might be pleasantly surprised...Good Luck!

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Pink/White skirt was a good color combination today in the brackish waters of Northeast N.C. I added a live shiner and fished three to four feet deep in staging areas adjacent to shallow water where fish have been caught in recent weeks when the water spiked high in the upper 50s......

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Both gills and Crappie were taking pink yesterday....

[DAVID L EITUTIS]

WELL BUDDY SEE ya broke out some of the new Cotton Candy's huh!!!!!!! good for you and hope ya have a great Easter today and fish get a rest today! LOL...........

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Thanks Tooty and the same to you and your family........I did break out one of the new micros but we're just too cold for Coppernose gills to be consistently active...Caught several medium gills and even a few smaller Crappie on the Cotton Candy......We'll give them a rest today for Easter celebrations and be back at it next week....I should be fishing soon with a Quill Float from Bob Garner and jigs and micros from Tooty and Jim Gronaw to name a few.........

[Steve Totten]

Pink works here too.  The water in the pit lake iI fished today has nudged it's way into the lower eighties.  The bass have left their beds, and the channel cats are feeding on the surface.  Now is the time for central Florida.

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

That's good to hear Steve...hopefully you'll locate some big ones soon and have a blast!

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

We are running head on into the next grass shrimp hatch in the Albemarle/Pamlico Estuary and the fishing will get even better as the sunfish start taking advantage of this plentiful source of protein near their bedding zones........The female shrimp have deposited millions of eggs in the grasses and leaf liter along our river banks and marshes. It's almost time to match the hatch and go pink more often with my offering in this region......I traditionally set May 1st as the kick off but I may try a little earlier as the water has warmed several weeks ahead of a normal spring pattern......