Bass Fishing with Chad Pinkerton
Crazy Color Lures
 Editor’s
Note: “Every fisherman’s looking for a different
lure that the bass have never seen before, with a color
that’s never been introduced into the bass’s
environment and that will make bass bite. I’ve
figured out how to give bass those unique colors and
lures,” Chad Pinkerton of St. Cloud, Florida,
a tournament angler and a bass-fishing guide at Disney
World, says. Pinkerton’s so addicted to fishing
that he says, “I can’t go anywhere without
a bag of Spike-It soft-plastic lures in my pocket. I’ve
even sat in church, pulled out a plastic worm or a jerkbait,
taken my knife and started carving designs in the lure
while the preacher’s preaching. Sometimes I feel
like the Lord’s speaking to me about how to make
a unique bait, and I just have to try it.”
Question: Chad, how are you getting colors on your
lures that the bass have never seen before?
Pinkerton: I use the Spike-It dyes to produce colors
that you can’t buy. I get a paint jug and dump
four or five different color Spike-It dyes into that
jug. Then, I’ll dip a white Spike-It worm, fluke,
lizard or tube in that color, and whatever color comes
out, is the color I’ll fish. Sometimes I get wild
purples, pinks and all kinds of crazy colors. The last
worms that I dyed, I used six-different colors, including
chartreuse, red, a little bit of lime, black, blue and
a small amount of pink. When I took the worms out of
the dye, I had
a worm color that nobody’s got. When I mix dark
colors together, I get dark worms. When I mix light
colors, I get light-colored worms. I like to pick my
colors of dye and mix them to produce an odd-colored
worm, jig, tube, jerkbait or lizard that’s unlike
anything the bass has ever seen before.
Question: What’s your favorite worm to dye?
Pinkerton: I like Spike-It’s white worm because
I like solid colors when I create my own special worms.
When I go fishing, I carry a sandwich bag with 200-different-colored
worms that I know the bass have never seen before. When
I go to a tournament and my fishing partner sees all
those crazy-colored worms, he figures out pretty quickly
what I’m doing.
Question: How do you decide what color you’ll
fish?
Pinkerton: I don’t even look at the worm. I just
reach in the bag, get a crazy color and start fishing
it.
Question: Are you using these crazy colors in the tournament?
Pinkerton: I start reaching in my bag and using various
colors when I’m practicing for a tournament. The
bass will eliminate the colors they don’t like,
and they’ll key in on one of those crazy colors
that they  do
like. I know what I’ve mixed to get each color
of worm, so once I see the color that the bass want
to hit, I’ve got another sandwich bag with that
colored worm to fish during the tournament.
Question: How many colors do you mix at one time?
Pinkerton: I’ll mix as few as two Spike-It colors
together and as many as six.
Question: What’s an example of some of the colors
you’re mixing?
Pinkerton: I developed a color that’s a real-bright,
almost-fluorescent orange. I’ve found that the
bass won’t leave it alone. Nobody fishes a bright-orange
worm, and I believe that’s one reason that color’s
so effective.
Question: How did you get that color?
Pinkerton: I mixed some red Spike-It dye with chartreuse
dye, and then I put a little bit of hot pink in it,
which gave me the dark orange that I wanted.
Question: So you’re like an artist, but instead
of using a palette and oil-based paints, you’re
mixing Spike-It dyes to produce unique colors for white
Spike-It lures. Is that right?
Pinkerton: Yes, that’s what I’m doing. Every
time I mix a color, I write down the exact measurements
that I use to produce that color. I dip my soft plastics
into that color, and when I take them out, I put them
in a Ziploc bag and sprinkle table salt over them.
Question: How are you getting the soft plastics out
of the dye?
Pinkerton: I use tweezers to take them out of the dye
and put them in a Ziploc bag, and then I salt them when
the bag’s full of baits. 
Question: What are some colors you’ve mixed that
you’ve really been surprised that the bass have
hit?
Pinkerton: I guess that screaming-orange color has surprised
me the most. I’ve got another color that I mix
that I call Nightmare, which is kind of purple with
black in it. It’s really a nice color, and I catch
a lot of bass on it when I’m flipping that color
into grass mats. To get that color, I mix plenty of
blue and red. Then, I add a little neutralizer, which
is kind of a clear coat that gives it a shinier look.
Question: Do you think that because you’re mixing
crazy colors, you’re catching more big bass than
other people do?
Pinkerton: Yes, I really do. I think the time I spend
at night dying unique baits, pays off for me when I’m
fishing tournaments or guiding clients at Disney World.
Question: How are you measuring your dyes?
Pinkerton: I use a one-cup measuring cup. The Spike-It
dyes allow me to have my own taste in colors for fishing
and unique baits unlike anyone else has.
To learn more about Spike-It’s top-quality products,
click here.
Tomorrow: Fire Tiger Jerkbait
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