What’s the best color fishing line for bass? As you become a more accomplished angler, you’ll begin to recognize that there are various types of fishing line that come in a wide range of colors. These different colors actually do play a major role in the overall effectiveness of your lure and your efforts to catch bass.
The best color fishing line for bass is green because bass have rod and cone photoreceptors in their eyes which gives them very clear vision of red and yellow colors but more difficult to distinguish green line from the surrounding environment.
In this article, we’ll discuss the best color fishing line for bass and examine some of the many different types of lines and how you can use them to your advantage.
This article is part of my Complete Guide to Bass Fishing series that you might be interested in.
Table of Contents
Bass Vision Quality
In order to understand the best color fishing line for bass, it’s important to first understand how these fish see things underwater. Bass, like most other predatory fish, rely very heavily on their sense of sight to locate prey and to avoid other predators. They have a very keen sense of sight and are more than capable of seeing fishing line, especially in clear conditions.
Bass have rod and cone photoreceptors in their eyes, much like those found in humans (source). These rods and cones help them see colors depending on the visibility conditions in their habitat. The ability of bass to see certain colors and objects in their environment is related to the amount of light. During the daytime, bass will use the rods and cones in their eyes to detect colors like red, yellow, orange or others while at night, they only use rods and are not capable of discerning colors from one another.
The likelihood whether a bass will see your line greatly depends on the water visibility. It’s important to understand that you’ll need to adjust your strategy and use different line colors in certain situations depending on the water clarity and visibility.
The other key consideration is that the visible color range changes at different depths as light becomes less intense. At more than 5 feet deep, red colors become darker and duller. Green colors stay green for well over to 15 feet deep.
It’s crucial to remember that bass will be able to see your line depending mostly on the contrast between the line and what’s behind it. In the following sections, we’ll cover the best color fishing lines you should use in various conditions.
Monofilament Line Colors
Monofilament fishing line is perhaps the most commonly-used by anglers when it comes to bass fishing. It has a relatively simple construction made out of a single strand of nylon material that has the ability to stretch, but is also slightly less durable than other types of fishing line.
Clear
Clear monofilament line is the most often used in bass fishing for a number of reasons. It functions well in a wide variety of circumstances and also has a very low chance that bass might see the line while you’re fishing. It’s an excellent all-around choice of line for fishing in virtually any type of situation from clear to muddy waters and even at night.
I generally prefer to have a spool of 10 lb Spiderwire Ultracast Ultimate Mono at all times as a backup as it functions in virtually any scenario when bass fishing.
Green
Green monofilament line is a good choice for anglers who want to add a bit of camouflage to their presentation when bass fishing. This is much more effective when you’re fishing in water that has a green tint to it and it can help hide your line from mature bass that are heavily pressured and used to seeing clear line.
It also offers the angler a slight advantage if the water is somewhat clear of being able to see the line and detect a strike before you’re able to feel it. I like to use Berkley Trilene XL’s Low-Vis Green when bass fishing around murky-green waters of the southeast and midwestern United States.
Blue
Blue is one of the more unlikely colors you might expect to use when it comes to fishing in murky or muddy lakes, but it has quite a few advantages when it comes to bass fishing. Blue monofilament line is nearly invisible underwater to bass, but it’s usually bright enough for anglers to see it in the water in most types of conditions.
It also has excellent visibility above the surface, which helps you detect bites as the line moves. The only downside is that the blue monofilament line actually becomes more visible to fish at times when there is less light. This means it will be more visible at greater depths, so if you’re fishing down past 15’ or at night, it probably isn’t a good option.
If you’re looking for a great blue mono fishing line, it’s worth the investment to try P-Line CXX-Xtra Strong.
Yellow
Yellow is one of the more common monofilament colors that’s used outside of clear when it comes to bass fishing. It’s mostly used by anglers who want to have the ability to see their line in the water and doesn’t provide any camouflage in the same way that blue or green is capable of doing.
I prefer to use a yellow monofilament line if I’m going to be fishing in water that’s muddy with very low visibility. It’s very often considered to be the best type of line used in muddy water conditions. One of my personal favorites is also a very low-cost mono line made by Sufix that’s called Sufix Superior Monofilament High-Vis Yellow.
Red
Red is much like yellow mono when it comes to the advantages and disadvantages of using it for bass fishing. It gives anglers a distinct advantage of being able to see their line in and above the water, but manages to blend into the water when submerged.
It starts to appear black as visibility lessens the further down your lure goes, which makes red a decent choice for fishing in murky waters. A good choice for red mono line is Zebco’s Red Cajun Line Smooth Cast.
Fluorocarbon Line Colors
You’ll find a slightly different color assortment when it comes to fluorocarbon fishing lines. Fluoro is best known for having the most vanishing ability underwater as it has the closest refractory index when compared to water itself. It’s a great option to choose if you’re fishing in water that has higher visibility, but there are some points to be made about a few of the different fishing line color selections you’ll find in fluorocarbon line.
Clear
As you might expect, clear fluoro line is best for fishing in very clear water conditions. It’s capable of virtually disappearing underwater and fluoro is very tough for bass to see at any time of day or night. The only downsides with using fluoro is that it’s slightly less durable than mono or braid, and that it’s usually just as hard for anglers to see their line as well.
I like to use a clear fluoro leader line if I’m using a finesse presentation in clear water. If you’re looking for a solid fluoro line to use, it’s hard to beat P-Line Fluorocarbon.
Green
What’s the purpose of green fluoro if the clear fluoro color already has vanishing ability in the water? Green fluoro has the same ability to blend in with the water that clear offers, but it is also advantageous when fishing in water that has a greenish color. There is some debate amongst anglers as to whether green fluoro is actually better than clear, but it’s worth trying if you’re interested in blending in as much as possible with your presentation.
I like to use P-Line’s Floroclear Mist Green when fishing in lakes that have a greenish color to them.
Pink
One of the more popular fluoro colors in the last several years has been pink. Pink fluoro line is mostly used as a leader line that is often paired with braid in many cases. There is not really any advantage to having pink fluoro in terms of hiding your line from the fish, but it does offer some interesting perks for anglers.
Pink fluoro allows anglers to very clearly see their line when it’s above the water, making it easier to detect a strike before it can be felt. It’s also true that pink fluoro, when nicked or slightly cut, tends to show more brightly than the rest of the line. This allows you to identify sections of your line that need to be replaced.
One of my favorite pink fluorocarbon fishing lines is Seaguar Pink Label.
Braided Line Colors
Braided line is quite different from fluoro or mono in ways that are practical to anglers looking to have the best color braid fishing line for bass. There is virtually no type or brand of braided line that will be capable of vanishing underwater and it is the most difficult to hide from bass. However, if you’re looking to get the most out of any lure presentation with braided line, it’s best to consider using camo braid.
I personally prefer to use a camo braided line when fishing around heavy cover like brush piles or thick vegetation. It’s still somewhat visible to fish, but the camo colors allow it to blend in with the background to a degree, making it harder for bass to distinguish braided line from the rest of the water’s contents.
The best option for using braided line around thick cover and vegetation when the water is clear is to connect a fluoro leader line to the end of the braid. This allows you to hide the line closest to your lure while also having the benefits and strength that braided line provides.
My go-to choice for camo braided line, for more than a decade now, has been Spiderwire Stealth Camo Braid Fishing Line.
Conclusion
Knowing what line to use in certain situations can provide you a major advantage over others, especially in the world of bass fishing tournaments. By using the information we’ve provided in this brief article, you should have a solid understanding of the different types of lines, as well as their advantages and drawbacks in different situations. If you use each one in the right way, you’ll be able to catch more fish with the right color fishing line for each scenario.