So, just about every bait that comes out that says its a hitch or "Clear Lake" hitch color generally has bronze sides and a blackish back. This has always bothered me because Ive never ever seen a hitch with this coloration. The ones Ive seen have slivery sides with a blackish back, no bronze at all. And, Ive seen spawning ones too; yep, no bronze on them either. I decided to look into the matter and see where this bronze color for hitch has come from.

Turns out that in Clear Lake there are two types of hitch. One is called hitch (proper common name), and the other is a subspecies of the hitch and it is called Clear Lake hitch (proper common name). A deeper look into the issues uncovered the fact that Clear Lake hitch are either extirpated from Clear Lake, or they are present in very low numbers. Also, it is virtually impossible to find info pertaining to Clear Lake hitch, no pictures, no physical description, no nothing. Also, a co-worker informed me that he looked into this issue a few years ago and found that nobody that has worked on Clear Lake in the last like 20 years has sampled a Clear Lake hitch (I didnt verify this, but hes a smart fella).

So where all this is going is this. I assumed that Ive only seen hitch (since Ive never seen the bronze coloration), and that it is the Clear Lake hitch that shows the bronze color. This quote came from Moyle (2002): "When small, hitch are silvery with a black spot at the base of the tail. Older fish lose the spot and become darker, with the largest fish approaching brownish yellow on the back." The problem with this description is it doesnt say which species of the two gets this brown/yellow color. So, Im still confused.

My interpretation of the whole thing is this. Clear Lake hitch likely are gone from Clear Lake. That leaves hitch, and no hitch Ive ever seen have bronze in them, and Ive seen big ones (ones pushing maximum prey size for largemouth). All of the ones that Ive seen that are 12 inches and under (the size range I consider to be primary prey items for largemouth) are silvery. So why would I possibly want to use a hitch imitator that is bronze? I dont get it.

Maybe some of you can shed light on why most lure makers think they should paint their hitch baits with a bronze color.

Anyway, attached are two images of hitch that I caught by accident vertical jigging yesterday at Clear Lake. It was kinda cool, we found a school in deep water that, on the electronics, we thought were bass and/or crappie. Neat surprise when we brought the first one into the boat.

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/4511-Fish1.jpg


http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/4512-Fish2.jpg

Attachment #1, (.jpg file)
Attachment #2, (.jpg file)

I don't understand. Those pictures to me show the hitch looking slightly bronze. Am I missing something or is this a joke? It's kind of silvery bronzish. Maybe I'm color blind :)

http://www.calfishing.com/gallery/v/members/bigreenjobass/

Wow thanks for the pics Urban ! From other hitch pictures I've seen posted they always appeared brownish on the back , kind of gold scales (above the lateral line) silver scales (below the lateral line) giving way to a white belly .
Its appears from the pictures you've posted the scales on the upper half have a light gold hue to them to me?

Before everybody jumps on me, let me clarify a bit.

Take a look at the Hudd hitch, or the osprey, or whatever. There isnt just a hint of bronze, its ALL bronze, and a deep bronze at that.

My point was/is, the hitch are much, much closer to being all silver. And I wasnt gonna say this, but I know that I would much rather use the Kokannee Hudd than the Hitch Hudd when trying to imitate hitch, or fish in a place where I think hitch are a primary forage item

I've gone down the same road hitch color investigation a few times. What's funny is that if you ask different people who have seen hitch to describe them, invariably you get different responses. Greenish, bluish, whitish, bronzeish, etc.

There have only been two other good pics of hitch online in the past, one was on a scientific website that had a bunch of pics including a large female hitch (no longer online). That fish was mainly silver in coloration, a hint of cream/gold and a black back. The other hitch pic is on Chris Youlden's baitfish gallery on this site, I think it came originally from a pic in the ncbf photo gallery, but anyway that one is basically silver with grey/blue tones.

After hearing so many different reports on their coloration, I can only speculate that the hitch is a fish that can vary in coloration, probably in response to water clarity and surrounding colors, just like bluegill and crawdads do.

Urban's pic above (and you can clue me in if I am wrong) probably came from deeper water with bad clarity like less than one foot. Most fish look paler than normal when brought up from those conditions. That same fish in the pic might look considerably different in the spring over grass beds in clear water.

I do agree though that I've never seen a pic or heard a description of a hitch as being brown, and a lot of hitch imitators are primarily brown. It's probably because they guys making the baits just haven't seen a hitch before and are relying on descriptions... which of course vary a lot :)

Well, you hit on something that I didnt want to really talk about cause I could write a book about it. And that is the seasonal variation that many fish species show in coloration. I tried to account for that by saying "Ive seen them spawning" and "Ive seen big ones". Ive seen them zipping all through the shallows when bass are spawning.

Ive also seen both of the pics that you talked about. But yet, Ive yet to see one that looks even almost like what available baits look like.

This is why I speculate that it was the Clear Lake hitch, not the HITCH in the photos, that likely showed much more bronze/brown/yellow or whatever color you want to call it. But its impossible to verify for lack of available information and that they probably are gone forever.

Urban,

True, doesn't seem like anybody has perfected the color of a hitch. That's basically the bottom line. But Hey, the lucky craft pointer CL hitch looks pretty sweet.

http://www.calfishing.com/gallery/v/members/bigreenjobass/

I still have all the pics that used to be online (I'm obsessive like that :) )

It's possible people were looking at the pics of the small hitch in an aquarium and got confused into thinking they were brown. I think the pictures were just taken with bad lighting. The only good pic they used to have online was that pic of the big female hitch which, like I said, looked black/silver with a slight bit of tan/gold. I don't even fish clear lake but once a year at the most so I don't know why I even care anyway lol.

OH swimbait....I just realized something, I live in Florida.

Why, please tell me why im getting involved in a conversation about a baitfish that is evidently decently abundant in a lake that is across the country from me? Answer that and you win a cookie.

http://www.calfishing.com/gallery/v/members/bigreenjobass/

one word: obsessed

You win a cookie!! hooray!

http://www.calfishing.com/gallery/v/members/bigreenjobass/