bass kid, I didn't mean to sound negative in my post. I'm just encouraging you and everyone to think about this stuff. I'm thinking about it myself and at this point, I don't have a real definitive opinion on red hooks, I just know that the ones I have are duller than the normal hooks.

Another thing that came to mind in this discussion is this: It's generally agreed that blue is the last color to "disappear" under water. People point to this fact as a reason why blue and purple are good colors, I've seen it mentioned many times. So what should we do next, use blue lures to make the lure stand out but use them with red hooks to make the hooks "disappear" at deeper depths? It's a funny paradox when you think about it.

My overall thought on lure color selection is to match what the bass really eat. If bass are eating shad, my shad colored lure will look like the shad regardless if the shad are on the surface or if they are in 60 feet. Bass don't need any help finding lures typically, I think they're quite aware of what is around them.

My overall thought on hooks is that I want to make the hooks as inconspicuous as possible. I have never once seen a fish swimming around bleeding, so I'm not really sold on red hooks. Maybe the color of blood does trigger bass, but if that was the case, why don't we use blood red colored lures? I hear red is popular in texas, but it sure isn't popular out here. If I ever find the time, I'll experiment more with it, but for now I'll stick to using lures that look like real bass food and hooks that are as inconspicuous as possible :)