Fishing Buddy Refuses to Reveal Productive Lure Color, Friendship Under Review

A 12-year fishing friendship between two Ozarks anglers has been placed 'under formal review' after one party refused to disclose the specific color of a soft plastic bait that produced 11 largemouth bass in two hours, describing it only as 'a green situation.' Angler Mike Clinch was fishing from the stern of a shared bass boat Saturday when he began catching fish at a rate that his bow partner, Steve Swivel, described as 'frankly suspicious.' 'I'm throwing the same bait, same retrieve, same depth,' Swivel said. 'He's getting bit every cast. I ask what color he's using and he palms the bait like a poker player. He cups it in his hand and says, it's a green situation. That's not an answer. Green has 400 shades.' Clinch maintains that disclosing the precise color would violate 'a principle' he could not fully articulate. 'It's not that I don't trust Steve,' Clinch said. 'It's that a man's productive bait color is between him and the fish. If I tell him, he tells his brother. His brother tells the dock guys. The dock guys put it on a forum. Within a month every angler on this lake is throwing that color and it stops working. I'm protecting the color.' Swivel countered that the two men have shared a boat, split gas money, and exchanged tackle for over a decade. 'I gave him my last chartreuse spinnerbait in 2018,' Swivel said. 'During a tournament. I handed it to him and said, here, take this, and he won $200 with it. And now he won't tell me what shade of green he's throwing.' The friendship review period is expected to last through bass season. Both men continue to fish together on Saturdays, though Swivel has been observed attempting to photograph Clinch's bait bag with his phone. Clinch has responded by switching to opaque storage containers.