In regards to why black, took me a few years to figure it out. Has anyone stoped to think why ducks ,baitfish, and game fish have white bellys? well it's to help protect them from below as it blends them in with the sky on foggy,cloudy, and darkness. yes my
poppers quit fishing at sundown until I started to put dark bellys on them. Now they can be seen on overcast, foggy days etc. I am strickly talking about surface plugs. So from now on all my home made plugs have dark bellys.