Is color or sound more important when fishing stained water ? All my rattle traps are black back/chrome body and I fish rivers and resovoirs that are almost always stained to muddy. Do the bass still need to see a bright firetiger color, or does the sound enable them to find the lure ? Should I use firetiger color on all my lures or will shad colors with rattles works as well ?

  -Thank you  :-?

If you are talking really stained or muddy water a Rattle Trap would not be my first choice. I would switch over to a jig in a black configuration or a spinnerbait with Indiana or Colorado blades. Good luck.

Do the bass still need to see a bright firetiger color, or does the sound enable them to find the lure ?

I don't think they "need" either the sound or the bright color. My opinion is based on extensive fishing in a section of the Erie Canal that is murky green and has about 18" of visibility at its clearest. All sorts of lures have succeeded there, such as quiet grubs on jigheads and a wide variety of crankbaits. In fact, my #1 crank has been the rattleless Shad Rap, often in non-bright colors. They certainly take loud, colorful lures too.

The opposite has also occurred often, taking fish in clear water on loud lures and non-natural colors. I've seen so many fish taken on lures that are the opposite of what is recommended for various waters, that I wonder about the so-called conventional wisdom.