How important is it in fall to match natural forage. The lakes that I usually fish have bluegill as the main forage. Do I want to use lures that have bluegill colors? The water is fairly clear. Will a bass in a lake that dosn't have any shad still hit a bait that is supposed to look like a shad? Will bright colors be good? The lakes have hardly any cover other than weeds which there are lots of. Thanks for any help!

How important is it in fall to match natural forage. The lakes that I usually fish have bluegill as the main forage. Do I want to use lures that have bluegill colors? The water is fairly clear. Will a bass in a lake that dosn't have any shad still hit a bait that is supposed to look like a shad? Will bright colors be good? The lakes have hardly any cover other than weeds which there are lots of. Thanks for any help!

You should always match the forage if you can. That's going to increase your odd's I believe, however shad colors work too when there are no shad present. I use shad colored hollowbody swimbaits year round in bluegill/sunfish dominant lakes and they still produce. If your lake is very clear water, probably best to stay with natural colors.  I don't use a lot of really bright colors in clear water unless it's a bait that I'm burning. 

Fall is feeding time for winter. Don't get super hung up on your colors, just get out and fish. The more you sit and think about it, the more you'll aggravate yourself and waste time switching out.  Bass are aggressive and hungry with the water temps dropping so stick with your Bluegill/perch colors and you'll be fine. Topwater in fall is always a great producer too so don't over look that.  Post some results! 

I normally let water color and cover dictate my color selection. Dirty water gets bright colors or solid colors while clear water gets the more natural colors. Docks, standing timber, brushpiles, or grass I like bluegill colors. Rocks and laydowns I like craw colors. More open areas I like shad. This is just how I select them starting out and obviously isn't set in stone. Sometimes craw colors work great around grass when the craws are grazing on the grass stocks and shad colors or chartreuse is great around rocks and docks sometimes. Very rarely do I feel a shad color crank is a bad idea, if shad are present or not. Oddly enough one of the times I try to avoid shad colors is when there are tons of shad in an area because I feel the odds of fish eating my bait that looks like the millions of shad around it are a lot less than if I'm fishing a bait that stands out a little more. 

The bass can only see certain colors at times. I have noticed on certain days a red color will work, when no other color works. On certain days green works, on certain days Brown works. These three colors all worked on one day too. This tells me to try different colors till one works. Don't limit yourself to using one color.

Quote Bill Dance, If a bass could see all the colors all of the time there wouldn't be a minnow left in the body of water.

The hues in the water, the water conditions and the amount of sunlite limits what colors the bass can see at that time.

I run throw a variety of colors till I get action. Read the water condition too. Remember what color worked today might not work or be as hot tomorrow. All the conditions do change. I return to vary my colors again.

Water conditions

Clear water

Smaller sized natural colored lures fished faster

Stained water

Small to medium sized natural and brighter colors fished slower

Muddy water

Larger sized brightest colored lures fished the slowest

Using scents and having a rattle is a plus.

Now when the daylite changes to low light in the evening and the bite/action slows down I switch from natural colored lures to brighter colored lures. And catch fish again till it gets dark.

Overcast cloudy days brighter colors.

Dark to early morning to first light. I go with brighter colors as the sky starts to light up. Then it's natural colors as it gets brighter as the sun comes up.

At the twilight in the evening and early morning at this unique time it's brighter colors.

The basses eyes adjust to the changes in light conditions faster than the bait fishes eyes do.

We have written a lot about fall the past week,take few minutes and read several posts.

Northern natural lakes are different from southern man made impoundments. The differences are primary prey source and how fast the water cools down.

Small shallow water cool fast, deep large bodies of water cool slowly, size and location matters during the fall.

If the prey source is shoreline type bait, crawdads, insects, frogs etc, cooling water affects these prey type quickly as their cover dies off, the prey moves to greener pastures, the bass follow. Young of the year bait has matured and grown in size and darkened in coloration.

The bass are moving and looking for prey, active bass react to brighter colors, less active bass to darker colors, so you can use a wide color and lure selection. Faster moving lures should be brighter like fire tiger, reds that trigger strikes in natural lakes. Slower moving lures should be darker than normal, instead of pumpkin with red go dark watermelon with purple for example.

Tom

I worry more about where than I do about what

WRB Your right I fish at three manmade dammed places that we're once used for a water power and a water supply for uniroyal chemical plant which is now closed. The waters are loaded with bass that prey on craws, blue gills, etc. All our big lakes are man made dams too.

Over the past few years I have noticed that the bass around here hit better on bigger baits in late Sept., and Oct.  So if I start out with a 3/8 jig in the summer, I might start out using a 1/2 ounce jig with a fuller looking skirt in the fall.  The colors I use depend on what the water clarity is like.