Hello, my names Nick, I am very new at freshwater fishing and I have a few questions

How do I determine what color skirt I should use on my spinner baits, is it dependent on the water, temp, time of day?

same goes to color of my spoons and worms

should my hooks be certain colors?

Thanks very much,
Nick

There is lots of info in the articles here. Great videos on how to do just about everything with fishing.

Basic colors,

I use a spinner bait with a white skirt(blue glimmer)in clear water, I also use a spinner bait in stained to muddy water In hot chartruese. The water and light conditions will tell you what color to use for skirts.

Worm colors the black is a basic color. With the red shad next. It's a good starting point. But purple, blue, black shad and green shad are good ones too. I would start with a few colors to see what works for you.

Colored hooks some swear by them. They put the red hooks at the front hook on crankbaits. They say the red hook gets the bite first.

Nobody can guarantee what a bass will or will not bite on a given day but there are some generalities.  Probably 90% of spinner bait fishermen use either white or chartreuse/white.  It depends somewhat on the forage species that the bass are using in a certain lake.  White for shad is a good fall color.  Chartreuse/white where bass are eating sunfish or where the water is more stained..  Time of day, water temp are not big color determinants.   You want some wind on the water or moving water for a good spinner bait bite.  Blade type and size are important.  Colorado blades for more thump in very stained water;  willow leaf otherwise.  Blade size matched to the size of the forage species is a good idea.   For soft plastics, a transparent shade of green like watermelon in clear water, a solid green like green pumpkin in moderately stained water, a blue shade like junebug in very stained water.  There are endless variations in plastic colors but you don't need to go crazy - a few options will work 99% of the time.  Smallmouth tend to bite wilder color combinations than largemouth, including things like all chartreuse spinner baits.    

Some people think color is very important, others don't. Regardless, it's a crapshoot. Every time you hit the water you can start with the color that you believe is appropriate for the conditions, but in the final analysis, whether it's color, lure, speed or whatever, you have to keep making adjustments until and if you find out what's working on that particular day. Fishing is unpredictable and trial-and-error is the name of the game.

Bill Dance and Dr.Loren Hill of OK. UNIVERSITY where the color and combo c lector were first developed the tests proved the bass can see different colors. Being new to bass dishing at the time I was looking to jump start my experience by purchasing a combo c lecter. I wanted to test it out. I chose my spot off a low bridge in 10' of water. I had three different colors of the same bomber crankbaits. A redapplecraw craw, a brown craw and a green craw. The first day the combo c lector chose a red in a multiple of colors on that day. I threw the redapplecraw and caught bass. Then I tried the brown and green craws and caught nothing. The next day the combo c lector chose green so I threw the green craw and caught bass again. No other colors worked when I threw them. The third day at the same spot the combo c lector chose brown so I threw the brown craw crank. Again I caught bass and no other color worked. On another day without the combo c lector I used all three colors and they all worked. This tells me on certain days only one color works while on other days any color will work. It also supports there theory that the bass can only see certain colors sometimes. It's the hues in the water, the lighting conditions and the water conditions that determines what colors they can see. Bill Dance quoted if the bass can see all the colors all the time there wouldn't be a minnow left in the body of water. I think it's mother nature protecting itself when the vision of colors is limited. I wish I took notes during my test of the combo c lector. I left some info out or forgot about it. I did test it for a week. But don't forget this tester was developed with the dull one color plastics we had back then with no graphics. When I see these older lures that are color numbered to the combo c lector I can't believe they used these lures at that time.

The first color c lector chose the lure color only. The combo c lector told us the waters PH, the waters TEMP, and chose the lure color by turning a selector switch.

After learning this I learned to throw different lure colors till I get action. One color has to work. Then it's up to figuring out what style of lure will work at this time too. Fishing from shore I will vary my lure selection and color choice too. To me it's a challenge as to what lure and color will work at this moment. Now I look at the water conditions and lighting conditions too. It's time on the water that we spend that's the best teacher. But I did learn that the bass can't see all the colors like we do sometimes. I guess they can smell the scent and hear the rattle, feel the vibration but can't see the lure. But on other days it sees all colors. BigBill

Here's a quote from a Kevin Van Dam book. Draw your own conclusions.

 

"During a tournament in Michigan a few years ago, the top four finishers were fishing the same weed flat that was about a quarter of a mile in diameter. We were all pitching worms into the weeds, and as we later discovered, we were all using a different color that each of us believed was the secret to our success. I was throwing a black worm and it was the only color I could get bit on, yet one angler caught his on junebug, another was using red shad, and another was convinced that pumpkin was the hot color. Obviously, color didn't matter to the fish as much as it did to us."