Just wanted to hear everyone's thoughts on how they pick colors for topwaters. I get that color is probably less important for topwaters than other baits. But while I feel fairly confident in picking starting colors for nearly all other baits (from there, letting the fish tell what color to use of course), I have heard wildly differing strategies for picking topwater colors and don't have a clear handle on it. 

 

So, what factors do you consider--water clarity, time of day/light level, type of bait, other factors? I'm thinking in particular about topwater baits with a "body," particularly a Whopper Plopper but also a walking bait or a popper. 

I have never been sure if color made a big difference, or if it was the action that really counted.  Frogs maybe a different story.

I've had the very best luck with walking baits with a white belly. Top color doesn't seem to matter much. On Stockton in Missouri, a clear Spook used to be really popular. I'm not sure if it's still that way. I like light belly baits in poppers also. At dusk, or night fishing, darker colors or black have always been good too.

I have a ton of topwaters, in a lot of different colors and they rarely work for me. 

59 minutes ago, plawren53202 said:

what factors do you consider--water clarity, time of day/light level, type of bait, other factors

That is what I am missing. Doesn't stop me from throwing them, but it seems the above is the most important factor. 

 

My best day with a plopper style bait, yellow perch, was mid day not a lot of wind and bright sun in 5 fow, go figure. I have a lot to learn.

I pretty much use white or black for all my topwater lures. Maybe a little chartreuse if I'm feeling fancy, but that doesn't seem to make a difference one way or the other. I want the lure to either glow in the sunlight or cast as stark a silhouette as possible.

 

I make similar decisions with just about every other lure I throw, to be honest – whether it's a hard jerkbait or a soft plastic. Primarily white, or primarily dark (think junebug or black with some flake), with maybe a little bit of chartreuse because it's good to accessorize. I've got a bag of bubblegum pink Stick-Os that I'm bound and determined to catch a fish on one day, but it hasn't happened yet.

Don't know how much it really matters. But... for nearly all lures I've gone with translucents and reflectives in high vis conditions, and opaques or fluorescents in low vis/aggressive conditions. With topwater's I like chrome, and translucents in high vis; And white or chartreuse bellies in low vis. I may also change size of lure.

White, Sunny

Black, clowdy

Chrome when the other 2 dont work

If I had to pick one,,,,,,White or Bone

Well every frog we have in our area has a white or yellowish belly...that dictates my decision 

I use white and black. Black in dark conditions...white otherwise.

I like Tranlucent for sunny and white or black for cloudy

Thanks everyone for the responses...the white/black is kind of what I expected because it doesn't seem that a fish looking up at the bait and silhouetting it against the sky would be able to distinguish much other than that. 

 

The reason for my question was yesterday evening I was out at the pond. I'm a late comer to the Whopper Plopper party so the only color I had in a size appropriate for the fish in that pond (a 90) was white. When I first started throwing it there was still a little sun hitting spots on where I was fishing, but I kept using it as it got darker, until just before dark. It seemed to work well in both lighting conditions, which got me thinking about this question.

White / Bone : Cloudy / Clear  / Sunny / Stained water

Black : Night / Cloudy / Stained water

Ghost or Clear  : Sunny / Clear water

Chrome : Sunny / Clear / Stained water 

 

Yeah, bone or black are really the only two colors I have. 

I keep my topwater colors pretty simple something light, something dark, and something green 

I like something with orange or red on the belly

 

12 hours ago, matbellon3 said:

I keep my topwater colors pretty simple something light, something dark, and something green 

 

26 minutes ago, Heartland said:

I like something with orange or red on the belly

 

Amen guys!  Light, dark, and green.. and I like ones with a little color on the belly.

Forget what the bass like, I like em all!!

White, bone, or black is what I like on the bottom of the bait. 

 

 

Bass flat-out miss a surprising percentage of topwater baits,

and even their successful grabs may only have a marginal hold.

 

You probably know a fisherman who throws a Solid Toad all the time...except after ice-up   

Many of the best toad anglers out there, choose between 2 colors: White or Black (period)

They're not trying to imitate anything, instead, they're looking to maximize lure visibility,

to make it easier for bass to score a bullseye. 

 

Roger

Dean Rojas told me in person that a walking frog much more closely imitates an injured and dying bluegill on the surface than a frog.... for what it's worth.

 

I normally throw black on over cast (to try something different than Bone) or at night ... I should probably throw black more often in other conditions as well .

I mostly use a black buzzbait when that don’t work I throw a black buzzbait. Keep my frogs to black & white. I like bone plopper and chrome spook.

On 6/17/2020 at 10:27 AM, NHBull said:

White, Sunny

Black, clowdy

Chrome when the other 2 dont work

If I had to pick one,,,,,,White or Bone

I'd also add clear for super clear water and maybe a gill for around bluegill spawning beds, but a majority of my topwater hard baits are white/bone.

6 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I'd also add clear for super clear water and maybe a gill for around bluegill spawning beds, but a majority of my topwater hard baits are white/bone.

Monkey butt is one of my favorites in the plopper.. translucent with just enough color to be mistaken for pan fish or shad.   I like the blue hill patterns on the KVD Wake bait and the Storm Arashi Wake bait.  Even tho they have slightly different actions, I use these two in tandem if I need to, the Arashi has a lighter blue gil pattern and is subtle, the kvd version is darker.  I'm fond of both lures I carry them both in a few colors.  

White/Bone - Any Time

 

Ghost - clear water & sunny