Ok so this is highly debated with me and others around me. I live in Iowa and most our lakes do not have shad almost all really. forage we do have are 

bluegill,crappie,baby bass, frogs and of course crawfish.

Now I've been reading and watching about how you want match the forage in your lake. Then some say just to use white because a bass will eat a shad if it's randomly in the lake which I do get.

so the question is do you think things like a Alabama rig, white jerkbaits, white spinnerbaits etc are they really the best choice in lakes without shad?

Just to give you a bit of a counter data point I've learned while researching big swimbait fishing the last couple of weeks....

 

Big Bass wherever they live will eat a 12" Rainbow Trout swimbait.....yet in the vast majority of these places Rainbows aren't stocked.  

 

In my State there is a lake that has a great chance of breaking the state record, and their clients use live Goldfish.   The only time those big Bass see a Goldfish is when it has a hook in it.  

 

I think color matters because of water clarity as much as it does matching the hatch.

 

I care more about the size of the forage they are eating than the color.  

I've found that preferred color can change day to day, under different conditions. So I would never pigeonhole myself into throwing only white baits.

 

We don't have shad in Maine either but shad pattern baits still catch fish.

 

And be careful with the whole "match the hatch" thing...I've never seen a bubblegum colored baitfish before....

White is more for me to be able to see than matching the hatch.

 

Allen 

Common fish bass eat regularly.

Young of the year Carp, Catfish, Bass and Suckers.

Green Sunfish and Crappie are preferred over spiny Bluegill.

Crayfish/crawdads, frogs, pollywogs, large insect larve,mice, salamanders, leeches, worms.

Minnows like creek hubs, shiners are generally silver belly with darker green backs.

Young of the year Carp are golden amber color.

Suckers are generally white belly darker gray or brown backs.

Young catfish (mad cats) vary by species basically tan belly with darker backs.

Sunfish and pumpkin seeds olive green w/ blue high lites.

Crappie, Silver w/ green specs, darker green backs.

Insect larve are generally olive green and brown.  

Shad color lures are very similar to lots of young of the year prey fish bass feed on for over 6 months.

Who knows what bass see when looking at lures other then it’s moving and must be food.

Tom