Bone, and chrome. I'm sure there are days when other colors would work better, but there are so many lures, and not enough time.

Black. Black is the only color top that water ya need. Whether it’s a frog, buzzbait, popper, plopper, spook you name it I pretty much only use black. Sunny or cloudy days

I have used the Duo Realis pencil in white and in Black. Both work for me.

I may need to try Chom and Translucent.

I used to concern myself with spook colors, but now I mostly just pick what looks cool to me.

I agree with what others discussed about sound being an important element in the equation. I'm coming around to the persuasion that sound and size play a bigger factor than color when it comes to walking baits.

I was having trouble finding quiet spooks other than the Zara Puppy (which I love in the Black/Chrome colorway). I bought something like a dozen pack of Super Spook blanks and drilled into some of them to glue the bearing in place. Others I played around with changing the rattle sound: swapped the bearing out for chopped up pieces of a paperclip, or a bit of sand, or silica beads, so it has more of "slushy" rattle.

And some of those I even switched to soft split rings (braid) to make them as silent as possible.

But my unscientific self hasn't fished any of them consistently enough to find a difference in catches.

Bottom color matters the most IMO. Black, chrome, and whitish are my main colors.

Top 3:

LC Gunfish 95 in Hasu

LC Sammy 100 in MS Black

Rookie of the year Evergreen JT95 that I am not sure what the color name is but it looks like chartreuse shad.

Allen

I also agree sound matters more than color. I haven’t really seen color make a difference but I haven’t given it a scientific test. Sounds like from this thread most agree, with the lone exception being chrome out producing white on a sunny day.

For the guys looking for silent spooks definitely check out that evergreen Justine / JT115

I don't know how bass see a topwater from underneath, but I see it better when the bait has a yellow back...

On 7/17/2026 at 9:14 AM, Swamp Girl said:

^This!^

I have a lot of walking baits (because they're fun to fish and pretty), but I lean on my Duo Realis baits because they chirp like a bird and my local bass seem to like that sound. My walking baits by other makers don't chirp.

If you do well on topwaters with rattles, you should definitely try the Teckel Kicknocker if you don’t already own one. It has a combination of low pitch and high pitch which drives the fish nuts.

Water color is what determines rattles vs no rattles. Most of the places I fish are clear to stained normally. Lucky Craft makes a wooden Sammy that Tom raved about. This and the Evergreen JT95 are the two best walking baits for clear water.

Allen

A Jay pretty much nailed it. I would add a translucent with chartreuse in it and the Heddon color Okie Shad.

My three main Spook colors are clear, bone, and something with a white bottom.