Hypothetically, you are fishing for large mouth bass.  You arrive at a lake that you are completely unfamiliar with.  You only have your own observations and knowledge as a tool.  You only have one type of bait you can use, and it must be a soft plastic worm.  However, you have many color choices for your baits.  

Please describe the sky (i.e. overcast, clear, night, etc.), the bottom (i.e. grassy, rocky, muddy, sand, etc.), the water color (i.e. clear, stained green, tea colored, muddy, etc.), and any other factors that assist you in making your choice.  

Under what circumstances are the following colors your first color choice?:

White-

Black-

Chartreuse-

Junebug-

Pumpkin-

Green Pumpkin-

Red-

Also, when do you add dye to the color?

Please provide the same info for a crank bait using these colors:

White-

Chartreuse-

Realistic Forage-

Fire Tiger-

Silver-

Gold-

Crawfish-

I just thought it would be interesting to hear different explanations regarding bait colors.  I know I'm asking for a lot, but any additional info on this topic, beyond the specific question would be great as well.  

Under what circumstances are the following colors your first color choice?:

White- I rarely use white first. Muddy water and muddy bottom.

Black- clear water at night

Chartreuse- stained water

Junebug- overcast, cloudy days, clear or slightly stained water

Pumpkin- rocky bottoms, clear days

Green Pumpkin- practically any other time

Red- I wouldn't choose red first

Also, when do you add dye to the color? I wouldn't add dye first

Please provide the same info for a crank bait using these colors:

White- very cloudy days, or in the evening

Chartreuse- if it is raining

Realistic Forage- around grass, structure, clear water. I choose this color most of the time.

Fire Tiger- muddy or dark water

Silver- sunny days with clear water

Gold- sunny days with stained water

Crawfish- rocky bottoms

White-either alone or in combination with chartreuse

Black- in combination with a blue jig trailer

Chartreuse- either alone or in combination with white

Junebug-alone is good

Pumpkin-when Carolina Rigging lizards

Green Pumpkin- in combination with red metal flake

Red-as a metal flake with any of the above colors

I will not restrict my color selection based on the sky, the bottom, the water color, or any other factors; I let the bass select

White- Never

Black- I rarely use solid black but in clear to slightly stained water I will use Black/Grape or Black/Blue

Chartreuse- I will use chartreuse/pepper in moderately stained or muddy water. I will also use it in low light conditions.

Junebug- I prefer junebug in stained water but occasionally will use it in muddy or clear.

Pumpkin- Anytime

Green pumpkin- anytime

Red- Red shad in my opinion is the best worm color there is, at least where I live. I will use it anytime.

Soft plastics: Some variation of green or black & blue

Crankbaits: Silver & black or chrome blue/ orange

8-)

I'll let the fish be the judge.

The only color I'm interested in is the water color or whether it is a darker day.

I fish the darker hues on a darker day

Pumpkin, Watermelon, and shades of green on the lighter days

Junebugs, blacks, grapes, browns on the darker days.

All of the above could have a red flake and do 70* of the time.

Crankbaits: Shad colors, along with a chartruse/blue back ot tan back, and the reds while fishing a trap.

Spinnerbaits: white or Chartruse/white. I always turn the skirt with the darker color to the top. Never seen a bait fish with a darker belly. I see lots of anglers failing to address this point and to me it makes a big difference.

Buzzbaits: Black 90* of the time reguardless of the day or water color.

Your question is well structured because it focuses on lighting conditions rather than mimicking prey. Unfortunately, we're all predisposed to certain pet colors, and the colors that spend the most time on our lines always catch the most bass. The only way to factor out prejudice and predisposition is to change lure color after every third bass, monitor the results, and do this every time for a few years.

Roughly speaking, where underwater visibility is very good it's usually best to downgrade the image of the lure by using light, translucent colors such as white, yellow or smoke gray. Where underwater visibility is poor, it's usually better to ignore hue and maximize contrast by using dark, opaque colors such as black, brown and dark green.

      By the way, water clarity is not the only factor that determines underwater visibility, which also hinges on sky clarity, time of day and lure depth (regardless of water depth). For this reason, lures fished on or near the surface are generally lighter in color than lures fished on or near the bottom.

Roger

Deep clear western reservoirs with threadfin shad as the primary prey, crawdads and larger baitfish the secondary prey source, you need try and match the prey colors and profile, when using soft plastics or swimbaits.

As mentioned; translucent smoke as a basic color with gold, silver, blue or purple highlights closely mimic threadfin shad colors and are high % choices. Translucent cinnamon and green with red or purple highlights with contrasting darker back and lighter belly are also good choices, if weed/grass or wood cover is available.

Light wind is far better than calm flat water with bright clear sky.

Crawdads; browns and greens with contrasting highlights work well in clear water.

Reaction s lures like crankbaits; same colors used for soft plastics work well; darker backs with lighter bellies.

We have very little off color water other than the delta where darker solid colors; black, red, dark green with contrasting shades of the same colors, plus white/chartreuse and blue/chartreuse work well.

WRB

Waaaaay too much thought.

Natural color, dark or light.  I never take "color" further than that, but that's just me.

For soft plastic worms, I fish with differing shades of greens, browns, and blacks.  I typically start with green pumpkin and will move from there.  I also don't worry about flake color or anything like that.  I also haven't gotten into any dyes.

I don't fish cranks a ton (I'm a shorebound pond angler) but when I do it's either green (bass/bluegill mimicking) or silver.

    Soft Plastic Worms:  Pumpkin with Chartruese Spike-It!

    Crankbait:  Crawfish

I respect that many of you say you let the fish decide, which I would hope we all do.  But that is why I worded the question the way I did.  What is the FIRST color you would throw, if the fish haven't had an opportunity to accept/reject anything yet?  When you get where you're going, you look around at the water, the sky, the bank etc. Then you reach into your box and you pull out a certain colored bait.  Why did you choose that color?  

      By the way, water clarity is not the only factor that determines underwater visibility, which also hinges on sky clarity, time of day and lure depth (regardless of water depth). For this reason, lures fished on or near the surface are generally lighter in color than lures fished on or near the bottom.

Good point, I almost specified the crankbait's dive depth for that reason, but I didn't think anyone else would think about that, so I left it out.  

      By the way, water clarity is not the only factor that determines underwater visibility, which also hinges on sky clarity, time of day and lure depth (regardless of water depth). For this reason, lures fished on or near the surface are generally lighter in color than lures fished on or near the bottom.

Good point, I almost specified the crankbait's dive depth for that reason, but I didn't think anyone else would think about that, so I left it out.

Deep is relative to where you fish. In Florida for example 10 feet maybe considered deep water, in regions that have gin clear water with visibility down to 25 feet of more, meaning you can clearly see the bottom at that depth, then 10 feet is fairly shallow water.

The conditions that bend light are waves, airborne water particles, suspended underwater particulates and shade. Once the sun is 30 degrees above the horizon, light penetration will be at it's maximum.

The depth you can clearly see a white spinnerbait for example; is a good general rule of the practical depth of light, if you can see, there is light at that depth.

If disregard the prey source and pick your favorite color based on which one looks good or sells good and doesn't resemble the prey the bass are targeting, you will be in for a long day on the water.

make your choices based on what the bass are eating at that time and your success rate should improve dramatically.

We often fish translucent smoke and light cinnamon soft plastics on the bottom 35 to 50 feet of water, these are not dark colors, however they are what the bass are looking for.

WRB

In Florida...

White- Never

Black- night

Chartreuse- stained water

Junebug- overcast, cloudy days, clear or slightly stained water

Pumpkin- Around wood, stained water

Green Pumpkin- green stain water, green vegitation

Red- Never use it

For crank baits...

White- never

Chartreuse- all the time

Fire Tiger- all the time

Silver- sunny days

Gold- sunny days

Crawfish- never use it

First the big picture:  water type such as reservoir or type of reservoir, such as highland, lowland, riverine, natural lake, or river and relating currents in combination with the season: prespawn, postspawn, or a transition period; and how the water may be oxygenated during this season, as far as presence of a thermocline.  The seasonal pattern is the first step to help determine the aggressiveness of the fish, and location and feeding patterns, and along with the water level and fluctuation will go a long way towards determining a preference for crawfish, soft-ray baitfish such as shad or herring, or spiny ray bait like panfish.

Of course I also consider the predominant forage species and all of the above factors including exact water temperature and moon phase to get a feel for how the fish are orienting structurally (main lake points, humps, saddles, drops etc), and whether I think I'm fishing for schooling fish, or, fishing for individual fish and targeting a certain type of cover like wood or grass.

Now, a combining these factors, with sky & barometric conditions, and water clarity will get me to my first considerations for color selection:  Are the fish looking up (toward the sky) to feed, or down toward the bottom to feed?  What is the most likely depth, I expect to catch fish?

What is the size of their strike zone, or how far will they move to feed?  And, how fast can I move my lure and still catch quality fish?  And another factor: Does this water receive constant heavy fishing pressure?

Once I have considered the above, I know I can put some odds in my favor and fish confidently.  If I'm fishing dirty water slowly in the early (pre-spawn) spring with a soft plastic and the water has cooled off a few degrees over a few days, I may be looking for fish that are looking toward the bottom for food where temperature is a bit warmer, in which case I'd be fishing a plastic with strong contrast; and black is hard to beat for that.  If that same water is on a warming trend I would likely be fishing cover that is higher in the water column and using flourescent yellow and or white for a general baitfish type bite beneath a sunny sky.  If fishing clear water in that first scenario, instead of black (cloudy) or a purple (sunny) I'd first go with a pumpkin color.

Post-spawn bass can become very forage-specific, because they lose their territorial aggression, and turn into high efficiency protein ingestors.  All they want to do is maximize their protein intake while minimizing their energy expenditure.  This often leads to predictible feeding times, areas, and forage, all of which helps a savvy angler in color choice...I'm just not going to throw flourescent orange as a first choice, when fish are feeding-up on shad in clear water!

Sorry for the long post, but all of the above factors and more, help to determine the first color I'm going to impale to be be confident from my first cast.  While it may seem like a lot to some people, choosing a lure color is really a quick mental process that is all a part of, "Where are we going to go?", and, "What are you going to throw?", process.

Hey, it was a heckuva question!  ;D

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