During July/August the bass seemed to love white -- white spinner baits, white senkos, white cranks.  Now it's September and chartreuse is the hot color.  It seems that anything I throw better be chartreuse if I want a hit.  What causes these changes in preference?  I know the lake is clearer right now than I've seen it all summer.  Does their preference have something to do with water color/clarity, or, is it what their feeding on, or, something else???

Some guys will tell you color has more to do with our own confidence than anything else but here's what I've noticed. When the water is really clear I do better with natural colors. That's where the chartreuse comes in resembling bluegill or perch. White seems good when the water has some color but still good light penetration and black and purple seem to be best in dirty water and low light situations. Small mouth are a little different in that they can change color preference from morning to afternoon.

I seem to find this more in one body of water to an other versus periods of time. But I agree there is a color preference with bass. I believe water clarity has more to do with it. Based on the body of water this could change especially in reservoirs when rivers can muddy the water thus periods of time may come into pay. Heavy rains can muddy the water.

But if you drive just down the road to another lake (I wish it were that easy here in Central Illinois), the bass there will crave something entirely different.  It's enough to drive me buggy sometimes.  But I love it.

Color can be a deep topic when it comes to bass and lure selection.

The bottom line is we don't know as much about how bass see colors.

Experience is the guideline to use, what works for you on a specific lake or river is the right color. Determining what color the bass prefer at any given time can take a lot of hours on the water.

There is a big difference between hard bait and soft plastic lures when it come to colors the bass are tuned in on. Hard baits that are fished for reaction strikes tend to be close to prey fish colors, soft plastic colors can be very selective to specific lakes and/or seasonal periods.

We can only look at a color and evaluate it in terms of our color spectrum. Bass however see color much differently because they have evolved seeing under water. Ultra violet and polarized colors are beyond our spectrum, however bass may see both extremely well, explaining how they can see at night and at distances in low light conditions.

WRB