I belong to the club that thinks color doesn't matter too much but if I had to pick a favorite I would pick white. White? It has a couple of things going for it. Not too many use it and, where applicable, its easy to see.

I was fishing with a buddy [best friends since Navy days in the 70s] on Champlain. He maintained color mattered a lot and I took the other view. He had a dozen or so 4" Senkos of various colors and I put them to work. Caught fish on all except one.

Same buddy. Pachaug Pond, Ct. sometime in the 70s. Miserable hot summer day. He's fishing with a small white flatfish and making me look like an idiot. Flatfish were a going bait in the 70s and I had plenty but no white. That's when I started adding white to my arsenal.

I fish white in plastics, particularly Senkos. In cranks I am really fond of a bone white Wiggle Wart with a splash of orange at the throat. Another good one for me is the DD22 in lavender shad. Not white but very light. At night my hawg buster, contrary to conventional wisdom, is a chrome flatfish.

And then there is the ubiquitous spinnerbait in the ubiquitous chartreuse. This thing is in every bassers arsenal and just may catch more fish than anything swimming. Nothing in nature matches this obnoxious color. What's up with that?  

I use colors from the 3 Basic Food Groups:  shad, craw, and sunfish.  Some days the color won't matter.  Sometimes it will if the bass are concentrating on a particular prey species.  When that happens, you better throw something in the right size and color or get zeroed.  Plain marshmallow white is pretty good in moderately stained water because it says "shad" but gives off few negative cues.  But do I want to fish only white?  Nah      

I was in the "Color Doesn't Matter Club" until last spring.

At the BassResource.com Roadtrip, Big O was leading a

group discussion. His comments changed my thinking:

(paraphrased)

"When you are on a good bite with any number of colors,

the fishing might still be better with the right color".

The pros it seems, are VERY particular about color and

work with their sponsors constantly searching for The One.

Big O makes special colors for his pros that may never be

offered to the public. Then again, maybe they will!

8-)

I can't quite say that I was ever in the "Color doesn't matter" court,

but unlike the lion's share of anglers, I only use color to maximize lure visibility,

rather than try to mimic any particular forage (can change from minute-to-minute with opportunistic predators)

I'm not finished learning though, so next year I might type something different

I have lures in every color under the sun, but I have a nagging suspicion

that I could easily get by with just three colors: "black", "white" & "watermelon" (dark, light & medium).

Roger

I totally agree with what RoLo said.

I recently had an interesting experience regarding color - we were pre-fishing for a club tournament the following day - we caught fish everywhere we went - not all of them big, but fish never-the-less.  As the day drug on (we spent 12 hours on the lake that day) I began to try to find a color fish wouldn't hit.  If I got a bite, I immediately changed colors.  I was never able to locate the off color.

Next day, tournament day, the only color they were interested in was black - it didn't matter what the lure was, it had to have black on it.  This was pretty much true for the whole club.

The fish were the same and in the same places but something was different.  As one of my buddies used to say, "don't throw what they bit yesterday - throw what they're biting today".

I've seen times when color made absolutely no difference at all, I've seen times when color make all the difference in the world, and I've seen times when I had to change colors after every other bass caught.

I believe color is very important - at some times more than others.  

Even if it weren't important - I would still believe it was.....it's just more fun that way.  

Color can be extraordinarily important, but the chances of me finding the exact right color of the exact lure with the exact retrieve at the exact time that all of that is extraordinarly important is very small.

Therefore, I don't mess with color.  I fish greens, browns and rarely blacks and don't worry about the rest.

Color is very important,just like some of the others mentioned.You will definitely find days when they absolutely will not under any circumstances even sniff certain colors.I just try to keep it more simple.Lights/brights,darks,chromes,and naturals.I don't worry too much if one bait has a dot,stripe,or flake of a certain color in it as long as it basically follows a certain hue. All the complicated unending variations are to catch fisherman IMO.

I just can't sort out the effects of color from other variables. The one thing I've felt makes a diff is translucents in high vis conditions.

I've seen times when color made absolutely no difference at all, I've seen times when color make all the difference in the world, and I've seen times when I had to change colors after every other bass caught.

x2 on what Catt said

I try not to get hung up on specific color combinations until a good day of getting skunked.  Then it's off to the online stores or BPS to browse the millions of subtle variations that I don't yet have.

I can't quite say that I was ever in the "Color doesn't matter" court,

but unlike the lion's share of anglers, I only use color to maximize lure visibility,

rather than try to mimic any particular forage (can change from minute-to-minute with opportunistic predators)

I'm not finished learning though, so next year I might type something different

Agree well said

I have lures in every color under the sun, but I have a nagging suspicion

that I could easily get by with just three colors: "black", "white" & "watermelon" (dark, light & medium).

Roger