I know some people don't think color makes much of a difference and other people think it has a lot to do with what the fish are hitting. Some people think you can basically get away with just throwing black or white lures. Some people have every color under the rainbow.

So what colors do you like on what lures? Why do you like those colors? Is there a certain time and place you use a certain color?

I do think color makes a difference most of the time. I try to imitate what the fish are feeding on when I’m on a particular body of water. If the main forage is perch I’m going to stick with the green, chartreuse, orange, yellow, etc . If the main forage is smelt, Cisco , I’ll stick with the whit, pearl, silver, chrome , or blue. Just try to match my colors with the “main” forage. Water clarity plays a role also as far as color selection goes . I will use darker lures in stained water, and lighter, brighter colors in clearer water . There are times when I don’t think it matters at all. Basically trial and error. I think the main key to success is not being afraid to get out of your traditional comfort zone. If the fish aren’t hitting one color keep switching until you find one that works.

I like the natural colors and matching the hatch as well. All of the ZMAN ShadZ I use always are at least half pearl. I like the top half of the bait to be a darker color, mostly gray. A cisco imitation I think is key for any of the grand slam fish in the Quetico or BW. I like the silver and black when throwing an original floating Rapala. It's hard to go wrong with green pumpkin\dark brown when throwing a tube or creature jig\trailer. On top-water I like either a frog pattern or some type of shad pattern. When jigging for walleyes I mostly use black to imitate a leech. Most of the spoons I use are nickle chrome or hammered silver color. Red and white seems to be a good color for pike. I think they might like red, something that resembles blood.

My color selection is based the amount of light in the water I'm fishing. The depth of the lure, water clarity, and sunny vs overcast all come into play. For example:

-Blue end of spectrum for deep, clear water. (reds/oranges look more grey the deeper the light penetrates)
-natural colors for clear water
-bright/light colors for cloudy days or murky water

I also like to have some contrast on each lure as well, such as dark top/light bottom, dark stripes or spots on a light background (or vice versa).

My color selection is pretty consistent no matter where I fish. When I'm fishing a tube or 3 inch grub it is usually smoke colored with some glitter. Small rubber worms are usually black or brown. I like a black and silver Rapala. Crankbaits are something I fish the least; most of the crankbaits have brown in them. Spoons will be nickel or yellow. Topwater baits mostly have white or tan bellies and the topside will be green, silver, or brown. I honestly think I could take some smoke colored grubs with 1/8 ounce unpainted jigheads, 4-5 Rapalas, # 3 Mepps spinners, some Pop-R's, and some orange trick worms( weather has to be right for this one) . Sometimes I wonder why I take so many lures when most never get fished. I justify taking so much because "you never know". However, year in and year out the same baits work very well. I have always wondered how someone would do with just one of the aforementioned lures fishing that lure an entire week.

For smallies, my top three are green pumpkin, green pumpkin, and green pumpkin. For trout it's white/silver. I've no strong preferences when chasing pike, and I pray never to catch a walleye in the BWCA/Q again. :)

gqualls: "My color selection is pretty consistent no matter where I fish. When I'm fishing a tube or 3 inch grub it is usually smoke colored with some glitter. Small rubber worms are usually black or brown. I like a black and silver Rapala. Crankbaits are something I fish the least; most of the crankbaits have brown in them. Spoons will be nickel or yellow. Topwater baits mostly have white or tan bellies and the topside will be green, silver, or brown. I honestly think I could take some smoke colored grubs with 1/8 ounce unpainted jigheads, 4-5 Rapalas, # 3 Mepps spinners, some Pop-R's, and some orange trick worms( weather has to be right for this one) . Sometimes I wonder why I take so many lures when most never get fished. I justify taking so much because "you never know". However, year in and year out the same baits work very well. I have always wondered how someone would do with just one of the aforementioned lures fishing that lure an entire week.



"

I think I could get away with just taking some pearl variation ZMAN ShadZ, some green pumpkin tubes, some magnum bullfrog torpedoes and a double willow blade chartreuse spinner bait and be just fine for the week. I could fit it all in a small soft plastic tackle pouch.
For some reason I also always take a small tackle box with me. :)

I'm a fan of natural colors, but guys who fish with me seem to do similarly well when they switch to something like Firetiger as well. I was trolling a blue/chrome deep diving rapala and my canoe mate was using a similar lure in Firetiger and he hooked up with a really nice 12-13 pound lake trout on Robinson Lake in Quetico. Things like this always make me wonder how much it's about having a lure in the right spot at the right time vs fish being more temperamental about exact colors. But then I'll have different times where the fish do seem to be quite particular about small details and color. Who knows!

Stained water I like orange, chartreuse, or white. In clear water I like white, blue or lighter colors.

+1 NoFish

I have also used more Blue in both stained and clear water for walleye.

For smallmouth I go with green pumpkin tubes and pearl colored Shad Z and chartreuse Spinnerbait. I learned just about everything I know about Quetico smallmouth fishing from our resident Master Smallie Fisherman " Quetico Mike".

I've seen white tube jigs catch big Smallmouth, big Walleye, and big Pike, all in the same day.

Vibrant colors for stained water, lighter colors for clear water.

Chartreuse spinner baits or silver #5 mepps in clear water, bronze/gold in darker water.

Generally, I fish topwater poppers in a variety of patterns.

I use a floating rapala alot, and prefer chartreuse. Although I think they stopped making them. Fleet farm doesn't sell those any more.

It's my go to lure in the boundary waters, when I'm not fishing with leeches. When my son is up front with a chartreuse lure, and I'm in the back with a black and silver, he out fishes me every time. Although, he's getting first crack at fishy areas, so that comes into play.

My favorite color is the one they are biting.

I think black is highly underrated especially for bigger Fish. My biggest smallmouth, which I didn't actually land but had it on its side next to my canoe just out of reach before it mustered one last head shake and flipped the little slider head out of its mouth, was very likely over 6lbs and may have been close to 7. It hit a black Gulp leech on a black 1/16 oz slider head. I was already celebrating the picture taking when it gathered itself. I remember saying, "no, no, NO as I knew what was going to happen. The disappointment was so bitter I could not utter a word and instead just hung my head with my eyes closed for about 30 seconds.

I also recall the in fisherman crew talking much about black fuzz e grubs.

And of course I have already related what I have read in print about large Canadian pike showing a marked preference for black. This was further reenforced when having a shore lunch with several of the Sabourin lake guides (WCPP) when they inquired how many large black swimbaits I had brought (Shadzillas).

And lastly, the highly educated pike of Brady Cove on Isle Royale would only hit a black octo Kalins grub after I had tossed 3 or 4 preferred choices.

I like bright colors for surface lures so I can see them in the chop or mist, but if my partner lands five fish in a row with a blue or black lure while I catch nothing, I am switching.

I'm lure shopping at the moment and I'm starting to lean more towards the UV orange and green colors for raps.

Does anyone have an example of a lure in "shiner"? I read somewhere that emerald shiners took a serious hit in 2010 due to hemorraghic septicema. Maybe that's why I can't find that "color" in any hard baits.

for me it depends on what species i'm fishing for and where (water clarity) for smallies any crawdad color pattern. gold/blk F-18 . pic of my top 3 hardbait lures mainly for trolling. and my blk/wht spoon has been money on my last few trips.

i tend toward natural colors most of the time and think more in terms of dark/light bright/dull. That said, my largest pike was taken on a chartreuse and orange shad rap that i got for free. Since that fish, that color has multiplied by a few in my tackle :-) . i would think that color is less of a factor for shallow running baits or when fish are attacking the bait from beneath. for the most part don't they just see a silhouette against the sky? since the topic is favorite color: mine is silver/black (as in rapala)

mastertangler: "I think black is highly underrated especially for bigger Fish.

And of course I have already related what I have read in print about large Canadian pike showing a marked preference for black. This was further reenforced when having a shore lunch with several of the Sabourin lake guides (WCPP) when they inquired how many large black swimbaits I had brought (Shadzillas).


And lastly, the highly educated pike of Brady Cove on Isle Royale would only hit a black octo Kalins grub after I had tossed 3 or 4 preferred choices. "

Interesting. I haven't used anything in black for big pike. Might have to give it a try!

I’m not usually a color changer...I know what works on a particular body of water and usually stick with it. Most of the time color really isn’t that important but sometimes it is!
A few years back I had a group of guys fishing walleyes for 4 days. One of them was brutally outfishing everyone. He was fishing with this spinner

I had similar blades but not exact, and all 4 days he was top dog , and not just by a little. It was weird. Normally subtle differences aren’t that big of a deAl and I don’t lose a lot of sleep over it.

Lotw: "I’m not usually a color changer...I know what works on a particular body of water and usually stick with it. Most of the time color really isn’t that important but sometimes it is!
A few years back I had a group of guys fishing walleyes for 4 days. One of them was brutally outfishing everyone. He was fishing with this spinner

I had similar blades but not exact, and all 4 days he was top dog , and not just by a little. It was weird. Normally subtle differences aren’t that big of a deAl and I don’t lose a lot of sleep over it. "

I think if you fish the same places over and over with the same lure and same color, fish tend to get used to seeing this lure and color and start to shy away from it. Just changing the color can trigger more strikes at times.

I guess I tend to agree with you, I usually switch presentations totally in that situation rather than just color.

Yeah, I have some crazy stories about how picky fish *sometimes* are re: the color of a lure.

One of my least favorites--Two years ago in May, trolling/casting Leech Lake after dark, my dad outfished me 44-3 in one night. The next night was close to that. I have a lot of crankbaits (enough to justify a rider on our homeowner's policy for them), and there was ONE crankbait in my box that the fish wanted. I went through probably 200 baits and couldn't find anything they'd eat. His lure, a light perch colored deep-diving Shadow Rap, was the only one they wanted. I had the same lure in 8 other colors, and the same color in 14 other lures, and the exact same lure in the shallow diving model, and they wouldn't hit any of them.

Then last year, I had plenty of Shadow Raps, and they wouldn't touch it. :)

In my experience, though, fish (well, walleyes, anyways) more often show a marked preference for the size of a lure, not the color.

White/ White& Silver grubs & swim baits for Walleye.
Green pumpkin and smoke tubes for SMB.
Clown jerk baits and 5 of Diamonds for NP. I really prefer jerk baits but, the canoe limits working them effectively.
Not a LT fisherman so no opinion.

Thread revival!

When nothing else is working, i always switch to Black or clear.

Black jig, tube or spook.

Honestly, a clear Zara spook or Zara puppy has saved more fishing trips for me.

My son scoffed at me when I tied on a clear Zara puppy in the Mississippi backwaters. I told him is my secret weapon. He scoffed. 2 casts later...fish!

Unfortunately, it was big northern who but me off. We did find my Zara puppy a few days later.

For walleyes, can't beat a pink or orange jig tipped with a rainbow minnow or leach.