When you head to your local sporting good store to look for the best fishing lure you can find a key aspect is also picking which color.  There is always the option to go find a custom painted fishing lure, but as a general rule we still need to know which color(s) we are trying to mimic in order to maximize a lures effectiveness.  The two key things to keep in mind here are the clarity or color of the water and the conditions on the body of water itself.  To me it really leads to the same idea, being that what is the amount of feet that you can see a given bait into the water.  A windy day will stir up the water and lead to less clarity as will obviously the actual clarity of the water itself.  I tend to lean towards water clarity being the #1 aspect, but conditions in terms of wind, clouds and sun angle all play a role as well.

For clear lakes and days when the water isn't so churned up, the best idea is to mimic the color of the bait fish whenever possible.  Stay with generally darker colors.  Black is good in clear water as is brown color.  Both of these are natural colors that represent what is seen below the water.  I have had great luck with motor oil Berkley Power Worms over the years, as well as the Zoom Centipede in a pumpkin color.  For crankbaits I have written many times on here that I am firmly in love with the black/silver Rapala Shad Rap SR7.  All of the above are great lures to use in lakes with good water clarity.

On lakes with algae bloom (a dark green color) I have had the best luck with a colorful pattern.  The clown color of late has been good for me, but I have had great luck over the years on the firetiger pattern on crankbaits.  The firetiger color has been my best producer in these type of water conditions.  It literally outfishes black colors 3-1 in my experience.  However, when used on clear lakes it will get outfished badly by the standard colors mentioned above.

When picking a lure for your next cast, choosing the correct fishing color can make all the difference in the world.  What are your experience with fishing lure colors?

PR: wait... I: wait... L: wait... LD: wait...

I must admit, my favorite all time fishing lure is the #7 Rapala Shad Rap, deep diver in the Natural Shad color (i.e. black/silver).  When all else fails, I throw on a #7 shad rap and troll or cast this lure and it usually will produce fish.  It has proven to be my best fishing lure over the course of time. In the spring time when the water clarity is really good this is absolutely a deadly lure in the cold water.  I have easily caught over 100 walleyes on this exact lure in Minnesota in the springtime.  Bouncing a #7 shad rap off the bottom at a fairly high speed is enought to get the walleye to strike hard and often.

The best part is that not only will it produce fish, but big fish as well.  Several walleye in the 5lb class and others in the 7lb class.  No real secret here to my success over the years with this lure - troll on rocky shelfs and let the trademark Rapala action produce fish.  In the cold water, sometimes live bait does not produce as many strikes because of either the action or activity.  The hard moving action of the #7 shad rap triggers the strike reflex from fish and often times produce more fish.  If you prefer to get a bit crafty in your use of crankbaits, perhaps buy a custom painted Shad Rap to add to your tackle box.

To top it all off the #7 shad rap can be used to catch northern pike, small mouth, large mouth and even the occasional crappie.  As I stated before this is my all time favorite fishing lure for good reason - It produces more and bigger fish.