May 12, 2025
By Shane Beilue
If there’s a topic that’s certain to cause disagreement among anglers, it’s the role that color plays in getting a bass to eat a lure. Some folks take a highly detailed approach in choosing a color, whether it’s a soft plastic, hard bait or skirted lure, while others only carry a handful of colors in each lure category. Consider me in the latter camp. That’s not to say I disregard the role color plays in fishing, though it can often be hard to quantify.
Many years ago, I kept myself tied up in mental knots, never sure if I had the “right” color. I was in a constant state of doubt and frequently changed lures in hopes of unlocking the magic color combination that would lead to a bass bonanza. However, I don’t recall a single time a color change led to that type of sudden success.
My approach to choosing color has evolved over the years, and if you’re constantly struggling with color selection, this simplified approach should help you.
Selecting Bass Lure Colors
Understanding the forage base the bass are likely feeding upon is a great starting point for choosing a lure color. When fishing the shallows, bass often feed on bream and crawfish, while bass in offshore environments often feed on shad. On a lake that I frequent, the bass often regurgitate orange crawfish in the live well, making the addition of a shade of orange an obvious choice.
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However, it’s worth noting that bass are not highly selective feeders. Instead, they are opportunistic, meaning they feed on whatever is in front of them, so it’s not necessary to perfectly match the color scheme of the forage base.
Note the Water Clarity
Another important factor to consider in color selection is the clarity of the water. In stained to muddy water, I want to use brighter color schemes to make the lure more visible in the off-colored water. Dark colors with a brighter accent also provide a good contrast in dirty water, as well as in low light-conditions. A black jig skirt with a bright blue, orange or chartreuse trailer are great options when flipping shallow, stained water.
In cleaner water, bass have a clear line of sight to the lure, so we can use color to either make the lure appear more natural or less visible so the bass can’t detect the phony nature of the offering. Shades of brown, watermelon and green pumpkin are proven choices for soft plastics in clear water, as are translucent color schemes when fishing a crankbait or spinnerbait in clear water.
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Enticing Color Choices for Bass
Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule in bass fishing and there are times we can use bright colors to attract bass to the lure in clear water. This is especially true in the spring of the year when bass are moving shallow and feeding aggressively. Colors like bright pink, bubblegum, white and orange act as a neon sign to attract bass to an easy meal in clear water.
As a caveat to whatever color scheme you’ve selected: If you notice the bass are following or swiping at the lure but not inhaling it fully, changing the color can often cause the bass to fully commit to eating the lure.
There are so many enticing color options to consider in lure selection that it can be overwhelming to try and sort through them all. Furthermore, even a 20-foot bass boat doesn’t have enough storage to hold all the color options for the multiple lure categories we all carry.
By simplifying the color selection to a handful of trusted “go-to” options based upon available forage and water color, we can focus on the task of catching fish, rather than trying to find the “perfect” color for a fishing lure.
