Crankbait colors

What are some of you guys favorite colors for reaction baits like cranks and spinnerbaits? Pre spawn seems to be coming early this year and I'm trying to get together the best stuff I can. Spring rains have made the water murky, about 2ft visibility, and water temp was about 58. Never caught a fish on a skirted spinnerbait or chatterbait before, but they're supposed to be top choices in the spring. I've been doing well on lipless cranks and my best color is bleeding chrome/blue but the water color probably makes it less effective

also, anybody use firetiger? It's a classic pattern I know, but I've only caught one fish on it in a lipless crank. What conditions is it good for and what lures work well with it?

The general rule is to fish brighter colors (chartreuse) in dirty water and natural colors (white, greens, etc.) in clear. The crawfish will molt this time of year and there is a period when reds, Browns, orange, and hints of blue work well (esp. With crankbaits).

I prefer red colors this time of year and in muddier water.

the winner of the most recent Bassmaster tore it up on red crawfish colored square billed crankbaits. He was fishing in very murky water.

I've been killing it with orange and red the last 2 months.

Early spring time when the water is stained / muddy those red’s and crawfish pattern cranks really do shine

I like the sexy shad pattern when the water clears up

A squarebill is my favorite type of crankbait to throw….I bang that sucker into every piece of cover available

I like coffin shaped bills. The ones I've had are deeper divers than square bills but come off of cover just as well.

That's Odd. I tried orange craw and red craw patterns first and didn't get bites until I used firetiger and sped up

There are a ton of variables.

I went on Saturday and caught like 5 on a red and black crank bait. Sunday, same lake I didn't get a bite on it.

Shad Raps beats them all. LOL. Crawfish and shad color.

A couple of weeks ago I had am orange Rapala DT7 flat (discontinued) and a number 7 silver shad rap. Nothing on the shad rap and 3 on the DT7.

I see people mainly catching on red / orange, but I've caught more this year on Chartreuse with a black back and Chartreuse Sexy Shad. BPS/XPS Deep Diver Texas Shad has worked well lately too. I've caught a few on Firetiger at times, but it's never seemed to be "hot" anytime I've used it.

Chartreuse and white spinner Bait is hard to beat in the spring.
Parrot colored crankbait works as well.

IMO, as the water gets darker, you want to add more color and more "thump" to your presentation.

Bass are primarily a visual predator, but as visibility is decreased, you need to help them find your lure by appealing to their other senses. That means possibly bulking up your lure's profile a bit with a larger trailer that moves more water. If you can add scent, try that. For spinner baits, larger blades that give off more flash. For cranks, maybe try something with a more distinct rattle. That will get a fish's attention and get him thinking, "Food!" Now that you've got your bass' attention, your lure's color and profile come into play, you want to give him an easy target to hit. Brighter colors in stained water will help a fish zero in as his eyes finally come into play right before the strike.

That's why the lures like that Chatterbait are so effective in cool, stained water. You can fish it really slow, it gives off a lot of flash and vibration, and you can beef it up with any number of plastic trailers to kick the presentation into overdrive.

Crank-wise, I like Chartreuse/blue back. Spinnerbaits, in clear water, I like a tighter package, primarly white, usually with painted blades. In more stained water, I'm looking to add more chartreuse, green or orange to the bait, and I'll go to a bigger unpainted blade that will give off more obvious flash. Same with A Chatterbait, that clear water white / baitfish color gives way to a more firetiger look, and I'll a twin tail or craw type trailer to up the vibration.

Just my $0.02

Red/orange was killing it for me for the past 2-3 weeks. This past Saturday on Bartlett's Ferry, after catching a bunch on red/orange there two weeks before, that color caught nothing.