Color, like a lot of other considerations are largely depending on location, water clarity, target species, cover/ lack of, etc. Rule of thumb for unknown waters: when looking for round fish (bass, crappie, etc.) start with shad type lures. If you look for long profile fish (i.e. pike, muskie, walleye) use a minnow style. Now that does not mean that pike will never hit a shad lure, or a bass a minnow lure (bass will hit just about everything if so inclined). Check the local baitfish for starting styles and prevailent colors. Someone asked about fire tiger, it works very well in some areas and you couldn't catch a stick on it in others. Try 2 or 3 colors of a particular lure, than change to a different style and repeat. Also depth has a lot to do with lure succes. You can run the same lure at one depth (f.i. near surface ) and hit zero all day if you would stay there. Drop the running depth of that same lure by 1 or 2' and you may have to take your lure out of the water to light a smoke, or have a sandwich! Some lures also do not run true. In that case the action portraied by the lure is not recognised by the fish as a potential meal and your succes again is most likely zero. Lures should be checked by the shore or near the boat for depth and wobble, flutter, etc. If a floating lure rises too quickly at rest, the fish won't touch it. Than weigh it down or use it as a surface lure (walk the dog, etc.). Fast response lures (stick baits, minnow styles)can be made to dive and run deeper a/o shallower by heating and bending the lip. A lure that pulls to one side needs adjustment to the eye where the line ties on. Sometimes you want that action if you want to run under a heavy cover or docks, etc.. You can than retrieve the lure and it will run under the dock or cover w/o having to try to cast to a very narrow space.
So to start a day of fishing, first try some local colors (usually silvers, blues, greens and reds in various combinations), than try some more exotic colors like bubblegum or the firetiger. My first choices are usually blue back/ silver belly, green back/ silverbelly and some of those I have given some vertical stripes with a waterproof black marker. These seem to outperform the plain ones in a lot of areas. As most waters are stained, rattles are a great help and so is scent.
Hope that helped some, good fishin' from across the pond; Nick.
