I think lure color is only the third-most important factor in successful fishing. The most important factor is making sure your lure is tuned properly. If your lure isn’t tuned properly, you might as well stay home and watch fishing on TV.

The next most important factor is size. You want to give the fish what they want, and that’s just a matter of trial and error until you give them the right thing. Once you’ve figured that out, then choosing the right colors becomes important.

Typically, I start with a chartreuse lure or a lure that has chartreuse on some part of it. If that’s not producing, I quickly switch to a natural color—silver and black, gold and black, perch, or blue and pearl.

I always make sure my partner is using something different. You’ll do better if you’re using two different color lures.

Say you’re casting and you see a muskie chasing your bait, but it turns away from the lure. That fish is not going to come after it again. But if your partner is using a different color lure, he can throw in the direction of the departing fish and get another shot at it. I’ve done this a lot, and I’d say that 50 percent of the time, we’d catch that fish. If we both have a black and silver Shad Rap on, we’re never going to see that fish again. Whether you’re fishing a spinnerbait or swim bait or whatever, use a different color when you’ve got a hot fish.

The same principle applies if you’re going over a productive area a second time. Change color the next time through. If you caught six the first time fishing a weed bed, or riprap, or a rock pile, go through it again with a different color and you might catch three or four more. The fish see something a little different and it triggers them. It took me quite a while to figure that out.

If I know they’re biting No. 5 Shad Raps, I get out every color of No. 5 Shad Rap I have and go through them. To me, color is more important with crankbaits than most other baits, but it matters for spinners or jig tails or anything else. I do the same thing with jigs. If I’ve got a color that’s working, but I’m going over the same fish again in the same area, I change color. You can’t be a one-color fisherman. I don’t care if it’s your favorite color or it’s always produced for you. If you’re going over the same fish, change colors.

If I’m fishing in dirty water, I always start with bright colors, usually chartreuse, but something bright. I’ve seen where glow-in-the-dark works well in dirty water, so you can go to a glow-in-the-dark lure or add some glow to your lures.

Often when we’re starting out in the morning, I’ll pull all the colors of a bait that I’m planning to use and put them on the dashboard. Everybody that gets in my boat says, ‘Why do you have so many?’ Well, I go out intending to catch as many fish as I can, especially when I was tournament fishing, but even if I’m just going out to catch dinner. You’ve got a gazillion No. 5s or No. 7s. Use them!

I do the same thing if I’m fishing Beetle Spins and the fishing in the area I’m fishing slows down: I don’t change size; I change the color. I might change the color of the spinner blade or the plastic body or the color of the jig head, but I will make a change. You want to have as many color options as you can.

Now, I know you’re going to say, “I can’t afford to buy that many lures.” I get it. But when you buy a new bait to try, buy two of them, of two different colors. If it works for you and you like the bait, next paycheck, buy two more. Over time, you’ll get a bunch of them, and you can work through your colors over the course of the day. And you’ll catch more fish than you will if you stay with the color on the same fish all day. I guarantee it.

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