“What’s the hot color?” This is one of the most common questions you will hear at any boat ramp wherever you may go. While many anglers are concerned about finding the right color pattern, is this the best method to finding success? I break down three case studies across the calendar period of the open water season and various locations in South Dakota to determine if color does indeed matter to walleye or not.
Before we begin, let’s first take a look at the fish we are targeting. Walleye are known for their eyes, which shine brightly in the presence of a flashlight, headlamp or other device. This eyeshine is a result of their tapetum lucidum, reflecting this excess light in their environment. The tapetum lucidum is an organ designed to capture all available light and allow the creature, in this case a walleye, to harness it for low-light vision.
While these low-light vision capabilities give them the advantage over their prey and have a big impact in how anglers target them, this has more to do with the timing across these various light conditions. In fact, walleye have a very difficult time differentiating fine details of a presentation. Does this mean that finding the “hot color” is useless for a walleye angler? I’ve dedicated a great deal of time trying to answer this question, let’s take a look at three of my favorite case studies.
Case Study One: Fall on 81 Ponds
In the fall of 2015, I made it a goal to determine if there were any specific crankbait color patterns that emerged on 81 Ponds near Brookings, South Dakota. In this study all fish were caught casting Rapala Shallow Shad Raps. To maintain consistency, I fished all of these baits on the same stretch of rocky shoreline. While I was unable to quantify total casts and time in the water for each lure, I made sure to cycle through baits to ensure all baits had as close to a fair amount of time in the water.
Between September 22 and November 4 I tallied 50 walleyes on these crankbaits. I was able to ensure colors were the only variable as I only counted fish caught on a Rapala Shallow Shad Rap. While I did vary sizes (#5 and #7), both the model and specific color patterns remained the same.
| Color | Hot Steel | Purpledescent | Perch | Walleye | Chartreuse | Yellow Perch |
| Walleyes Caught | 18 | 13 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 0 |
At first glance, it looks as though there was a fair distribution of fish caught over the top four colors. However, it is important to note that the vast majority of fish were caught within one hour on each side of sunset or sunrise. These changing light conditions had a drastic impact on crankbait success.
When conditions were bright and clear, the natural colors of walleye or perch were the most productive. As the sun set, purpledescent became the top option. As darkness set in, hot steel became the top option. On windy days that dirtied the water and resulted in dark conditions, hot steel was overall the top option.
Considering all factors, it is safe to say that crankbait color was important. However, understanding the changing light and water conditions and implementing the appropriate color for that situation was the biggest factor to success.
Case Study Two: Spring on Lake Sharpe
In the spring of 2020, I made it a goal to determine if there were any specific crankbait color patterns that emerged on Lake Sharpe near Pierre, South Dakota. In this study all fish were caught trolling crankbaits on leadcore line. To maintain consistency, I made sure to have the same size and style crankbaits on my inside rods and my outside rods. This meant I was fishing two colors of each bait on any given day. Once I found the correct depth I made sure both baits were running at the same depth. I also caught all fish within the same 10 mile stretch of river and did not fish changing light conditions (sunrise/sunset) that were discussed above. All fish were caught within the hours of sunrise and sunset.
Between April 26 and May 24 I tallied 50 walleyes on crankbaits over this one month period. I fished a total of 22 different crankbaits ranging from various models, sizes and colors. While all of these baits caught fish, it is important to note that 31 fish were caught on the same size Flicker Shad. This is an important figure as I sampled 8 colors of Flicker Shad.
| Crankbait Model | Flicker Shad | Shad Rap | Shad Rap RS and Glass Shad Rap | Salmo Hornet |
| Walleyes Caught | 31 | 6 | 6 | 7 |
Of the 50 fish caught, 47 of them were caught on a crankbait that featured various shades of purple or blue. This is 94% of fish caught during this time period. Most importantly, at least one fish was caught on both a blue or purple bait of each model. This indicates that fish were not showing preference to a certain model or lure. For the sake of reporting, specific colors were broken down into 6 main categories.
| Color | Purple | Blue | Pink Lemonade | Green and Firetiger | White and Natural Colors | Chrome |
| Walleyes Caught | 26 | 21 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
When considering the above data, I can say with a strong amount of confidence that fish were showing preference to either purple or blue. However, it is important to note that fish were keying on both a specific profile (shad) and size (#5). Of the 50 fish, 37 were caught on a #5 size bait across all models. This means that while there was a color pattern, it was only one factor of catching fish.
Case Study Three: Summer on Lake Oahe
In our third and final case study, we take a look at a different situation. While the above two studies showcased various crankbait situations across a prolonged period of time, color can be a factor for all presentations. In our final case study, we determine if individual days or even hours can have impacts to color.
For this case study, we head to Lake Oahe in June of 2020. On this day, I was fishing a long finger point between 10-12 feet of water. I was fishing bottom bouncers with .8” Mack’s Lure Smile Blades and both leeches and nightcrawlers.
On this day, I picked up five quality walleye in one pass on a pink Smile Blade with nightcrawlers on my left rod. My right hand rod, which featured a blue Smile Blade and a leech did not have any bites throughout this whole pass. After another pass with similar results, I wanted to determine if the issue was the blade color or the offering.
To experiment, I replaced the blue Smile Blade with a pink Smile Blade to determine if color was the ultimate factor. I left the leech as the livebait offering. Throughout the next two passes, the leech rod only picked up one smallmouth bass while the nightcrawler continued to catch fish. I then replaced the blue Smile Blade and replaced the leech with the nightcrawler and began catching fish on this rod as well.
The important lesson in this situation was color was not the deciding factor to success, but rather the livebait offering. The fish were not keying in on leeches and even replacing the blade with the “hot color” could not generate action. Upon replacing the blade and livebait offering, it was evident that my good day fishing was not because I picked the “hot color” at all.
Takeaways
The biggest takeaway of the above case studies is that no one factor is going to be the result of success. I am a firm believer that location is the most important factor in catching fish, because the best presentation will never work if there are no fish to impress! Once you are on the fish, presentation becomes the next step of the puzzle.
There are various aspects to presentation, the two major factors are speed and depth. Whether you are bottom bouncing, trolling crankbaits or casting crankbaits you need to be where the fish are. When combined with location, all these factors are critical to putting your bait where the fish are.
Once all of these above factors are correct, only then can the fine tuning begin. This fine tuning begins with a bait’s profile and size. The most successful anglers will understand the forage available in the waterbody they are fishing and emulate that forage with these factors. Only then can color become a factor.
Unfortunately, the “hot color” can become a moving target in itself. Environmental factors from light conditions, light penetration (size of waves) and water clarity can all impact what the best color would be in that particular situation. A bait that may be red hot for 30 minutes may go cold as one or more of these environmental factors change. Is this because the fish are changing their preferences or something else? It’s time to deliver the verdict!
What’s the Verdict?
Citing our first two case studies from 81 Ponds and Lake Sharpe, color does correlate to increased or decreased success catching walleye. However, the importance of color is likely not due to the fish’s individual preference but rather their ability to see the bait. My belief is that the fish do not make a conscious decision that they prefer a purple lure over a green lure, but they may be able to see and/or decipher the purple lure in their environment more effectively and thus key in on this bait.
This means that color is more important when fishing clear and relatively bright environments. If faced with dirty and/or dark water conditions, keying in on a fish’s ability to both hear and sense vibration in the water column would likely be more important as their ability to see a bait would be decreased.
Much like a cook or baker making a delicious meal, all ingredients are important to the final dish. Even one of these elements being off can impact the final product. While color can and does matter in your presentation, it is only one ingredient to a successful day on the water. Good fishing!
Related Articles
Forage is a critical aspect to selecting your bait’s profile and size. Once you understand the various types of forage, you will be able to key these baits in to match the hatch! Find out more in What’s on the Menu: Walleye Forage.
There are a wide variety of hardbaits on the market. While we discussed that color is one aspect, there are a variety of other factors that come in crankbait selection. Find out all you need to know in Know Your Hard Baits.
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