Water color vs lure color?

I've heard guys talk about what lure colors to choose depending on the water clarity. Can someone explain to me what colors to use and when?

I've also heard certain colors are better On a cloudy day vs a sunny day. Is there a chart somewhere?

you need one of these

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV2dwkSs_Gc

The joke:

1) drop the ColorClector in the water, determine the depth;

2) tie on a green pumpkin worm.


Brad

When in doubt throw something dark. Black, black and blue, brown, green pumpkin etc... Generally speaking I think folks worry too much about color, I only switch to lighter colors in clear water in bright conditions. Bill Murphy caught more giants than most of us combined and he did most of it with two or three basic colors.

Muddy: Black soft plastics (darker colors stand out better in cloudy water) and highly contrasting colors like chartreuse and black on crankbaits.
Stained: Just about any variety of watermelon or green pumpkin on soft plastics and less dramatic contrasting colors on crankbaits.
Clear: More natural varieties of watermelon or green pumpkin on soft plastics and low contrast and even transparent colors on crankbaits.

If it's sunny out, use some kind of colored flakes like red or blue in soft plastics.
If it's cloudy and dark out, colored flakes don't do much so black flakes or no flakes are fine.

That's my general system. Black w/ blue flake and green pumpkin soft plastics work all the time on every lake if you put it in the right place so that's about all I ever use. There are some places where a little orange or a certain shade of a color will get more bites, but black/blue and green pumpkin always work. I use a little more variety in crankbaits, going from muddy to clear water colors: chartreuse and black back, chartreuse and blue back, red and black back (all spring), white and black or blue back, chrome and black or blue back, transparent and light blue or green back.

Most of the pro's preach simplifying color selection and that seems to match what I have seen in my experience.

CLOUDY DAYS DARKER COLORS. SUNNY DAYS A LIGHTER COLOR LIKE WATERMELON WITH RED FLAKE. MOST LAKES AROUND HERE ARE STAINED SO WATER CLARITY SHOULDNT CHANGE MUCH

I started laughing when I saw the color selector. When these first came out in the 70s they even had all of the baits- topwater, crack baits, rattletraps to match the color of the day the selector said you needed. I fished this thing religiously (cost a $100 bucks back then and I made $4.50 hr) because I told my wife I had to have it. Ended up being the least productive trips I ever had. Left it in the truck, tied on a Black and Blue worm, a white spinner with gold and silver willow leafs and a Blue/ Silver Zara Spook and caught the heck out of the fish. I put the selector the bldg. out back of my lake house along with the baits and it is still there today. Outdoordude really nailed it. Follow what he mentions and you will catch more fish.