i always match the hatch - perch, bluegill, crappie. or the usual natural / bright variations in certain water clarity.
Good question raised by the OP.
So what is the primary food for bass up here in MA? Is it mostly Perch, BlueGill, Crappie, Crawfish? I guess trout on certain ponds.
Are there others that I should be matching too? Do we have a lot of shad in the north east?
Sorry if it's a dumb question.
I stick to three (sometimes 4).
Blue Gill year round but especially during the spawn. Like the others said sexy shad will do it, anything with a little blue and chartreuse and even fire tiger in stained water
Shad I know the least about because I dont know what the shad populations are like around here but if I know its around anything brown, green blue, I like it a lot in the fall.
Craw, brown orange black red, works well in spring.
The fourth is herring, which would be blue, but only certain places have them
75% of the time im throwing something in that blue gill category. At least ill always start with it then play with depth, sound, wobble etc
I did just want to add though if you KNOW what they are feeding on (ie they spit up food) it makes 100% easier. We have other food populations in the area between crappie, white perch, yellow perch but I just havent found a crankbait i like in those cases (especially yellow) but you cant go wrong with blue gill, every place has them