Walleye Color Selection: How to Choose the Right Lure Color for Any Condition

Color choice doesn’t need to be guesswork.
But for a lot of anglers, it still is.

When conditions change — sun to clouds, clear water to stain, calm to wind — many people keep throwing the same bait and hope the fish adjust. Over time, we’ve found the opposite works better: adjust the color to the conditions, not the other way around.

This color guide breaks down walleye color selection based on water clarity, light conditions, and forage. It’s built from decades of walleye fishing experience, especially in current-driven systems, and it applies anywhere those same factors matter.

How This Walleye Color Chart Works

The Raddletail Color Chart isn’t about what can work. Almost anything can work on the right day. It’s about what gives you the best odds in a given situation.

Each color is marked based on where it consistently performs best:

• Green check = Great choice (highest confidence)
• Black check = Good choice (solid, consistent option)
• Red check = If forage matches (best when local bait matches the profile)

These are guidelines, not rules. Forage always matters, and fish can break patterns. But if you follow these guidelines, you’ll spend more time fishing effective colors and less time second-guessing.

Best Walleye Colors for Clear Water

Clear water is where walleyes get the best look at your bait. That means subtlety matters more than visibility.

In clear water, the best walleye colors are:

• Natural baitfish colors

These colors:

• Match natural forage
• Don’t overpower the presentation
• Hold up better when fish are pressured

In clear water, bright or high-contrast colors can actually work against you. Fish have time to inspect the bait, so anything unnatural stands out quickly.

Best Walleye Colors for Dirty or Stained Water

Dirty or stained water flips the script. Fish need to find your bait before they can eat it.

In these conditions, rattles, visibility, and contrast matter more than perfect realism.

Top walleye colors for dirty water include:

• High-contrast colors
• Darker silhouettes

These colors generally offer the most consistent dirty-water walleye fishing, especially in current or low light.

Walleye Colors for Cloudy vs Sunny Days

Light conditions matter just as much as water clarity.

Cloudy or Overcast Days

On cloudy days, light penetration drops. Colors with a bit more contrast tend to perform better.

Good choices include:

• Dark-backed baitfish colors
• Subtle contrast patterns

These help fish track the bait without going full “reaction color.”

Sunny Days

On bright, sunny days, fish see extremely well — especially in clear water.

Try choosing:

• Light, natural forage colors

Bright colors often lose effectiveness under high sun unless the water has stain or the forage matches closely.

Night Fishing Walleye Color Selection

At night, color matters less than silhouette.

The best night fishing walleye colors are:

• Dark profiles
• High-contrast silhouettes
• Colors that create a clean outline against the surface or bottom

Translucent colors usually lose effectiveness at night because they don’t create enough contrast, unless the water is very clear and there is ambient light.

Why Forage Matching Still Matters

One of the most important parts of color selection is forage.

That’s why some colors in the chart are marked “If forage matches.”

These colors can be excellent when:

• The dominant baitfish matches the color
• Fish are keyed in on a specific forage

But they shouldn’t be forced when forage doesn’t line up. Matching local forage can override general color guidelines, especially in clear water or pressured fisheries.

Guidelines, Not Rules

This chart — and this approach — is built around guidelines, not absolutes.

Fish don’t read charts.
Conditions change.
Some days they break patterns.

But over time, following these guidelines:

• Reduces wasted casts
• Builds confidence
• Helps you adjust faster when the bite changes

Why Multiple “Great” Colors Can Fish Differently

You’ll notice that in some conditions, more than one color is marked as a great choice on the chart. That’s intentional.

The chart shows which colors give you strong odds for a given set of conditions. What it doesn’t try to predict is which single color will be best at that exact moment, because small changes in the environment can shift the advantage from one color to another.

Even when two colors are both excellent options, one will often outperform the other based on subtle factors such as:

• Water clarity changing hour to hour
• How much ambient or surface light is actually penetrating the water
• Bottom color, depth, and how fish are positioned

In cloudy or dirty water, for example, light penetration can vary with wind, sun angle, depth, or stain level, and some dirty-water colors will naturally outperform others depending on how much visibility fish actually have.

That’s why this chart is designed as a starting point. If you’re fishing a high-confidence color and getting bit, stick with it. If not, rotating through other great options is often the fastest way to dial in what fish want in those conditions.

Built for Walleye — Useful Beyond It

This color selection system was built around walleye fishing, especially in rivers and changing conditions. But the same principles apply anywhere water clarity, light, and forage matter — from smallmouth to inshore species, or lakes to salt water.

If fish feed by sight and positioning, these guidelines are an excellent starting point.

Final Thought

Color choice shouldn’t be guesswork. It should be a simple adjustment based on what the fish can see, how they’re feeding, and what they’re eating.

That’s what this chart — and this approach — is designed to do.