say there are three types of sky conditions full sun partly sunny/cloudy and full clouds when you start out fishing what color would you put out first under each of these conditions? thanks in advance rich

Ok I will be the frist one to take a stab at this question, I use this as a rule of thumb, darker lures for cloudly days copper, copper/orange ,red/cooper on brighter days i think orange/ brass,green/silver silver full sun I think brass/ silver. I always run somthing white becuase it seems to work in all 3 condistions for me and petty much always somthing like and orange/with black dots topgun This is just a starting point for me, this year I have been switching stuff out a lot until I find somthing thats catching fish on a given day were as in the past i had a tendency to drag the same stuff for hours. Adrian mentioned in his article in the Hawkeye in July that " they are always hitting somthing" so don't keep fishing the same lures. I think that was realy good advice and I have tryed to take that out fishing with me this year and it seems to have worked.

Be well
Glen L

The whole idea of darker colors on cloudy days, brighter on sunny days, is something I questioned for a while... and still do to a degree. This is what I have pieced together for reasoning behind it. Let me know if it makes any sense?
Okay, say its a high sun and clear skies... you throw out an all silver lure (or other similar/bright lure) the sun is constantly reflecting off the silver and attracting fish.
Now the clouds come out... no sun to reflect off the silver... to the fish looking from below your silver lure (or any similarly light colored lure) blends in with the color of the sky. That being the case its awfully hard for them to see the lure to bite it.
Pull the silver off and put on a darker color. (Your color choice depends on how deep you're fishing [this info can be found in link at left for fish lake ontario] but lets say you're high in the water column where all colors are still as visible.) Just put on anything thats darker than the clouds above... most times even a dull brass lure is dark enough. This new lure now has enough "contrast" from the sky above for fish to see its outline.
Does this idea work 100% of the time? No, probably not. But, it is a good place to start.
Maybe a better solution for days when the sun is coming in and out of clouds, is to use lures with a darker color on the bottom side (or at least a stripe of darker color) and a reflective brighter color on the top that will create reflections of the sun when its present. That should create a visible lure in all conditions encountered.
Now its just a matter of finding which exact darker or lighter color they want that particular day... is it white, yellow, orange, pink... or green, black, red, purple... It just never ends.

Me, I really like pink. (Adrien, no comments!LOL) I almost always have some variation of a pink lure in the water. I have confidence in its performance on Winni. (Maybe thats why it works? I tend to leave it in the water.) To me, pink is light enough to reflect light during sunny days and yet contrast the sky on darker days. So I leave it out there. I suppose you could say the same for orange? Maybe thats why it has such a good name for itself as a proven performer?

Either way... nothing works better than changing them up until you find the color, size and action that the fish are craving that particular day. Thats part of why its fun, right? Then again, thats also part of why it gets frustrating. Oh well. Fishing is fishing and sure beats sitting at home.

Sunny- Bright colors Gold, Silver with orange (maynard, fire smelt, pumpkin head).

Partly sunny- The same stuff really some days throw in soome dark if the clouds are thick.

Cloudy- Copper, dark stuff... Cool Water Cruiser, Purple, pearls, green DB Matty Gun, Orange Copper Top Gun.

Cool Water <'((-'--<

thanks guys the condition i struggle with is cloudy fished 10 hrs thurs pretty much cloudy all day caught 4 salmon 3 20+ inches all on copper with orange edge dragged that around all day kept changing the other rod never found another productive color.with the info youve shared i have a good baseline to start with next time thanks.

Rich, we caught 15 of our 19 salmonids today on orange/copper... it worked during the rain, the clouds, and the shining sun. That definitely is a go-to color pattern.