I often think about this subject and can not for the life of me figure out which are more important.
I asked Larry Dahlberg the question about lure color and I thought his view on color was really interesting, especially his last statement:
"My experience is that color is less important than what the lure actually does. On topwater lures I've been searching for a color they won't bite! I've seen times when they react to fluorescent colors like chartruese and orange better than any thing else. Most large predators fit into the match the hatch thing, but also remember they have a role in natural selection that means part of their job includes getting rid of things that don't belong or are out of place. best, L"
I also thought Denny Brauer's take on it was quite interesting. I read it in his book and can't find the quote, so I'll have to paraphrase:
He basically says that he has no idea what a bass thinks a lure is or perceives it to be, so he'll use a lure that appeals to most if not all of the bass senses. If he has all those tools at his disposal, than he'll certainly try to stack the odds in his favor.
To me, if your fishing a lure, why not use Denny's logic?