Okay I'll try to explain what I do the best that I can but bear with me because I'm a very abstract person. The first thing I do is I select the water I'm fishing based on the conditions of the day. So if I'm fishing a bluebird Sunny hot day I try to pick a body of water that's stained 5 ft visibility or less. I pick a body of water that has a lot of docks or pads or mats with at least four to five feet of water underneath them. When I'm fishing these conditions I'm generally skipping a 3/8 ounce jig under the docks or I'm punching the pads or mats with at least three quarter ounce skirted punch rig. when I have cloudy or rainy conditions i Pick the five foot visibility Plus Lakes. These are usually your clear lakes with weed lines that go from 15 to 20 ft deep. These bodies of water with these weather conditions I look for areas of transition, places where you will find weed lines next to hard bottom or sand bottoms in these situations i fish spinnerbait, swim jig, or a variety of top water baits. I feel like when you have clouds you get bigger fish moving in to shallow weed edges with bottom Contour transition or moving up on weed edges with deep water nearby. One of the things I make sure I do is I avoid schools of smaller Bass if I'm throwing a drop shot around on deep weed edges and I'm getting bit by one to two pounders I move on right away I just don't seem to catch 4 lb plus fish around those schools very often. What I'm talking about here is all about catching those four and a half plus pound fish, the best way to do that somewhat consistently is to put yourself in the best position you can to get around those fish. I haven't had luck finding those fish in water deeper than 15 ft consistently. So I try to put myself in a position to find them in shower water where I can fish targets. I feel like if you're interested in catching numbers of fish tie on a drop shot and a three and a half to 6 inch swimbait and fish those deep weed edges crankbaits are awesome for this as well I've had a lot of luck this summer finding a big tapering flat that has like 15 feet of water with the grass growing to 10 feet and running that dt10 over that grass. When I'm choosing the baits I will use, I think about a couple things the first thing is probably efficiency how efficient can I fish this bait given the cover and conditions and depth I want to fish. As in does it go to the depth that I think the fish are at, how well does it come through the cover im fishing. This next part is where your personal experience comes in or experience that you're gaining through the day as in are the fish reacting to vibration are they reacting to flash or are they reacting to the speed of your bait and you just kind of have to make a decision on what you're going to use throughout the day based on your thought process there. Generally I like to get fish to react I'm either dropping a heavy jig or punch rig or running a spinnerbait by their face I just adjust those based on how I can present that bait the best in that situation. As far as Jigs and punch rigs I don't think the color is a big deal because generally the bass bite that on a reaction right away before they even get a look at it. As far as spinnerbaits or bladed jigs or like a swim jig I think color can be very important especially on a spinnerbait or a bladed jig. In Clear Water conditions I am very meticulous on the kind of Blade I use in the color of skirt that I use I really try to stay away from the cookie cutter white chartreuse stuff in the summertime and really focus on the bluegill match the hatch kind of deal. I can't tell you how many of times i have Fished behind people throwing chartreuse spinnerbaits and follow them with a half ounce green pumpkin with a little orange spinnerbait and caught big'uns right behind them. Basically stained water i use a Colorado blade gold, and in Clearwater I like Willow Leaf blades one gold one silver or the small one painted the bigger one gold or silver. To catch the bigger fish a small change in color on a bait that is so often use like a spinnerbait makes all the difference. I'm sure I've just thoroughly confused you but feel free to ask questions and that will help me to explain my mindset. I hope this does help you because I have had some success consistently doing this.
