The best way to choose the color of your lure is to use the weather and water clarity. The color of a lure depends greatly on how much light is available to the fish in the water. Gloomy dark days do not provide much light in the water depths while sunny days can provide a clear water setting that requires a different approach.

   When your fishing in clear water on sunny or cloudy days, it is important to use a lure that matches the colors of the natural foods a fish eats.  Go to lighter, more natural, more translucent colors such as Silver/White or colors with sparkles that mimics baitfish.  Use browns and greens for bottom feeding fish.

   In dark water, the importance rests in getting your lure seen. This can be achieved with vibrations so the fish can understand where your lure is, but more importantly is to use a bright lure as dark waters block out the light.  As water gets more stained, go to brighter colors, such as White, Yellow and Orange. When you reach the point of 2 to 4 feet of visibility, try brighter fluorescents like Hi-Vis Blue, Hot Pink, Chartruese or Lime Green. In water thats stained a dark green or brown, use multi-color combinations: use Black/Chartruese or Pink/Yellow, or use something with a little glitter when the water is real dark.

   In muddy water, crappie rely more on sound, vibrations and odor to find food. Thus, they usually respond better to live baits, because they can home in on the scent. If jigs are used, use attractants such as Berkley Crappie Nibbles or Kodiak paste.
As for colors: Black, Brown, Dark Blue, Dark Red, and my favorite: Yellow/White combo.

   Before you leave home, you may have a better idea which colors to bring along by looking up to the sky.  On a sunny day the best lures are those that has silver, chartruese or with sparkles.  This is because as the sun catches the lure it can produce extra flashes of color to attract the fish.  Cloudy days can be difficult to choose for, but if you go for a mix of dark and light lure you cannot go wrong. It seems that the contrast between dark and bright can really catch the eye of the fish and work very well.