[mark poulson]

benton B,
I agree. Experience is the best teacher.
But one of the biggest lesson's I've learned it that detailed, "perfect" paint schemes catch fishermen, but action catches fish.
I've had the good fortune to see some of the prototype lures that are now successful commercial lures, and those guys had their share of duds.
What amazes me is how some of the ugliest prototypes caught the fish the best.
From that I took that action is foremost, and, at least in jointed, swimming swimbaits, color is secondary.
Now for floating twitch baits, that you throw out and let float for a long time, and then twitch, detail can be more important. But, even there, if the profile is right, a big bass is going to slowly rise, and suspend under the lure, waiting for signs that it's alive.
Two months ago I threw a home made swimbait over a branch by accident, and it was dangling at the water's surface. The water was clear, and I was slowly approaching it with the TM on low, tight to the shoreline, trying to shake it free without spooking any fish in the area. It was splashing a lot as I popped it. My friend Ray Tak, who owns a tackle shop, told me that's called the tea bag retrieve, where you are just dunking the lure as it hangs from a tree or bush.
So there I was shaking this lure, which was toward the back of a cut in a cove, when, out of the corner of my eye, I see a huge shadow rise like a stealth submarine from the 30' deep area right near the cut, and slowly make it's way shallow, and just stare at my lure.
She was like my dog when I'm BBQing. I can read his mind. "Drop it, drop it, drop it". If I could had shaken that lure free and ripped it back toward me, that bass would have gone into full attack mode and killed it.
And it wasn't a picture perfect lure, just one that gave the impression of a trout. It was a totally nerve wracking experience.
I almost didn't go in to get the lure, I was so fascinated by that bass, and was still hoping that by some miracle I could get it to drop into the water. But I couldn't, so the fish just kind of slid back into the depths as I went up to get the lure free.
The next week, same lake, one cove over, I caught one on an Ika, pitched tight to an overhanging rock ledge. She went 8lb10oz, and had bird feathers in her mouth. Not brown duckling feathers, but black feathers like from one of the cave swallows that nest in that cove on the vertical cliff face. This bass had sat in the water, looking up, and eaten a bird which had fallen into the water, or jumped up and got one that was hovering just at the surface.
So I figure that anything that's alive and can fit in a bass' mouth is on the menu. And getting their attention is the first step. Their natural predatory curiosity will take over from there. If they don't spook, they're going to look at your lure, and, if you can make it look like it's alive, they'll hit it out of instinct.
And that's why I have the nerve to try to paint lures, because I know my fishing audience is very forgiving.