Red is simply a good contrast color under certain conditions. All colors filter out to gray/black depending on light intensity, water turbidity and depth. Red is the first color to fade followed by orange, yellow, blue, green and chartreuse. As far as a fish are concerned, color is simply degrees of contrast under specific conditions. Red works on surface or shallow running lures in sunlight conditions for instance, because red appears black looking from a dark subsurface to a lighter sky and contrasts with the lighter colored portion of the lure. Red fish! Male salmon turn red during the spawn. Why? Contrast! They stand out from the lighter colored female's. Why do bass hold in shaded areas? Not to hide. Prey simply stand out better looking from dark to light. Most lure colors are made to catch fisherman not fish. Remember all those fish missing your white topwater? They can't see it very well. A surface lure would work much better if it was reversed painted or painted all red or black, but they wouldn'd sell many. A red and white striped crankbait would work better under low-light conditions than a natural colored one.