Rules of thumb?

[wargoth]

I have noticed that scattered all over this board, there are alot of bits of wisdom regarding color selection, bait selection, etc. in regard to time of year, time of day, and water quality. I was wondering if some ambitious individual might be willing to compile as much as they can on this topic into this thread which we might request to be stickied. I am a long time Walleye and Perch fisherman in NE Ohio, and I am coming over to the world of Bass fishing more recently. I am well aware that there are never any absolutes when it comes to fishing, but I think it would be nice to have a set of "Rules of thumb" on this subject in a nice and convenient place so that we newer guys can save time on experimentation and spend more time actually catching. I know what Walleye will usually want at what time of day, at what time of year, but am thouroughly lost with what the bass usually will want. I have seen it said that post spawn and early/late in the day, they seem to like topwater, but that is all I have retained from the hundreds of posts I have read, so how bout it, anyone up to tackling this?