Cold And Muddy

[SCJ89]

Ok, here is the deal im fishing in a small tourney this weekend and the water is up its cold ( 38 to 41 rannge) and it muddy muddy. I guess my question is how do you guys attack muddy water

[bamabassman]

zooker loves it muddy. he uses cranks in mud. ask him.

[jcw1503]

anything with noice...if they can't see it they need to here it....

[aikenyounggun]

ummm throw something that moves water if its that cold throw something like a carolina rig with a big worm or somethin.... they might not be movin enough to hit somethin thats fast..... maybe a loud jerkbait..... on the bigger size if the bait is big... loud rattles...

if all else fails hit a rocky dropoff and throw a shaky head with a zoom finesse worm on it... really slow..... rock b/c it holds heat

[CCbass]

In cold muddy water ( paper bag drown ) I use a finess jig in a crawdad color that is just a little darker then the water. Bass as well as prey lighten up in these conditions to blend with the environment but not to the point they disappear. In the cold it seems to me they are even more picky about something looking natural, why waste the little energy they have on a guess. Yes rattle and movement of water can only enhance the natural approach.

[Mac2]

Bass reportedly move shallower in muddy waters feeling more concealed and protected...and I think the shallows would warm quicker having the mud suspended........red noisy baits such as a rattle trap could be the ticket.....I'd pause it occasionally on the retrieve to let them locate.

[Bassboss]

Try a jerk bait with a lot of rattles! Jerk it 3 times let it set, but jiggle the rod like how you would with a drop shot when it sitting, just to activate the rattles.

Hope this helps, good luck and good fishin!

[BigBassin144]

Slow rolling a big spinnerbait with a single or double colorado blades. I fish a lake in MI where 8" of vis is a good day. Our best producer is a white/chartreuse Booyah double colorado spinnerbait.

You also may want to try a lipless crankbait. I know you may think they're not for cold water, but they do work pretty good.

BB

[Jigger]

Call in sick. Stay home and watch bass fishing on TV. You've just described the toughest conditions in bass fishing. Good luck. Let us know how you and others did and what won it and on what please. I'd love to know.

[zooker]

yeah but jigger being able to catch fish in these conditions is 1/2 the challange..any idiot can pluck a bass from a bed in clear water.a TRUE angler pressed forward and at times comes out a winner..

as for crankbaits i'd go loud. firetiger or blue back chartuses the cold time of year if you catch a fish offin any given struture you need to go back and truly HAMMER it.. take your time, switch to differant baits,fish very throughly.. the thing i see alot of "power" fisherman do is move and keep moving.. it works but not in the winter or in the dog days of summer.. sure move but if your on fish go down the bank a hundred yards u-turn switch baits and come back up that creek..
the top picture was taken on the second run up the creek bank.we caught 3 short fish prior to this run. the #3 run up the same 200 yard stretch netted two 4+ pound footballs and the bottom pictured fish..we hit it twice more catching another short fish and nothing..you'll notice we are not fishing the deep laydwns behind us..

water temps in the mid 40's and well see for your self water color is umm stained





not bad for a lake that is supose to be full of pcb's..lol..

zooker

[JB]

Great advise zooker,


I've been telling Denny all winter that next spring and summer we'll power fish the bank but then go back and rework it much slower with dif baits

[SCJ89]

Well thanks for the info guys. Well the tourney was tough muddy high water 39 degrees cold and a powerhouse cold front over us. i didnt catch a fish and i tried evryting. but i wasent the only one in fact not a single fish was weighed in. i hope next weekend is better and i hope i never hav to fish in a tourney were there is ice covering everything in the boat, ever again.

[carolina-rig-01]

in cold and muddy water i love a jig.

[SCJ89]

Yeah we all trid it in many diffrfent ways and nobody caught one