Muddy water

[hunter1]

Hello I live in northern Indiana and I am having a problem catching fish in muddy water. I fish in the local tournaments and do pretty good with worms and topwater etc... in clear water. When we fish the lakes with the cloudy or darker water I always have a tough time catching or maybe finding the fish. Any help!!

[JB]

Muddy water means one thing,

target bass extremely close to structure,
They may be hugging timber, a stump, dock,
Or go to the points and try fishing deeper, its easier to target structure that your used to fishing, like the laydowns, etc.
Also bright yellow/orange spinnerbait or BLACK(plastics, jigs) is used in lure selection

[Rebbasser]

Welcome to the forum!

Muddy water? A spinnerbait with a big, single Colorado blade. The single blade puts out more vibration than a tandem or double willow and is easier for the fish to find using it's lateral line. And, as JB says, fish VERY tight to cover.

[hunter1]

Hello again and thanks for the quick reply's! One of the lures that I don't have much experience with is the jig and pig. I have alot of them just not sure what color and what to use with it as far as the pig. Were to fish it what weight. Can you tell me more about the (plastic jig) .
Thanks again!!

[Fish2win]

Muddy water actually makes the fish very predictable, Like the other guys say you can catch them on hard vibrating blade baits that are fished very tight to the cover. That may not be the very best presentation. If ever there was a technique that was perfect for muddy water it is flipping. Flipping is a method of presenting the bait to the fish and the cover that will often cause a reaction strike. In order to present the bait you need to be fairly close to the cover and muddy water gives you a vail to hide behind. You will need a 7 or 71/2 foot rod with a flipping real. Spool with 30 to 50 pound test. Lures to flip are Texas rigged lizard or worms. Pig and jigs or Giant Riverside tubes. Colors to flip in muddy water are red, purple, black any of which can be paired with chartreuse. Although it is very hard for the fish to see you in muddy water you will need to be quite in order to not spook the fish.
Present the bait to stumps, weeds trees boat dock supports rock formations or any irregular feature that may hold fish. Forks in trees or laydowns are good. Allow the bait to fall straight down and watch your line for any movement. If a strike is detected cross their eye's hard and fast.

Learning to flip may be a little difficult. Do a search and read all you can One of the best pro flippers is Denny Bauer. He has some good instructional videos about flipping.

Flipping is a big fish method that can be used year round in the South and has won a lot of tournaments from stained or muddy water. Fish2win

[Rebbasser]

Hunter, I was in that same boat for a long time with the jig. Didn't have any confidence in it, but then I finally caught that first one and now I have a lot of confidence in it. I use primarily 2 colors, black/blue and watermelon. For the pig part it depends on the water temp. This time of year I like a trailer with a lot of appendages like a brush hog. I use the bottom half and just thread it on the hook. In the fall and spring when the water is 50 to 75 or so I like a Zoom chunk and below 50 I use real pork. As far as colors go I match the color to the jig. Watermelon for watermelon, black/blue for black/blue-you get the picture.

I fish these mostly around flooded timber or along real steep rock banks. I throw a jig on braided line-sensitive and I can throw it over a flooded tree and drag it back through. A fish will usually hit on the fall-you want a vertical presentation. Throw it over a branch, pull it up and over and let it fall. This is a great fish catcher.

[basscatcher03]

jig t rig worm mite help

[hunter1]

Thanks for the great advice. I think that might be the problem. I don't know how or what to fish as far as a jig and pig so I don't have the confidence that I should. Also we have alot of weed beds for cover in our lakes and some lakes that is the only cover.

[lizardsrule]

I live in Central Indiana. I fish mostly the central and southern part of the state usually. All the above advice is good. Just think, vibration/rattles/water movement. Plastics, like lizards, zipper worms, even putting a insert rattle into the plastics can help. Cranks can also be good bouncing them off of stumps and rocks. Black, and Green Pumpkin are my preferred colors. As for how to fish a Pig and Jig, fish it the same as you do a texas rigged plastic. The PNJ is also a great Pitching Flipping bait, but the places I think it really excells is in the heaviest, nastiest stuff you can find. Just throw it in there, but the fish will usually not hold on for long to a PNJ, so a fast hookset is the most important part of fishing it IMO. Also, just because the water is stained on top, doesnt mean it is 4 feet down. Also in those weedbeds(man I love weeds my favorite cover) use a carolina rig or mojo rig and drag it through the weeds with your favorite plastic. The c-rig makes noise, and will attrack the fish to the area, then they will see your bait. Right now at this time of year, with all the heat we've had, the fish are glued to cover, and or deeper water. Use topwater, early and late, and smaller baits extremely tight to cover.

Lizards

[Curado]

Get a big black jig and flip tight to stumps. And a black spinnerbait with colorado blades or one big colorado.

[KH.]

use a green tube whieghtless,lett it sink and just keep twitchin it'or use the spinnerbait

[basscatcher03]

try a a motor color tiki stick t rigged

[bassthumb32]

i fish a lake that is murky and muddy all year long a.k.a. the sh!#tank. if you saw it you would know why. i flip jigs and brushhogs a lot. but i run a buzzbait in the shallows and have real good luck.