Muddy water/partly cloudy or clear skys

[harrisjl]

I ran a search for threads with 'muddy water' in the thread title and got a pretty good idea about where I need to make changes but still have a few questions. The lake I'm fishing after work on week days has been pretty muddy as of late. There are a number of laydowns, a stump field (at least a dozen and looks man made), a man made structure, a spill way, and a few trees in the lake. There is a lot of open water. I had some luck this week. Caught a few small bass on a Carolina rigged green watermelon finese worm pretty close to the bank. I'm fishing from the bank.

This is my current tackle arsenal - http://www.bassfishin.com/bassfishin...9&postcount=16

I haven't had any luck with the crankbait (wasn't playing the structures in the water correctly) or spinnerbait (tandem blades) or surface lures. I've been playing mostly open water (there are quite a few fish hitting the surface on the open water and I did read to play structures tighter). I'm going to pick up a couple of spinners with a single Colorado blade (prolly chartreuse/white, black) I'll try the buzz bait again when I can get out on a weekend morning and try close to the bank and close to structures. From what I read I should use dark colors in overcast skys and bright colors on clear skys.

1. Worm/lizard colors I have - pumpkin with black dots, pumpkin/chartreuse tail, black/blue tail, green/chartreuse tail, Green watermelon with red glitter in it, flouresent light green with red blue and purple glitter in them/chartreuse tail LOL (I'm dying to try the latter on a bright sunny day). Which colors would be best for muddy water on a clear sky vrs. overcast sky??

2. Do surface lures like pop-rs, spooks, torpedos work in muddy water??

3. crankbait (I have Rat-l-traps - chrome blue backs and gold blackbacks) are these okay in muddy water or should I go for a specific color or type??

4. Wut the heck are you guise talking about when you say 'point'

I've only been trying to fish for bass less than a half dozen times so be gentle

[Jim80]

ok man , In muddier water like that I've been using black/chart or junebug yum dingers white with pepper flake has also been working well . advice for the future , from your tackle selection I would upsize your hooks ie, grab a couple packs of 2/0 thru 5/0 for you worms and such . and are you casting straight out from the shore or on a angle along the bank ? if not along the bank give that a shot .

Jim

[doc]

Surface lures work fine, Poppers make plenty of noise to get noticed, your spooks usually have a rattle of some sort in them, and the torpedos also have built in noise.

[zooker]

the thicker the mud the better. i prefure the water color to be just a step below peanut butter.. the fish are very perdicable..

zooker

[lowrider]

i'll take #4...the easy one

a point is where the bank goes out into the lake i.e. a peninsula. it usually means the ground under the water kinda does the same thing. it may slope down gradually for quite a distance and have slightly deeper water to either side of it.

[bamabassman]

don't forget lowrider, the piont also is where the current is in most cases. the bass will be on the back side of the current waiting for the "bait" to drift by for an ambush. throw up current and retrieve down with the current.

[Rebbasser]

Welcome to the forum!

Haven't been on in a while, but I need to get back to my buds!

1. As a rule, I use darker colors in muddy water-green pumpkin, watermelon, etc. However, on real bright days brighter colors like chartreuse can produce-just experiment and see what the fish want.

2&3. Yep. The thing to keep in mind in muddy water is sound/vibration is more important than color. In low visibility bass use their lateral line more than sight to find their prey, so you want to use baits that make noise or move a lot of water like a big, bulky jig.

4. A point is simply a piece of land that sticks out into the water.

[rrw4258]

In muddy water my top baits include:
1. 3/8 to 1/2 ounce black spinnerbait with BIG colorado blade.
2. Wake Baits (ex: Mann's Waker)
3. Topwaters (for muddy water mostly black buzzbaits and poppers)

Like Reb said... bass use their lateral lines more than sight, so get alot of noise and vibration going. Also, make repeated casts to the same structure or area.

Ryan

[Rebbasser]

One other thing: In muddy water especially think contact. Fish will be tight to cover, so try to hit it with your bait. If you are fishing flooded timber it is tough to beatr a square billed crankbait like a Bandit 100 series. The square bill deflects off potential snags and is surprisingly snag free.

[Mac2]

Think bulk as a way of displacing a lot of water......if using a spinnerbait, put a large plastic chunk on the back to cause more commotion as it passes through. Try anything to cause a fuss....wacky rigging thick worms for example will also help......even wacky rigging a plastic lizard or tubes......

[harrisjl]

Thanks for the replies....

Originally Posted by Jim80

ok man , In muddier water like that I've been using black/chart or junebug yum dingers white with pepper flake has also been working well . advice for the future , from your tackle selection I would upsize your hooks ie, grab a couple packs of 2/0 thru 5/0 for you worms and such . and are you casting straight out from the shore or on a angle along the bank ? if not along the bank give that a shot .

Jim

I've been fanning the areas I've been fishing pretty good.... I'll make more of a concentration on the shore and objects in the water tonight and this weekend.... Bigger hooks are on the list

Originally Posted by lowrider

i'll take #4...the easy one

a point is where the bank goes out into the lake i.e. a peninsula. it usually means the ground under the water kinda does the same thing. it may slope down gradually for quite a distance and have slightly deeper water to either side of it.

Originally Posted by bamabassman

don't forget lowrider, the piont also is where the current is in most cases. the bass will be on the back side of the current waiting for the "bait" to drift by for an ambush. throw up current and retrieve down with the current.

That's pretty much what I thought.... Good tip bama.... just like fly fishin'

Originally Posted by Rebbasser

One other thing: In muddy water especially think contact. Fish will be tight to cover, so try to hit it with your bait. If you are fishing flooded timber it is tough to beatr a square billed crankbait like a Bandit 100 series. The square bill deflects off potential snags and is surprisingly snag free.

I'm going to hammer the stumps next trip out LOL I still worry about losing bait.... Is it better to hit the cover during the cast or during the retrieve Or both

Originally Posted by Mac2

Think bulk as a way of displacing a lot of water......if using a spinnerbait, put a large plastic chunk on the back to cause more commotion as it passes through. Try anything to cause a fuss....wacky rigging thick worms for example will also help......even wacky rigging a plastic lizard or tubes......

Haven't tried a wacky rig yet.... and haven't put anything on the tail of a spinner yet either.... will try next trip out

[MississippiBoy]

Don't hit anything with the cast except water. Backlash city if you're using a baitcaster.

[Raul]

Think like a fish and you´ll be a step closer to catching them:

1.- The water is muddy, it means that fish can´t see squat, if you can´t see squat what other senses you have in hand to compensate for the loss of vision ? ( sound, vibration and scent )

2.- The fish can´t see squat, that mean that they can´t say: hey there´s stump there about 20 ft away, they have to be in contact with the surroundings to find that stump and once they´ve found it they don´t wan´t to move too far from it cuz it ain´t easy to find another one if you can´t see it.

So color is important ..... right at the very bottom of the list of bait characteristics ( like vibration, sound and scent ) that you have to choose before color becomes important and then you can choose between dark, hot or flashy.

Being that said which baits you think would do a better job ?

[harrisjl]

Originally Posted by MississippiBoy

Don't hit anything with the cast except water. Backlash city if you're using a baitcaster.

THX....

Originally Posted by Raul

Think like a fish and you´ll be a step closer to catching them:

1.- The water is muddy, it means that fish can´t see squat, if you can´t see squat what other senses you have in hand to compensate for the loss of vision ? ( sound, vibration and scent )

2.- The fish can´t see squat, that mean that they can´t say: hey there´s stump there about 20 ft away, they have to be in contact with the surroundings to find that stump and once they´ve found it they don´t wan´t to move too far from it cuz it ain´t easy to find another one if you can´t see it.

So color is important ..... right at the very bottom of the list of bait characteristics ( like vibration, sound and scent ) that you have to choose before color becomes important and then you can choose between dark, hot or flashy.

Being that said which baits you think would do a better job ?

Well it's sunny and clear today so if the waters still muddy and I'm pretty sure it will be so the game plan is to use a chartreuse/white spinner with one Colorado blade and a chartreuse or red grub on the hook. If that doesn't work I'll try a black spinner with one Colorado blade and a black or red grub on the hook (I think the darker colors are supposed to work better when it's overcast from what I've read) If that doesn't work I'll try a crankbait. Rebbasser suggested a Bandit 100 but I don't have one. Might stop by Wal-mart and see if I can pick one up or something similar. I might throw a buzzbait and see how that does as well....

[Rebbasser]

Is it better to hit the cover during the cast or during the retrieve Or both

Retrieve. Hitting cover on the cast is good for a backlash as stated or more commonly you get hung up.

[Raul]

Don´t put too much emphasis on color, put emphasis where it matters more, which blade you think would be better, a colorado or a cupped colorado ? a plain smooth colorado or a hammered colorado or diamond patterned colorado ? a big sized ( hub cap size ) or a smaller sized blade ?

Tailers are good but which you think would be a better choice: a straight twintail trailer, a G tail grub or a twin tail G ou U tail grub ?

Fish can´t see squat you are trying to attract them by vibration, sound and scent.

Speaking of crankbaits which one you think is better: a fat bait or a thin bait ? rattles or non rattles ?

That´s how this game is played, think like them, become them and you´ll be closer to catch them consistently. Zooker mentioned: the fish are very predictable.. and it is true, it´s easier to catch them in muddy water than in clear water because they can´t see the bait nor can see you, they attack the bait using their other senses and what could have stopped them from attacking the bait ( sight ) is no longer in function.

[harrisjl]

Originally Posted by Raul

Don´t put too much emphasis on color, put emphasis where it matters more, which blade you think would be better, a colorado or a cupped colorado ? a plain smooth colorado or a hammered colorado or diamond patterned colorado ? a big sized ( hub cap size ) or a smaller sized blade ?

Tailers are good but which you think would be a better choice: a straight twintail trailer, a G tail grub or a twin tail G ou U tail grub ?

Fish can´t see squat you are trying to attract them by vibration, sound and scent.

Speaking of crankbaits which one you think is better: a fat bait or a thin bait ? rattles or non rattles ?

That´s how this game is played, think like them, become them and you´ll be closer to catch them consistently. Zooker mentioned: the fish are very predictable.. and it is true, it´s easier to catch them in muddy water than in clear water because they can´t see the bait nor can see you, they attack the bait using their other senses and what could have stopped them from attacking the bait ( sight ) is no longer in function.

The Colorado blades are cupped and chrome, the grubs have one squigly tail, all of my crankbaits are rat-l-traps right now.... rattles would be better.... I also have some baitmate bass attractant (not really sure if it works or not )

[Raul]

I´m not a big fan of scents on fast moving baits like cranks and spinnerbaits, on slow moving baits like jigs and soft plastics I belive it adds to the bait but not to the point where you must use it, if you want to use it, believe it helps and makes a difference I´m the first one to tell you use it, actually I´m not a big fan of scents on anything.

I do use scents on soft plastic swimbaits ( Megastrike ) but not with the intention to "attract" the fish to the bait, I use it as a lubricant so the bait slides through the vegetation better than without it. If it works as an attractant is a matter of what you believe.

Now back on the subject of which baits, ok, colorado cupped blades ---> good, rat-l-traps ---> good, the bait selection is appropiate, now we move to the hairy part, where many people fail, let´s return to: the fish can´t see squat, so how you think your bait has better chances of being hit when you retrieve it ? just remember, the fish are homing upon the bait based on their other senses.

[harrisjl]

Well so far I try several different retrieves each time I fan a section of the lake.... usually slow roll, yo-yo or a steady shallow retrieve (I'm still working on technique).... A lot of people here have said to hit an obstruction during the retrieve if possible.... Several people have said to try the shoreline as well....

[Jim80]

Originally Posted by harrisjl

Well so far I try several different retrieves each time I fan a section of the lake.... usually slow roll, yo-yo or a steady shallow retrieve (I'm still working on technique).... A lot of people here have said to hit an obstruction during the retrieve if possible.... Several people have said to try the shoreline as well....

You just have to keep trying until you find the one that works on that day . don't be afraid to work a area hitting the same spots over and over again like raul said the more you give the fish a chance to find the bait the better off you'll be .

Jim

[lizardsrule]

Raul, I luv you man, it's been awhile, but the advice is till good from south of the border

Listen to this man, he does know what he's talking about, and trying to teach you.

BTW, go get a Chatterbait for this pond, I think it will shine through, and I don't care what color you use either.

Lizards

[harrisjl]

Thanks for the advice

[keithdog]

Boy oh boy, I love the fishing situation you have mentioned with muddy water conditions. And hands down my favorite lure would be a spinnerbait. Say 3/8th to 1/2 oz. size. Single or double gold or silver colorado blades with a white or white/chartruese skirt. I then add a bright yellow or chartruese 4 inch twister grub to the lure. Man, I'll throw that combo all day in those conditions. And like Reb said, stay close to the cover with it. Bang it off a few logs or what have ya, and your in buiseness. I also retrieve just fast enough to keep the spinner working around and through the cover. You don't want to retrieve too fast in muddy water. This time of year as the water is cooling, this lure has always been a killer bait for me in dying lilly pads also.

[kicking bass]

Thanks guys...a very informative thread. I've learned something on my first day here. LOL. If school was this much fun I coulda been a Dr. or something.