First tournament. Muddy water. Help

[jcw1503]

I am fishing my first tournament this thursday. The water is muddy and i have only fished it once. Water temp. I am expecting to be from 50 to maybe 55. the fishing partner and i caught some off of points the other day on traps but i am asking for any other suggestions. Any advice would be appreciated.

[dash4cash]

Is this a river or a lake? The only reason I ask is that the water may clear faster in a lake than a river. Sounds like you have a few things figured out already, working the points with rattle baits is a good idea. Also check the backs of the points or bays for clearer water, water temp won't make a difference as the bass should be moving up, but the muddy conditions may have them holding tight to cover, check areas close to spawning flats, if the fish are not there, drop back to the first major break with protection from the current. Rattle baits, black & blue 1/4 to 3/8 ounce jigs, and blue back silver sides Rapala husky jerk are great baits. Hope some of this will help.

Carl

[BassinNC]

I was going to say try that but anything that puts of a lot of sound or vibration should work fine. Chatter baits, spinner bait, rattle traps.

[CamG]

Traps would be my first choice, however if you can find some isolated cover it's hard to beat a jig in that situation. Also you may try a big bladed spinnerbait in black or chart.

[Bassboss]

I'd also definitely try slow rolling a 1/2oz black with a little bit of yellow and a black nickle or gold Colorado blade experiment with blade sizes, until you start catching 'em! But if you're catching them on traps, USE IT!! Also try a 6", or 7" senko wacky rigged with chartreuse dyed tips. Get some JJ's magic to dye it and add sent. Also get some rattles and stick them in there!

[aikenyounggun]

Hey JCW, where you fishin? I fished clarks hill last saturday for a tournament and I can tell you how a lot of the people were catchin them, just PM me. But yeah a rattle-trap or crankbait. Muddy water isnt a huge deal, dont let it worry you. Fish are still there.

[screwballl]

Loud, dark (black, very dark colors) and bright (white, yellow) is the best bet... cranks, noisy spinners, poppers, anything that makes decent noise.

[MississippiBoy]

In really muddy water, they'll be very tight to cover. Think of it this way...if you're put into a perfectly dark room, what's the first thing you do? You wander around till you find a wall, giving you a point of reference.
Bass will do the same thing. Try something like a 1/2 or 3/4 ounce black spinnerbait with a single big Colorado blade and bounce it off every stump, stickup, rock, or dock piling you can find.

[bassintom]

I'd start with a rattletrap. If that didn't get results try everything else.

[jcw1503]

Thanks for all the advice today is the day. It starts at 6 this afternoon. I hear its a tough lake most of the time 2 or 3 14 inch fish win it. Wish me luck will let you guys know how it turns out.

[screwballl]

6PM? So then it will start at dusk which should be decent fishing. Start with the light colored and loud shallow lures. Then as it gets dark switch to the dark colors and start working deeper. Looks like you will have to rely on your fishfinder a lot to determine weedlines so make sure you work them slow as some may still be in the winter mood.

[CamG]

Originally Posted by jcw1503

Thanks for all the advice today is the day. It starts at 6 this afternoon. I hear its a tough lake most of the time 2 or 3 14 inch fish win it. Wish me luck will let you guys know how it turns out.

If that's all it takes to win, stick with the trap!

[MallenManson]

Wonder how he's doin?

[jcw1503]

Well it wasnt a good tournament. First off we drew numbers for take off. So i was being nice and letting other people idle off the dock to the launch zone. So while i am idling the anouncers says since there is not as many as expected everybody go. So i was the last one out. its a small lake so there are only so many good spots. We had one decent bite all day and it was a 3 or 4 pounder but it came off. Only 3 people weighed fish but the interesting thing is that the way the water is and from the other time i fished here the bass should of been light in color. But these people brought back extremely dark fish. This tournament has been known to have cheaters and i am just saying it makes it look suspicious

[screwballl]

Bring that up with the event organizers quietly. Have them look at pictures of bass previously caught there over the past several years and see if you can ruffle a few feathers. I am the type that wouldn't care if I made a few enemies if it meant the event was changed in the future to always check everyones livewell and other rule changes.

My brother in law actually ran into that last summer, he saw some guys that actually had planted several 3-4 lb bass in water bags along a remote part of the shore. He called back to the dock, talked to the organizer who jumped on his boat and sped over to those guys. He saw the bags along the shore and 6 fish in 2 boats livewells within 30 minutes of the event starting.
Last he heard was they were banned from participating in any events from that association for something like 10 years. They also started checking everyones livewell before launching to make sure they are not starting with any fish.

I wish I had more info about the lake, chapter, club, association but I didn't pay much attention to anything but the fact that guys cheated.

The problem is if you do not speak up and force an investigation, these guys will continue to do it and continue to steal, lie and cheat their way into the money every chance they get. When others see they can cheat too, they get away with it as well.

[jcw1503]

The thing is there was 4 people caught last year cheating and they still do not check livewells. I am thinking about entering other tournaments instead of this one. This one may be closer and cheaper but is it worth competing in 3 hour tournament and having guys cheat. You start off at a complete disadvantage

[rangerryan]

If you think people are cheating dont fish. I had a fishing partner once that thought people were cheating every time we had a bad tourny. But when we won he never mentioned any cheaters. The reality is cheating doesnt happen that often. My partner must have thought he was the best fisherman in our trail and if any one beat him they must have cheated. Dont let it get to you and its better not to say anything but just find a better trail to fish. ive fish a lot of tournys and never thought anyone cheated. The closest thing to cheating that i ever saw was a guy nose his boat with in 5 feet of my boat to flip the same bush i was fishing i never said a word i just kept fishing and jerked a 4lber in the boat right in front of him.

[jcw1503]

I got beat by my wifes cousin. I hate losing but one thing you learn in sports is that you are never the best at everything and mostly anything. I went back today and caught a few and they were all light. my wifes cousin fishes were all clear the other day. However, all of the winners were dark colored. And like i said 4 different people got caught cheating last year. They are really slack on precautions they only check after enough wins and complaints dealing with the same people

[MallenManson]

I've never fished a tourney but always assumed that livewells would be checked at every single one.
I'm seriously amazed that they aren't

[screwballl]

Originally Posted by MallenManson

I've never fished a tourney but always assumed that livewells would be checked at every single one.
I'm seriously amazed that they aren't

no kidding

The conspiracy theorist in me says that the event organizers may be in on it too for a share of the winnings, or at least clueless of what people are really doing...

[Cavs1123]

Ya at the Bassmaster Opens they check everyones livewells before they take off.