Muddy Waters

[TBone66]

hey, im new to this forum and i pretty excited to talk with ya'll

There is a small farm pond down the road that i like to fish and it has some quality fish in it but there is one problem, the water is pretty muddy and i can't seem to get a whole lot of bites from the bass. I know there are fish in it from summers past. Any suggestions?

[aikenyounggun]

pond=wacky worm......... all i got to say, most of the water around me is dirty, and the #1 pond lure for me is a wacky worm..........

throw that first and i bet you can catch some fish........after you get bored catchin smaller fish, go throw some other stuff (not sayin it wont catch big fish, but it will catch a lot of small fish.... i caught a 6.5 lber out of a pond on a wacky worm)

[TBone66]

Thanks, i will try that next time i fish

[MississippiBoy]

If the water is really muddy, like 6" or less visibility, the fish will be REALLY close to cover. Somebody on here explained it this way: if you're put in the middle of a dark room, what's the first thing you do? You find a wall to give you some form of reference. Bass will do the same thing...they're be just about touching the stumps, laydowns, or whatever other cover there is. So throw your lure right against any cover, and let it bump into stuff on the retrieve.

[Rebbasser]

That was me, Mississippi

Welcome to the forum!

When fishing muddy water think noise/vibration/moving water. If bass can't see the bait they rely on their other senses like their lateral line to find their prey. My go-to is a spinnerbait with a big, single Colorado blade. I also like a wide wobbling crankbait, a noisy lipless crankbait like a Rat-L-Trap or a big, bulky jig which moves a lot of water.

[Bubba_Bruiser]

+1 to the Reb - Black and blues tend to be good colors in Wonka water.

[MississippiBoy]

Originally Posted by Rebbasser

That was me, Mississippi

If I'd remembered, I'd've given you credit. Thanks.

[nofearengineer]

First, we must determine if the muddy water is light or dark. <dodges bullets>

[JB]

bang bang lol

also keep in mind like bryce an I saw sat.

is the mud line from the surface to the bottom
or its just a foot or so from the surface.

Often times bass will located in a few feet of mud just near the clear water looking for the ambush.
If theres a ton of rain and creeks filling the lake, I am sure most of the water is mud for a long way down. The boat traffic sat was so active that by mid day the mud banks had a mud line that went out to the lake maybe 50 feet, but as the boat went through it as we fished, you could see clearer water just a foot or so under the surface...each scenerio is dif. As mississippiBoy commented, most times fish close to cover if its really muddy.

[BigBassin144]

What do you mean by muddy water. on Lake Hudson in MI, there's normally 6-8" of vis. Although it has seemed to be clearing up a bit lately, up to about a foot and half vis. Then you've got muddy water like JB said where you can actually see where the muddy water is and there is a distinct line btw it and the clear water.

Anyways, we do great in there with white and chartreuse double colorado booyah spinnerbaits, which we can't seem to find any more... In the second senario, which I haven't fished very often, I'd throw a spinnerbait along the outside of the muddy area. Or do the same thing with a crankbait. Because in that instance, the bass will probably be in the muddy water waiting to ambush prey.


BB

[Willvdh1]

What about a dark colored shallow crank?

[Bassboss]

Try a black, fire tiger, chartreuse, or orange spinnerbait with one big colorado blade! Works really good in muddy water! You can also try a rattle trap, or some kind of lipless crank! Make sure that when you're using a spinnerbait, use a slow-ish restive, it'll give the fish time to find the bait, and eat it! At dawn, dusk, or when it's cloudy, use a jitter bug!

[TBone66]

Thanks for the tips. But i can't seem to figure out why the pond is so muddy. There isn't a whole lot of run off becuase it is at the top of a hill and it is in the middle of a sod field so there is no run off. I know for sure there are a lot of big catfish in there. The pond is 3/4 of an acre and we pull catfish out of there that average between 6-10 pounds. Is it possible that the catfish are the ones stirring up all the mud?

[bamabassman]

YES! catfish will tear it up pal. they will be sloshing around quit a bit. and welcome to the house of nuts. kick off yer shoes and be careful with yer drinks...ya just might fry yer puter with a spit up. soome of us are darn near crazy and will make you spit out your drink,lol.

[TBone66]

Thats what i thought. The pond is owned by my cousins. His dad and my grandpa used to raise catfish years ago till they reached a little over a pound then let them loose and would fish them all summer long. Well what happened was for years only a couple of people would fish the pond only a couple of times a year. The catfish just got bigger and bigger and bigger. Now they are huge for the size of the pond they are living in!

[bamabassman]

time to cull em out ya think? personally i hate catfishing, catfish anything, lol. but a lot of folks like em. take out as many as you can.

[TBone66]

He plans on digging out this pond like he did his other one sometime in the next 2 years. I am curious to see what is sitting at the bottom of the pond!

[Bubba_Bruiser]

TBone, living in south MS and seeing a catfish pond in every field. The catfish are more than likely the reason for the wonka pond. They are all alike.

[bassFishingWNY]

Was it always muddy? The reason I ask is you said it was high on a hill. From logging, I found out hills perk, muddier at the top. It nature, I think the sun pulls the water up, just like perking coffee.
Bullhead rut up the bottom looking for food, catfish not so much.

Just me 2 cents! But what do I know?

[TBone66]

no it hasn't been this muddy in the past or at least not in the time i've been fishing there. In fact 3 summers ago the pond was so clear, in some spots you could see the bottom. But just in the last year or so the mud has been stirred up and the visibility has been horrible. It is probably only a few inches.

[CCbass]

Please people just fish, bass are bass and we know how to fish for them by now. If we can rule the world and bass can still out smart us as humans, it is a sad day.