Fish Often Enough, and It's Bound to Happen: Muddy Water

Let's face it: The inflow of sediment into an otherwise pristine paradise can ruin the perfect trip. As one angler I read about put it, "Chocolate milk, brown gravy and molasses are all fine on the breakfast table, but they can turn a fisherman's stomach upside down when describing his favorite fishing spot being overrun with dirty water. Especially during spring, rainy tournaments can go from a blowout to a washout in just one evening."

To catch bass under these conditions, it's important to understand that they use three major senses to locate and attack their food. Those senses are scent, the lateral line, and sight. While the lateral line often has been thought of as the primary way bass locate prey, more recent studies have shown this may not be the case. These later tests have shown that bass feed first and foremost by sight, then scent, then feel. Except in the worst conditions, bass use their lateral line last.

In clear to stained water, bass feed primarily by sight. Muddy water, though, puts them in a negative mood. The reason is simple: They no longer can count on their vision to locate prey. As a result, they must depend on their lateral line. Because muddy water prohibits light penetration, the bass tend to move to shallower water because it's the warmest, especially in cooler weather. Since they can't count on their vision to keep them safe, they stop roaming and draw tight to cover.

The fisherman's challenge is to find the shallower water with the best cover, and you'll have a good chance of locating the fish. There are three keys to effective lure selection for muddy water: vibration, noise and water displacement. A lure with any of these characteristics should prove successful.

Single Colorado-blade (the larger, the better) spinnerbaits, a rattletrap, a big, wide wobbling crankbait, or a rattling flipping jig with a chunk trailer are all good choices in muddy water. Fish them slowly and as tight to cover as you can get. The bass won't chase them very far. The best muddy-water color, by far, is chartreuse.

In early spring, as well as late fall and winter, when faced with cold muddy water, look for warm-water discharge areas or steam plants. The water here can be as much as 25 degrees warmer than surrounding water. These areas can pay off big time.

For example, one year in the dead of winter, with a water temp of 37 degrees, an angler and some of his buddies found a warm-water discharge area off the main lake with timber in it, and the water temp read 46 degrees. While most of the tournament boats were fishing deeper channels and main-lake points, these five boats stayed put in this warm-water area and finished as the top five teams.

As they encouraged, "Next time you're faced with muddy, or cold and muddy-water conditions, don't throw in the towel and write it off as bad. Instead, go for it with gusto. Tough? Yes. Impossible? Not by any stretch of the imagination."