hpugh1968

if you know that they eat in a lake, matching the hatch is the way to go with clear water... always!!! consider when your fishery starts to get more stained (or muddy)... your water column you will be fishing will change with excessive stain moving to what we call chocolate milk (muddy)... the closer you get to "muddy" the shallower the fish will be and in most cases, the tighter to cover the fish will be... at that point, i use Chart/black or solid black with a good rattle... in "stained (1-2 ft visibility), i still like chart/black back but also i will try homer, citrus shad, and if it is more towards that 2 ft, i will even opt to the fire tiger... Either way... with visibility falling towards the muddy spectrum, it is never a bad idea to use a bait with a rattle or even opt to flat sided baits that push a lot of water. if that doesn't work for me... i try these same bait colors in a larger size to prompt a bigger presence and larger profile... if that doesn't work, i abandon crank baits all together and opt for a bigger / slower presentation... large profile soft plastics or bigger swim baits... I fish southern lakes in the Mississippi delta, and the above tips always work for me...

I have had better luck with Red Bug and June Bug in muddy water and late late afternoon and night fishing. It can produce in pretty much any condition but those are the more prominent conditions. If the water is more to the stained side than muddy i choose red bug, coffee with cream colored water (ultra low visibility), i go to the june bug color. Bass, in muddy water, tend to react to noise and vibration, but visibility on the pursuit will lead to more hookups... red bug and june bug produce the flash and darker profile to make the bait more visible in the stained / muddy conditions. And it is my go to for fishing after dark.

i base hook size on the girth of the bait instead of the length. For creature baits that are bulky, i use a 5/0. a 7.5 in. Culprit worm 3/0 paca craw baby craw 1/0... I want enough of the hook arch exposed on the back side of the bait to penetrate the bait itself for a good hook set... I like to use as small as i can to make it as weedless as possible, but i had rather hang up than go too small and hamper my ability to get a good hook set...