Lures For Muddy Waters

[Kyle Mahaffey]

I'm new at fishing in muddy waters. Can't see my bait past 6 inches. So I'm wondering if I just fish with lures that make noise. Any help?

[Bass Junkie]

My first options, depending on the conditions, would be as follows. I don't fish chocolate milk that often, but these would give me the most confidence.

Big jigs

Spinnerbaits

Rattling Square Bills

Buzzbaits

Lipless Cranks

One Knocker Spooks

[Traveler2586]

I'm new at fishing in muddy waters. Can't see my bait past 6 inches. So I'm wondering if I just fish with lures that make noise. Any help?

 

In muddy waters you want lures that put out a lot of vibration, flash, and noise; the bass will be relaying on its lateral line senses rather than sight.  You'll have to put the lure right in front of its face either on a swim-by or a drop.  But look for the cleanest water in the area, Bass will move to areas that offer a better environment.  Also, try both dark and light colors, something with a lot of contrast to the water, i.e. black, purple, white, chartreuse, silver blades, etc.

[papajoe222]

For spinnerbaits, you can't beat a black one with a big Colorado blade and for cranks a fat one with a wide wobble and rattles.  If ypu're target fishing, a jig with a good rattle and a trailer that gives off plenty of vibration would get the nod from me. On a nice, bright day, a double willow spinnerbait waked just under the surface will give off more flash in the water than you'd think which just may be the ticket for fish accustomed to sight feeding.

[GeorgiaBassBros]

I dont fish a single lake with visibility over 8 inches and just about everything works for me at the right time. The fish here really seem to like double color worms (red shad, tequila sunrise, crawdad) and any watermelon variation. 7.5-10 inch ribbon tails seem to work better over trickworm/straight tail. To be honest i havent really ever noticed a huge difference in clear water vs muddy water but around me visibility over 16 inches is clear water

[Skeeter Driver]

In muddy water I have good luck with a rattletrap. Same context as a spinnerbait, you can cover lots of water until you find where they're hanging out.

[Traveler2586]

Remember a Bass eyes are five times more sensitive than our eyes, so even in muddy or off colored water they can see something.  If the muddy water is storm related and therefore not the normal water color, Bass will seek out cleaner water.  Would you stay in a smoke filled room?

If the muddy water is common for the area then the Bass are accustom to it; look for wood cover or some unusual structure the Bass will relate to.

[webertime]

Chatterbait with a LFT Magic Shad. 

Tons of "THUMP"

Good amount of Flash

Moves a significant amount of water

Can mix and match the colors to fine tune the bait to the water clarity (or lack of).

[TNBassin']

All of the baits members have listed are great options. Best colors to use IMO for those baits would be black/black and blue and red. Those colors are very visible in chocolate milk.

[draggin]

I was gonna ask about the colors, would red be a good color in murky water as well.

[Blues19]

The Luck E Strike Trickster Spinnerbait puts off an awesome thump!  In water that dirty I would throw chartreuse or black.

[Traveler2586]

I was gonna ask about the colors, would red be a good color in murky water as well.

 

Here's a good article on this subject.  In a nutshell, "But red is known to disappear in water, because red is the first color in the spectrum to lose light energy as it gets deeper in the water. It doesn’t really become invisible, it fades to black."

 

 

http://www.worldfishingnetwork.com/users/skippermark/blog/-how-bass-see-color-are-bass-seeing-red--281522.aspx

[Bankbeater]

I that type of water I mainly fish darker colors like black, black/blue, black/red, Junebug, and green pumpkin.

[draggin]

thanks for the info