Clear Water Experts...

[bucketmouthbeatdown]

I live in Northern Michigan....Ultra Clear water....chatterbaits, jerkbaits, swimbaits, jigs....I am wondering what sizes, lures/brands and or what works best? Trying to up my game and I don't know if these work for my area.

[aceman387]

I fish a lot of ultra clear strip pits and my favorite lure is a wacky rigged watermelon yum dinger in the 4" size and the yamamoto shad shape worm texas rigged weightless. I also like throwing a 3' watermelon grub on a 1/8 jig head and swim it back to my kayak. I also do a lot of drop shotting with robo worms,centipedes,shad shape worm etc. A kayak is superb in gin clear water.

[Bankbeater]

I fish a lot of clear water, but it has a lot of weeds in it.  I like 3/8 and smaller sized jigs, natural colored plastics, and cranks. 

[mjseverson24]

I fish a lot of clear water lakes in MN which should be relatively similar to the lakes you are fishing... If the lakes has quite a bit if weeds, this is where i spend most of my time, I find the inside weed edge in spring and cast reaction baits like spinners/ squarebills, typically i match the hatch with size and color so either a bluegill/perch or a shiner pattern works well in these lakes, my most productive techniques in clear water is the dropshot with a senko or finesse worm, or a 1/4 to 3/8 oz jig in watermelon or green pumpkin with a flash of color, red and blue seem to work well. later in the year find the outside weed edge and jig/dropshot works great here as well as a deep crank or spinnerbait. in super clear water finesse seems to be the ticket... if your lakes have a lot of rocks, crankbaits/football jigs/shakeyhead, and the C-rig produce very well for me, also jerkbaits work great in grass lakes and rock lakes... hope this helps some...

 

Mitch

[Bluebasser86]

Generally smaller baits work well in clear water, especially if the fish receive much pressure. Natural colors are usually best but if you have smallmouths don't be afraid to use bright chartreuse, something about it drives clear water smallmouths nuts at times. 

[michang5]

Shallow, extremely clear creek that I fish at (with 4-6' depth) has been very productive with wacky Zoom finesse worms and nose-hooked Zoom tiny flukes. Both in watermelon red flake. Both weightless using small (smaller than 1/0) drop-shot hooks.

[WRB]

KVD comes to mind when discussing upper MI. When KVD first hit the tournament trail he used 2 lure types, spinnerbaits and jerk baits.

Tom

[frogflogger]

Good advice given - another thought -  I love to throw big topwaters in ultra clear water - large dog-walking baits and some wakes will bring big sm's up from deep water if it's clear.

[Swampstud]

Roboworm, rage craw, and jig n craw. Those are a few i hadluck with on a lake with 22ft clarity. On clear lakes the weeds grow much deeper, in my partivular lake 19ft max!

[RoLo]

In crystal-clear water, faster and smaller is good but noise is unnecessary,

I'd lose the chatterbaits but the other 3 would be great.

 

Roger

[Raul]

Here goes Raúl, aka The Master Denier of Fishing Advice, again there' s 4 small lakes and numerous ponds a stone cast from my home, the water in them is not clear, is súper extra crystal clear, what do I use ? There are days that I have to fish with itsy bitsy teeny tiny baits, hair thin line and UL gear. But, there are days that I fish with macho sized worms, macho size spinnerbaits, large crank, etc, in o their words, manly stuff. So, the detail here is that it's pretty much half and half, the detail is that only after hammering the water I can determine with what, if it's going to be itsy bitsy or the manly stuff. To answer your question, you gotta try with both approaches.

[roadwarrior]

I fish gin clear water at Bull Shoals Lake a few times every summer.

The most success I have had was targeting smallmouth with jerkbaits

and Baby Diaper Yellow Gitzits.

[CWB]

I think Tom's post was pretty good. The reason being fast moving or erratic baits will not give the fish much time to look at the bait and think about it. Can't help with smallmouth though. Not too many of them in Northern Ill. Try skipping baits up under docks or pontoon boats if there are any. As shallow as a foot or two. You'll be surprised. Anything thats non-translucent works well for this. Senko type baits, tubes, Ikas all work.

[hookset on 3]

I fish a lot of clear water lakes in MN which should be relatively similar to the lakes you are fishing... If the lakes has quite a bit if weeds, this is where i spend most of my time, I find the inside weed edge in spring and cast reaction baits like spinners/ squarebills, typically i match the hatch with size and color so either a bluegill/perch or a shiner pattern works well in these lakes, my most productive techniques in clear water is the dropshot with a senko or finesse worm, or a 1/4 to 3/8 oz jig in watermelon or green pumpkin with a flash of color, red and blue seem to work well. later in the year find the outside weed edge and jig/dropshot works great here as well as a deep crank or spinnerbait. in super clear water finesse seems to be the ticket... if your lakes have a lot of rocks, crankbaits/football jigs/shakeyhead, and the C-rig produce very well for me, also jerkbaits work great in grass lakes and rock lakes... hope this helps some...

 

Mitch

 

 

Mitch, that's an outstanding post about clear water fishing up North.

 

Bookmark this one!

[WRB]

What you call gin clear water varies from region to region and the type of bass is very important.

Gin clear to me is you can see the bottom clearly at 25'. Even when the water is gin clear the bass blend into the environment, otherwise they would starve. We can't see the bass easily, they can see us, our line and lures,make longer casts, keep,a lower profile and use more stealth approach to your fishing presentations.

Tom

[iceintheveins]

Spinnerbaits still work in clear waters, especially in more neutral colors and when there is chop on the water, or overcast skies. Mostly just go with the most natural colors you can and most standard bass baits should get bit. Go with fluorocarbon or a fluorocarbon leader too. Subtle presentations like senkos, tubes, drop shotting, and the like are really good under calm blue skies.

[ClackerBuzz]

I fish gin clear water at Bull Shoals Lake a few times every summer.

The most success I have had was targeting smallmouth with jerkbaits

and Baby Diaper Yellow Gitzits.

i've seen you mention baby diaper color before kent. are you still getting them online?

[RoLo]

I've known a few "Clear Water Experts", but you can see-through all of them