Fishing a small lake

[bma3]

Fished a small lake today with muddy water because of the rain in my area this past week and couldn't find any success. Threw a wacky rig, texas rig, black and blue jig, and a crankbait but had no bites. The grass in the water made it hard for the crankbait but otherwise couldn't find the problem. I fished a fallen tree, a small point, and just random areas along the bank that I thought looked good. Any suggestions? Thanks!

[flyingmonkie]

Cold muddy water?  Not many fishing conditions harder than that.  Stay slow, tight to cover, and using something that the fish can hear, feel, or see. 

 

My suggestion is to not let it get to you and go back later when the water clears up some.

[WRB]

Your problem may have more to do with location than water color. What regional area are you located in?

Tom

[mixel]

It's been cold and muddy since November in California. We had record rainfall and snowfall in January and lakes and streams have risen at incredible rates. Water is so muddy, you can't see your lure beyond 6-8".

 

I've been fishing a few times and thrown everything from top water to bottom jigging without a single bite. Been going with loudest, most water disrupting, brightest lures, and the whole spectrum to black, and not a bite to be had. Been fishing slow and steady too. Fish are deep, not active, and probably not able to see lures very well. I really wonder how good this spring is going to be because once the huge amounts of snow melts in April and May, it's going to bring even more debris on top of all the trees, logs, rocks, and other junk that has already washed into the lower lakes and streams. One local lake looks something similar to this in the coves.

[scaleface]

High muddy water is a challenge   The places that were good when the lake was low and clear still hold fish . Try shallow flooded points , fish slow and tight to cover . Floating debris in the cuts on bluffs or any banks for that matter , can be productive . Boat ramps have been good to me in these conditions .

["hamma"]

think loud, like rattles on that jig, a rattling chartruese squarebill slowly reeled in, a single bladed colorado spinnerbait, again reeled in slowly etc. 

 Not knowing where you live, leaves alot to the imagination.

 But nonetheless, cold muddy water is a tough bill. Diligence, skill, and ability will be needed to produce

[bma3]

8 hours ago, mixel said:

It's been cold and muddy since November in California. We had record rainfall and snowfall in January and lakes and streams have risen at incredible rates. Water is so muddy, you can't see your lure beyond 6-8".

 

I've been fishing a few times and thrown everything from top water to bottom jigging without a single bite. Been going with loudest, most water disrupting, brightest lures, and the whole spectrum to black, and not a bite to be had. Been fishing slow and steady too. Fish are deep, not active, and probably not able to see lures very well. I really wonder how good this spring is going to be because once the huge amounts of snow melts in April and May, it's going to bring even more debris on top of all the trees, logs, rocks, and other junk that has already washed into the lower lakes and streams. One local lake looks something similar to this in the coves.

 

 

I'm in California as well and been doing the same. Been a tough time of year. My local lake looks identical in the back areas and coves. 

9 hours ago, WRB said:

Your problem may have more to do with location than water color. What regional area are you located in?

Tom

 

I'm in NorCal

[mixel]

and I'm in CenCal.

 

You can't even cast close to the debris piles because there is a subsurface layer of debris floating in the water column waiting to snag any lure you throw. All kinds of branches, twigs and junk from creeks that have been dry for 10+ years. I would like to take a kelp cutter boat from the ocean and go scoop all that debris. Branches and logs floating in the middle of the lakes too as the current slowly moves them to the coves opposite the creeks dumping in.

 

This spring I figured spawn might be all time conditions if the water level and clarity stabilizes. But a lot more rain is coming already (5 straight days this week!), and the snow melt in spring is going to be ludicrous, which means they'll be letting a lot of water out of the dams as new water starts to come in from the high Sierras. So I expect the water to fluctuate quite a bit all the way into summer.

[papajoe222]

Rising, muddy, cold water makes for extremely tough fishing. The first thing to accept is that the bites will be few. The second is that you need to approach these conditions similar to other tough conditions such as a cold front.  Slowing down and making precise presentations will help considerably.  Finding where the fish are goes without saying. Newly flooded cover and deeper water offer the fish the most security. Then it's just a matter of offering them something within that window of security. IMO, fish don't chase down noisy presentations, or those baits that move a lot of water under tough conditions. Those baits do work if presented in close proximity to their place of security. If you accept that logic, the reason they work is because of where they are presented and not what they are. 

The upside to this is the fact that you can get much closer to the fish under those conditions and precise presentations are less difficult. 

[lo n slo]

may need to let things stabilize some

[jr231]

Every time im fishing high muddy water. I give a shad rap a try. I like yellow perch cuz it has some flash. I had an awesome day last year in high muddy water with a shad rap. 

 

It's worth a try. They're killer on all kinds of species in all types of water. And a good price point too. 

[JustJames]

I thought you are talking about my home lake here in Socal lol. I face the same as your guys in Canyon Lake. It has been since the last rain and I havent get a single bite. I talked to tube and kayak guys, they are doing okay but that only 3-4 fishes for 4-5 hours around dock area where I cannot access without boat. The fish still stay in deep 15' of water. The fish caught most were pretty pale in color.

Im going to finish up my boat and register next week so I can get some action.

[bma3]

1 minute ago, JustJames said:

I thought you are talking about my home lake here in Socal lol. I face the same as your guys in Canyon Lake. It has been since the last rain and I havent get a single bite. I talked to tube and kayak guys, they are doing okay but that only 3-4 fishes for 4-5 hours around dock area where I cannot access without boat. The fish still stay in deep 15' of water. The fish caught most were pretty pale in color.

Im going to finish up my boat and register next week so I can get some action.

 

Yeah, California has been rough lately. We have been getting big storms up here in NorCal this week which has slowed fishing a lot.