Drop shot it muddy water?

[juicebass]

Hey guys,

 

My local fishery has some muddy/murky water. I’ve done well catching swallies in the spring- catching them on rocky flats and boulders near vegetation. I can catch em good on search baits such as cranks-chatter-spinner baits and tubes in 6-10 foot. However once summer comes along the fish are gone from the shallow flats and I have a hard time catching.

 

I’ve never drop shot before but would love to try and learn this technique for this up coming summer.

 

My fishery has depths up to 35-40 feet, I imagine trying to catch em that deep would be on drop shot, however I’m not sure how well it’ll work in muddy water? Seeing as how it’s a very small and finess type presentation, would it not be ideal in dirty water?

 

Any tips and insight would be great, also general drop shot tips would be great. I have a Garmin with the works (side sonar etc..., so finding structure will be easy) should I look for bait balls? Boulders? Will it be worth it in dirty water?

 

Thanks!

[drscholl14]

Look for rocks or boulders for sure. Smallmouth roam so they will be there and then all of a sudden not, unless you find structure that they are sticking too. If your body of water is really murky drop shotting might be tough. If you do it, I would try to add a rattle or use plastics that will displace a lot of water.

 

I'm a huge fan of Strike King's 5 and 6XD crankbaits. They dive to 15 and 20 feet and smallies and largemouth up here love them. I throw them on deep weed lines or run them over the end of main lake points with good success.

[FishDewd]

Water here is always muddy and dropshot works fine. When I do it I will use either a live or finesse worm on a spinshot hook. I'd recommend spinshot with a light weight leader if you will use it around rocks or sticks. In case the weight snags, just break the weight line and pull free. Its pretty easy to work. Cast and let sit. Every so often jiggle the pole a bit. If no bites in 5 minutes, drag 3 feet in, reel up slack and repeat. Reel in and apply pressure to set the hook.

[eyedabassman]

A drop shot would not be my first choice! A jig, swim jig, under spin, or any paddle tail swimbait, deep cranks like the Dredger!  Chatterbait, Rat L trap! I would be throwing any of these before a drop shot in muddy water!

[Boomstick]

Super muddy water? I would go for a brown colored colorado bladed spinnerbait first. If it's not so muddy, chartreuse will do. Also chatterbaits, paddletail swimbaits with underspins, rattle traps, etc will do nicely.

 

Drop shots are generally for clear waters. However I have seen several lakes that are muddier in the shallow areas and the deeper areas are a little clearer, so you could still drop shot there if your lake is similar.

[Ktho]

Guys at Clear Lake smash fish on the drop shot even when water is 2ft vis. One of the lakes near me is basically always 1-3ft vis and drop shot does great as well. Only bait changes I'd make is using a little bit larger. 7" straight tail worm instead of 4" and 5", a 5" senko is becoming really popular as a drop shot bait in my friend circle as well. 

 

Drop shot does excel for me in 30ft+ water but jigs, neko, ned, etc. basically any normal bottom contact bait can be fished as deep as you want. 

 

 

[papajoe222]

Depends on what you consider muddy and if the water clarity improves or worsens with increased depth. Two ft. visibility is the lowest I’d go for drop shot. 

I would imagine that the water would clear up a bit as you move into summer, so give it a shot then, especially if you’re sure the fish are there and other presentations aren’t producing. 

[Montanaro]

Woah woah woah guys.  We all know that there are no rules in fishing.

 

Ive caught numerous bass on dropshot in chocolate milk before!  Chartreuse tip roboworm cast to laydowns.  Bass are tight to cover and they will notice a worm floating by especially during post front conditions.

[papajoe222]

Montanaro, I'm betting you were familiar with the cover you were fishing otherwise you wouldn't know where the laydowns were.  Juice is asking about targeting deep, muddy water that he's unfamiliar with.  It's all but impossible to target specific cover under those conditions. BTW, there are plenty of rules in fishing. The fish just don't always follow the rules.

[All Day Fishing]

Add a power spinner, maybe a Colorado on a worm for deep muddy water.  Maybe even Carolina rig it with the bead/clacker with power spinner on your bait too.  Might have to try this myself haha.  Just an idea

[Turkey sandwich]

In visibility under 3', I wouldn't rush to fish drop shots, and adding any sort of spinning or blade element, to me, sounds like a pretty high risk of tangling every cast.  If anyone has a way to do this without the mess, I'd be very curious and interested in hearing about it.  Personally, I feel like under most conditions, changing baits and slowing downs going to lead to a lot more frustration than success. Have you considered that your issue might be primarily locating the fish?  

 

Generally in those conditions, I want something big and loud that I can search with. A heavy spinnerbait or chatter bait I can slow roll at any depth is probably my first choice.  I've never fished an A-rig for anything other than stripers, but I wouldn't be opposed to throwing it.  Larger crankbaits that can get deep fast are probably also top of my list.  Smallmouth are primarily sight feeders, and in my experience they get exponentially more frustrating the worse water clarity gets.

 

Smallmouth are also frustrating in that they can move.  A lot.  What kind of lake are you fishing?  How big is it?  Have you mapped the structure adjacent to the spawning flats that you're finding them on in the spring?  

[Montanaro]

8 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

Montanaro, I'm betting you were familiar with the cover you were fishing otherwise you wouldn't know where the laydowns were.  Juice is asking about targeting deep, muddy water that he's unfamiliar with.  It's all but impossible to target specific cover under those conditions. BTW, there are plenty of rules in fishing. The fish just don't always follow the rules.

 

He has a garmin and the laydowns were above surface.  You can drag a dropshot like a carolina rig to find cover as well. 

 

Just saying it is doable but like mentioned by someone else it isnt my first option.

[juicebass]

On 2018-03-17 at 4:42 AM, Turkey sandwich said:

In visibility under 3', I wouldn't rush to fish drop shots, and adding any sort of spinning or blade element, to me, sounds like a pretty high risk of tangling every cast.  If anyone has a way to do this without the mess, I'd be very curious and interested in hearing about it.  Personally, I feel like under most conditions, changing baits and slowing downs going to lead to a lot more frustration than success. Have you considered that your issue might be primarily locating the fish?  

 

Generally in those conditions, I want something big and loud that I can search with. A heavy spinnerbait or chatter bait I can slow roll at any depth is probably my first choice.  I've never fished an A-rig for anything other than stripers, but I wouldn't be opposed to throwing it.  Larger crankbaits that can get deep fast are probably also top of my list.  Smallmouth are primarily sight feeders, and in my experience they get exponentially more frustrating the worse water clarity gets.

 

Smallmouth are also frustrating in that they can move.  A lot.  What kind of lake are you fishing?  How big is it?  Have you mapped the structure adjacent to the spawning flats that you're finding them on in the spring?  

It’s a big river system in montreal Canada. There is another section of the river that has clear water so I’ll be trying to learn drop shot there first.

 

But I mostly find the smallies in the muddy water. It’s pretty d**n dirty  about 6 inches to 1 foot visibility. There’s some great structure besides the flats I wanna try. There’s also the channel about 30-40 feet. There’s humps and sattles off the channel with about 20 feet deep. I’m certain that’s where my bass are heading once off the flats!

i just wanted to know in advance if I should bother trying to catch them that deep when the water is muddy.

 

hopefully I can find them in the clear water to learn. But if I can graph them in the muddy water I definitely think there’s more numbers of fish there...

 

the clear water doesnt have as much structure other other than the channel...

 

i feel like running chatter and spinnerbaits in 30 feet is something that might be tough... but I guess I’ll give that a shot as well!