Scenario - How would you fish it?

[GReb]

In the never ending quest of becoming a more consistent, well rounded angler how would you have fished the following scenaro?  (hint: we got skunked!!)

 

Ross Barnett Reservoir, Jackson MS

Outside temp - 55 degrees

Water temp - 57

Clarity - 6-8 inches

Very cloudy with no sun

Wind - 5-10 mph out of the NW

 

Situation - The area has experienced a lot of rain in the last week or two especially north MS.  The state opened all the dams and the water level is about 3 feet below normal throughout the entire lake.  Cold front and more rain moving in overnight.  Before the water dropped bass were moving into the spawning flats in 0-3 foot of water.  Today those areas are dried up and you couldn't get a boat within 100 yards of them.  

 

What we did - We started on the outskirts of the spawning flats in 4-7 feet of water throwing crankbaits, lipless crankbaits, chatterbaits, and spinnerbaits.  Covered a good bit of water.  Lot of stumps throughout it.  Graphs weren't showing much activity besides pockets of crappie.  The river channel was about 15 feet deep but was lined with several hundred crappie boats which is normal.  After several hours we decided to move towards a nearby bridge and hwy where we ran down several hundred yards of rip rap.  Then into a marina with 8 ft of water.  Tried slowing down with a worm.  No luck.  Not even a single bite in 5 hours.  We talked to several boats with the same misfortune.  One guy did catch a couple of small males but none were keepers.  

 

What would you have done to increase your odds in this situation?  Go up river several miles?  Or go towards the dam that was wide open?  It's worth noting that this isn't a normal occurrence, at least I've never seen it this low.

[Bluebasser86]

So muddy, rapidly dropping, cooling water during a cold front?

 

I'd stay home.

 

If I was going no matter what, I'd have thrown a big bladed spinnerbait, dark colored bladed jig, and flipped a dark colored jig at any visible cover and probably had similar results. Conditions like those are just hard to get bit in. Too many changes happening too fast probably just shut them down completely for a few days until the acclimate. 

[Glaucus]

The answer to every tough fishing condition is the Ned Rig. 

[scaleface]

 Sounds a lot like my home lake during the spring . I would  start out  fishing shallow cover on steep banks . Jigs and spinnerbaits would be the first lures tried and then play it by ear .I like to head up one of the rivers or creeks looking for clearer water  . I would  actually get on Facebook and ask where the clearest water is .

[FishDewd]

[Jamie68]

I have never fished any dammed lakes so I'm not very experienced in this,  but I would go to the dam,  because the added current would stir up the silt on the bottom more than usual.  

[Boomstick]

So if I understand this right, you got out there before the temperature dropped? In that case, you probably did everything right. The one other thing I may have tried is hopping a jig off of the bottom if I wasn't getting them on moving baits.