Chocolate Milk

[Koz]

Normally the waters around my house are fairly clear and underwater visibility is about a couple of feet. But a few weeks ago we had a storm and the lake turned to "chocolate milk" with an unbelievable amount of sediment. I'm not kidding when I say that visibility is about one inch. I don't mind fishing in stained water, but this amount of sediment is ridiculous. I imagine most of the fish have migrated to areas with clearer water.

 

It's also been cold with temps in the teens at night and in the 30's and 40's during the day so I haven't been out on my kayak. Water temps are in the upper 40's which is very cold for this area. When I take the dog outside I'll take a few casts off the dock with an A-rig or a spinnerbait with a thumping Colorado blade but I haven't caught anything.

 

But I don't feel left out with not catching anything. There was a local tournament here over the weekend and the winner came in with only 3 fish for 8 pounds. That's brutal.

 

The good news is we're in for a few weeks of temperatures in the 60's, but the bad news is we're expecting rain which may keep me off the lake. And not just rain, but also heavy thunderstorms this week. And when it clears up on Sunday? 13mph winds with gusts to 23 mph. I can't catch a break.

 

This stinks because I have a Bass Nation kayak tournament here on my home lake in mid February. I'm really itching to get out there and fish.

 

[Koz]

Oops - forgot the picture of this mess.

 

[flatcreek]

Going to be tough fishing for a little while longer.get ur red rattletraps ready and chatterbaits ready to rumble lol.

[Blue Raider Bob]

2 hours ago, Koz said:

Oops - forgot the picture of this mess.

 

Your place looks like paradise! Especially when you have clearer water.

[Functional]

my home lake looks like this after a decent rain. Takes 3-5 days to clear up enough to fish it.

 

Only luck I've had is find the feeder creeks and fish the cleanest water you can with the loudest lures your have. Either incredibly shiny, pure white or pure black. Most times I'll just stay home and wait for it to clear up a little. 

[Team9nine]

You must be near me - lol. My local lake is the same way. This is 10 days after the last rainfall. We’ve improved from <1”, now up to about 6” of vis. Almost a complete waste of time with the water this cold (low 40s). Won’t be quite as bad when we finally move back up into the 50s. You’ll want to really search out and find the clearest water you can…then fish tight to the bank or hard cover in shallow water until you can get at least 12” vis or better based on what I’ve experienced. 
 

[TnRiver46]

Saw muddy mixing with clear today 

[flatcreek]

I bet TnRiver46 is throwing a worm in there on that mud line right now 

[TnRiver46]

@flatcreek, didn’t have long today so I tossed the ole Bobby garland. Did try a spoon for a while and caught a rock and two branches , caught 6-8 small fish with the Bobby garland 

[Woody B]

I usually do OK with muddy water.  I don't do good with water that's muddy and cold though.   

[Koz]

10 hours ago, Team9nine said:

You must be near me - lol. My local lake is the same way. This is 10 days after the last rainfall. We’ve improved from <1”, now up to about 6” of vis. Almost a complete waste of time with the water this cold (low 40s). Won’t be quite as bad when we finally move back up into the 50s. You’ll want to really search out and find the clearest water you can…then fish tight to the bank or hard cover in shallow water until you can get at least 12” vis or better based on what I’ve experienced. 
 

 

It's going on two weeks with this thick sediment. I swear I can feel a difference in the in resistance when I reel in a bait.

 

I saw a local fishing report the other day that said IF the bass were biting they were in very shallow water. But now we're in for 4 straight days of rain and heavy thunderstorms for two of them.

 

But that first weekend in February is supposed to have nice weather and with sunny days upcoming and daytime temps in the 60's and even low 70's I'm hoping we get a nice spike in water temperature to get the water back to the mid 50's.

 

Maybe the timing of the bad weather will work out for me. This week I have my nav lights, button lights, and a Yak Power switching system arriving so I'll take the time to get everything wired and installed.

[gim]

@LrgmouthShad has some seriously muddy water on his profile photo. Looks like a pond of vomit, and by god he caught a fish from it too I think.

[Drawdown]

Crawl something black and flappy in stupid shallow rocky banks when the sun gets to beating down in the morning. Ideally one with a gradual slope.

 

Once you pull it over a rock and are about to feel the release from that last tug over the lip, you might have company. It also might be the only bass you catch for the day.

 

Even the bottom suckers are in <2’ of water it seems.

[Pat Brown]

Rattling lipless cranks yo yo/pumped off the bottom or slowly swam just off the bottom have been great in cold muddy shallow water for me this winter.  Seems like the worse the visibility gets, the better they bite the lipless up shallow.

[Choporoz]

Drop something flappy onto hard cover, or right alongside...like touching it.  Some days in the Yoohoo, you literally have to hit them on the head while they are very tight to cover.

[casts_by_fly]

The good news with the dirty water like that is that (1) they warm quicker and (2) when you get clean rain you get those nice lines posted above as a clear place to fish. 

 

If you're in the chocolate stuff, then you've got the lures noted above.  Big colorado blades, black or bright white lures, plastics with some thump, and lipless rattlers.

[FishTax]

I'm also used to clear water and I'd say it was about 4"of visibility this morning. Water temp about 49. I couldn't find them. I think I saw some on electronics but they didn't like what I was throwing, or maybe weren't bass. 

The debris was slightly better then beginning of month, but still a mess. 

[Koz]

It’s amazing that it’s been more than two weeks and there is still less than 1” of visibility. GA Power raised the water level adding more stained water to the pool.

 

The weather has been iffy lately with on and off rain and threats of thunderstorms, so I haven’t been motivated to get out there on my kayak.

 

I’m not alone in that line of thought. Boat traffic on the lake has been nil and the launch parking lots have been empty.

[TnRiver46]

It poured all day here, more chocolate. Get out your graham crackers and marshmallows 

[Pat Brown]

We are super duper chocolate milk right now but that just means more lipless crankbait for a lil bit which should be fun!

[Team9nine]

46 minutes ago, Koz said:

It’s amazing that it’s been more than two weeks and there is still less than 1” of visibility. GA Power raised the water level adding more stained water to the pool.

 

Went to my "worst" muddy lake yesterday to see if things had improved. It has been 17 days since the downpours that had muddied it up to begin with. We did get 1.4" the day before, but it was a steady all day thing, not a gully washer, so I was hoping for the best. Nope - still heavily stained (didn't measure), but from the looks of the trailer when launching, maybe 6" or so. Very non-active fish overall. Managed a dozen crappie, very scattered and nothing grouped up, and no bass. More all day rain here today, so I'll be writing that lake off completely and won't return until I see the water temps over 50 degrees at the other nearby lakes that haven't suffered quite as much from the rains.  

[FishTax]

2 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

We are super duper chocolate milk right now but that just means more lipless crankbait for a lil bit which should be fun!

I need a lipless course. I have no confidence but throw it consistently, I always catch other species but no bass. Somehow I catch crappie on them regularly, which is weird since the hook is larger than their mouth. 

[Team9nine]

3 minutes ago, FishTax said:

I need a lipless course. I have no confidence but throw it consistently…

Ditto, but I’ve pretty much given up throwing them. I have a box full of them, most have never seen water and the rest are 20-30+ years old - lol. They were a staple when I first got into bass fishing, but our waters were clearer and most had grass. Once that went away and those waters stained up, they became VERY situational, and rarely used. That’s part of what’s neat about fishing - a bait I would practically give away as worthless is a favorite/confidence bait for someone else.

[Pat Brown]

17 minutes ago, FishTax said:

I need a lipless course. I have no confidence but throw it consistently, I always catch other species but no bass. Somehow I catch crappie on them regularly, which is weird since the hook is larger than their mouth. 

 

I'm my opinion the two biggest pieces of advice I can give you are:

 

1. Not all lipless crankbaits fish the same.  Find the one that works best for the cover and depth you're targeting.  I find some work best for 'bumpin n grinding' (rat l trap/Klutch/Quake) some I prefer for pumping or yo going (hard knocker/Red Eye Shad/Tremor) and some are good for jigging and fishing like a jig (Sergeant/Aruku Shad).  You can do any technique with any of them but I like certain models for certain depths or speeds basically.  Do not sleep on the 1/4 oz models, they cast like bullets on bait casting gear and get bit a lot more than the bigger ones and tend to be better for slow rolling around super shallow cover).  etc etc etc.  Get a few different sizes and models and learn what kinda cover and structure they work best on for you.

 

2.  70% of the time regardless of the size or brand of lipless crank I'm throwing, I fish it exactly how I fish a buzzbait or spinnerbait - I point the rod at noon and slowly start reeling before the bait can sink and then I drop my rod may 3-12" at a time periodically very slowly and smoothly and pull at different speeds while varying the reel speed all with the VIBRATION of the bait being the primary thing I'm focusing on.  This takes practice with each lipless.  Some barely thump and some feel like a chatterbait or Squarebill and the bass definitely will go for one over the other at different times.  But basically I'm just trying to occasionally feel the cover /structure and then keep it gently fluttering up and back to me and I'm always starting with the slowest speed I can manage to efficiently keep it rolling without it getting gunked up.  If it gets leafy or grassy I give it a hard rip and try to get it fluttering again and then resume my cadence. I will also slow roll it on the bottom and just under the surface.  I will yo yo it.  I will do all of this on one cast.  I try to walk and cast.  I don't just cast and cast and cast at one small spot or piece of cover with a lipless.  I'm after an aggressive big fish that's ready to roll with this bait and I'm trying to cover as much water as humanly possible with the bait as I can and that is it's strength - drawing fish up and out of cover to attack fiercely.

 

Lock it in your hand and just try to cast as many times as you possibly can and try to get it up in and as close to the stuff as you can and you'll get a big one.

 

I want that water dirty to fish it and wind sure doesn't hurt.

 

 

 

[TnRiver46]

I love rattle trappin

this fish as well as the one in my avatar were captured with a lipless. Still lifetime skunked on red eye shad tho, go figure