Cold Muddy Water Post Cold Front what do you do?

[33oldtimer]

Got about 2" visibility in cold muddy water post cold front. What do you do? Wait for better conditions? Have any go to lures for impossible conditions? Thanks.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Personally I don't fish cold muddy water anymore.    

 

If you're forced to fish it though, find heavy cover and fish a jig really close to it.   The fish suck up against that hard cover in those conditions.  

[Bankbeater]

If the bass are still spawning I would try a small profile spinnerbait with a fairly good size blade.  Maybe chartreuse or black. If they have finished spawning I would try a Texas rig around wood.

[Columbia Craw]

I would fish where the fish were before the front.  I’m going to fish a bulky black blue jig around every piece of shallow cover making multiple pitches to the sweet spot. If there are stumps or laydowns. A single Colorado bladed spinnerbait with a hammered copper blade gets run slowly by that cover.  If it’s a smallmouth venue I’ll drive to the closest pizza parlor.

[CrashVector]

1 hour ago, 33oldtimer said:

Got about 2" visibility in cold muddy water post cold front. What do you do? Wait for better conditions? Have any go to lures for impossible conditions? Thanks.

 

Go shallow.

[gim]

2 hours ago, 33oldtimer said:

Wait for better conditions?

 

Yes, that's what I would do.

[Mr. Aquarium]

Go be a normal human. Go out hang with the fam, hang with some friends or find clear water 

[stk44]

I would try a ned rig, grind a Shad rap 05 in rocks, mini chatterbait or grind a finesse spinnerbait. My claim to fame is not cold muddy water, but it’s certainly possible to catch them. 

[Catt]

Cold Muddy Water Post Cold Front what do you do?

 

#1: Get on board the struggle bus!

 

Question, is this off colored water normal or due to resent rain.

[F14A-B]

Fish deeper water. Slow roll a big spinner bait . Go find clearer water to fish. I’m sure if you look you’ll find better water, otherwise fish deeper..

[Munkin]

Do something the wife has been bugging me to do and fish another day.

 

Allen

[T-Billy]

Shallow. TIGHT to cover. Jig, Trig, spinnerbait. 

[scaleface]

Pretty tough conditions. I fish shallow with a black jig and a black spinnerbait with   copper  blades. Why copper,?I couldnt tell you but  it works. 

[33oldtimer]

10 hours ago, Catt said:

Cold Muddy Water Post Cold Front what do you do?

 

#1: Get on board the struggle bus!

 

Question, is this off colored water normal or due to resent rain.

Ton of rain recently.

[BigAngus752]

Funny that you ask this because I just dealt with this yesterday.  We had more than seven days in a row of full clouds, massive temp drop that had us below freezing at night, and over 2 inches of rain with constant wind every single day.  Yesterday was the only day I could get to the lake.  It was blue bird skies, almost no wind, and what little wind there was came from the north.  I launched and found the water was high, muddy, and the water temp had dropped from 55.5 degrees to 47.5 degrees.  Worst possible conditions, right?

 

I almost just loaded the boat back on the trailer but it was a beautiful day and I'd rather be outside so I stayed.  Caught a small bass on the first cast.  I knew where the bass had been so I moved from where they were before back toward the main points and I fished in 4-8ft of water instead of 1-2ft of water.  I started my day in the deeper end of the lake and, just as I thought, it was two degrees warmer than the shallow end.  In two and a half hours I caught 9 bass including one right at 4-0 pounds.  I started catching on a finesse craw but got tired of doing that and started throwing two different crankbaits and caught all of my biggest bass on the crankbaits.  

 

Turns out the bass care more about the calendar than the conditions.  They know when to eat.  

 

Also PSA:  My nose got sunburned.  Use sunscreen!

[Catt]

1 hour ago, 33oldtimer said:

Ton of rain recently.

 

Totally changes how I approach cold muddy water. In this situation I would look for "clearer" water. No necessarily clear water, just clearer water. 

[33oldtimer]

Talked to my son in law today. He fished a tournament a few hours away and came in 5th with just 4 pounds, which tells you how bad the conditions are here. He told me he caught them on a beaver style creature bait.

[slonezp]

Dark colored baits tight to cover.

[Catt]

I would look at areas near the headwaters, these areas will muddy first & clear up first. Many times small pockets/coves will remain clear in the back especially if there's a decent amount of vegetation filtering the water. 

[Ski]

 

[mattkenzer]

This time of year under those conditions in my smallmouth world, we grind a crankbait.

If that doesn't work we grind a different crankbait.