fishing a pressured lake

[flippinmaster]

what would be a good lure to use at a lake that gets fished alot and has shallow back water and the water is murky. So what would be a good lure that would caught fish.

[sparky]

A weightless texas style Zoom trick worm (green pumpkin, junebug color) bounced off the lake bottom, around structure, and shady areas close to shore. Fish the lake alot and you will learn the lake.

Bass minnows and crawdads (live bait) are hard to beat also.

[jb_adams]

I fish on a pressured lake too. It's tough to figure it out being a beginner so I can only advise based on what I know. I have luck in shallow murky water with dark plastic baits that have some bright accents. I have some cheap Renagade worms that are black with a bright pink swirl tail and they work well in darker waters. I think just about anything close to black would work but the bright twirling tail just seems to really drive the bass crazy. Last one I caught was 3lbs and hit the bait hard.

The lake I fish on has murky waters at the lower end where it's fed by a river and clear water at the upper end where the dam is. The clear water fishing is where I have trouble the most.

Good luck!

[Will]

A weightless texas style Zoom trick worm (green pumpkin, junebug color) bounced off the lake bottom, around structure, and shady areas close to shore. Fish the lake alot and you will learn the lake.

Bass minnows and crawdads (live bait) are hard to beat also.

Bass minnows? Isn't that illegal? I would suggest slowing down, and fishing baits such as senkos and fat ika's which Roadwarrior will explain better.

[Biglouie]

...fish something different.   Black chatterbait maybe?  Something the fish haven't seen 300 times already.

[BassMaster_1]

Throw something they haven't seen, wacky worms ect.  Might want to try downsizeing your baits.  Dark colors in the murkey waters.  I stay far away from the live bait.... thats not fishing to me.  

[Curado]

I might say downsize and finesse fishing if the water was clear. Since the water is murky try some bigger than average baits and dark colors too. Sometimes I'll start out switching baits alot to see if I can find something they want, but if I can't I'll slow down.

[ga_hawghauler]

The lake i fish get a lt of pressure durning the summer months so i usally go to night fishing for bass at that  time. But when I do go durning the day i try to look for spots that most people overlook such as underwater structure throwing a small jig with enough weight to get it down.

[J@k3 01s3n]

I second the suggestion of a 4" renegade worm. Texas rig it with like a 1/8 sinker. I like tequilia sunrise in murky waters. It'll only run you about $1.25 for 15 of those little guys. On pressured lakes I fish it in obvious structure spots first(docks, reeds, grass, holes in lilly pad beds, etc.), then just kind of toss it into shallow flatts or shady spots from trees. I always have some color of these on because they ALWAYS catch fish for me. Another suggestion is to go to your local Wal-mart, Dick's, Gander, etc., and go to the bargain bins. These are full of yesterday's news lures, and basically stuff that is just not selling this season, or last in some cases. It sounds strange, but I pick and choose from these bins, and have many times caught bass on them because the bass simply haven't seen the action of the bait before.

Another suggestion is to just eliminate from your arsenal what you see everyone around you throwing. Most days if I see three guys tossing buzzbaits, I am probably not gonna use that lure on a heavily pressured lake. I know it won't work on every lake, but it sure is great when it does!

[Rattlinrogue]

As has been already mentioned,try baits that are a little(or a lot) different than what you see everyone else using.Try fishing the lake when others are still in bed or out partying.I fish a lake that a lot of people use,but a lot of the others don't fare so well.I fish VERY early in the morning,late in the afternoon,and at night.Also,I fish some lures that are out of style and hardly anyone would think of using.The bass only see these baits from me and a few others that have been at that lake since being teenagers.Use your imagination when it comes to bait selection.In murky water,I want something the bass can see and that makes some noise.Dark and/or bright colors seem to work for me.

[Shad_Master]

My "test pond" is actually in a public access park.  For the last several years there have not been a lot of people fishing it, but it does get steady pressure.  Last year on Memorial Day the pond was literally ringed by people fishing shoulder to shoulder.  Most were throwing out lines with bobbers and a few were throwing spinner baits and soft plastic T-rigged.  I set up a Drop-shot rig and was outcatching everybody 3 to 1.  When most of the "bait/lures" are on the bottom or top, the suspended D-S gives the fish another look and can trigger them to bite.

[Matt Fly]

Flip,    with conditions mentioned and shallow.    I'd still throw a downsized spinner with double colorado blades for max vibrations or something like a Cotton Cordel Big O.  Shallow running wide wobble crank..

In murky water, a bass senses vibrations.    Sight is limited and the finese stuff might work, but the strike zone is very small in murky waters.

The last option is rattling baits or jigs with rattles.

[senile1]

As has been already mentioned,try baits that are a little(or a lot) different than what you see everyone else using.Try fishing the lake when others are still in bed or out partying.I fish a lake that a lot of people use,but a lot of the others don't fare so well.I fish VERY early in the morning,late in the afternoon,and at night.Also,I fish some lures that are out of style and hardly anyone would think of using.The bass only see these baits from me and a few others that have been at that lake since being teenagers.Use your imagination when it comes to bait selection.In murky water,I want something the bass can see and that makes some noise.Dark and/or bright colors seem to work for me.

I think everyone's suggestions are good, but those who suggest using something different (like RR's post above) are getting to the heart of the matter.  Use something different on a highly pressured lake.  Old baits that no one use anymore can give you some big surprises.  

[iceintheveins]

If its murky i like bubblegum colored senkos or flukes. Bright colored floating rapalas would be good too, or black/blue jigs and pigs. If live minnows are legal though I would use them a lot in murkier water, because the scent of natural bait can't be matched, and that goes for gulp too, gulp STILL doesn't match the real thing.