Muddy Water Shakey Head Question

[gloomis7]

I recently visited a West Point Lake in Alabama to fish a weekend tournament and I had a lot of success on a shakey head for spots and Largemouth. My question is, the lake that I call my home is always muddy and I have an aweful time catching shakey head fish in that muddy water. I'm talking 3 inch visibility. I love the shakey head I just want it to produce without having to drive to Alabama....?? :-/

[senko_77]

I had a BFL at Lake Oconee a few weeks ago.  The visibility was inches and I came in 2nd place with 13-05.  All my fish were caught using a 3/32oz picasson shakedown jighead and a watermelon/green flake trick worm.  Yes, shaky heads work extremely well in muddy water.

[gloomis7]

what the general setup you start out with? Large line...larger jig head...larger worm?

[senko_77]

For weight, I usually only throw a 3/32 or 1/8oz and if I go deeper than 25-30ft which is rare, then I go to a 1/4oz.  For line I only use 6 or 8lb and the only worm I throw is the zoom trick worm or the zoom finesse worm.  

[gloomis7]

So really in muddy water the only thing a person should change on his shakey head setup is the color of the bait, right? Ok, I just thought since i wasn't getting the bites I normally got in clear water was because the fish couldn't hear or feel the vibrations off that small worm. I know i normally throw a terminator spinnerbait (lots of vibration) or a wide wobbling crankbait (lots of vibration) if thats what the fish are on. I just thought that the small profile of the shakey head was too small for the fish to pick up on their "radar". Thanks for the info senko77 i'll make sure just to keep plugging away.

[Cephkiller]

a watermelon/green flake trick worm.

OK. That's it! I give up. How in the heck did you decide to throw a watermelon shaky head in muddy water. That would be about the last thing I would ever try in that situation. If I did try a shaky head out of desperation, I certainly wouldn't have gone with watermelon. I would have tried junebug, black, purple or anything except watermelon. If you hadn't mentioned the success you had I would have thought you had lost your mind. I swear, the more I think I know about fishing, the more I'm surprised.

[senko_77]

Loomis - Bass pick up baits alot better than we give them credit for in my opinion. If they couldn't see in muddy water, how could they pick up the sound of a crawdad slowly crawling on a muddy bottom, or a shad lightly flicking it's tail while it's slowly swimming by? Just think of how quite the bass's prey is and that will tell you that they can and will find your worm in muddier water. The only difference that I do to the worm in muddy water is that I shake it alot more. When I fish clear water I mostly drag it slow and dead stick it. That tail will kick a good bit if you shake and they will pick it up in a hurry.

Ceph - In practice, everyone was throwing black/blue and junebug, and redbug. I thought, if they will hit that, then they will hit green. I throw green 99% of the time and that's where my confidence was. All those guys were catching fish on black/blue and junebug because they were throwing a worm, not because the fish liked that color better. Fish your confidence and you will catch more fish.

Hope this helps

[Root beer]

In muddy water. I'll stick to same jighead I use in regular water. But my color will be Junebug, junebug red, black, black/red, and black and blue color worm. Or a chartreuse color worm. Then fish it tight to cover where fish could be holding. Also dont be afraid to ditch the finesse worm and grab a shaky tail worm or zoom c or u tail worm. THey produce more vibration and thus allowing to fish to feel the vibration and lock down on it.

[gloomis7]

Thanks for the advice guys I'll make sure to let you know when I get to use all these tips

[RoLo]

All those guys were catching fish on black/blue and junebug because they were throwing a worm,

not because the fish liked that color better.

Good stuff Senko77, Goood Stuff!

[Guest avid]

Muddyman is our resident expert on Muddy Waters.

He's also availabe for trolling motor lessons.

[hi_steel_basser]

Shaky head in muddy water?!? Bottom of my list.  :-? I might try it someday, but the spinnerbait and jig will always be my go-tos if I am forced to fish these conditions.

[Mike Adams]

Sorry guys I haven't posted in a while, but here goes. In muddy water, I will throw 2 colors Junebug and Black... I will also add rattle pods to the jig head. Below is a picture exactly like what I throw. I personally don't throw Zoom straight worms, I prefer the Hookerz Tackle Shakey worms because they float tail high all the time.

I hope that I didn't break any rules here, just posting what I throw and how I throw it. I hope it helps someone out.

It appears that someone (Jason) has beat me to my point

[flyphisher #]

I fish stained to muddy water almost exclusively. If i cant get bit on anything else I throw a shakey head. But unlike others, I fish a 1/4 bite-me jig almost everywhere,Brush piles, stumps,docks, riprap almost like a jig. I use red bug, sometimes junebug-red  before the water gets to 60-65 degrees. Shad spawn a margarita color worm. Rest of the time its black or green pumpkin. I use Zoom trick worm, more subtle/smaller  baits I use Zoom finesse worms, and When its kind middle of the road I like a NetBait finesse worm. I use P-line CX 12lb on a MH spinning rod.  Agree with Senko77 about the hopping, Works much better than dragging in muddy water.