Cold, heavily stained water with Pads

[trevor]

I'm fishing cold, heavily stained water with lots of lily pads and docks with occasional fallen limbs. HOW?! ;D

[Catt]

Slow roll a spinner bait with a large Colorado blade 

[Crestliner2008]

6" Senko or Fat Ika will do 'em in! 

[little_stephen]

i know its unorthadox but i like using a jig with a big profile....... ive caught my biggest bass yet on a crappy cold day where i didnt want to put my hands in the water  out of lily pads in water that closely resembles chocolate milk with a jig.

ive found that its practical for the pads...... and can be worked slowly but constantly.

[Eternal Angler]

white beetle spin with gold spinner blade.

[Chris]

If I was to flip I would choose a black blue flake tube if I couldn't get a jig bite going. My reasoning is that the tube is going to fall different each pitch and might draw a reaction strike. If the bass where real sluggish I would hammer it out with a jig but rigged with a 3x trailer. My reasoning is that you can pitch the jig and slightly quiver it and the tails will generate a lot of action without moving the jig. If I was to tackle the area with a spinnerbait I would also use a colo blade black bait because of the stained water gold blade or a willow blade that was bent to make it vibrate like a colo blade. When you bend the blade you get the best of both worlds the bait runs slower and you still have the flash an the weedless qualities of a willow but more of a thump of a colo. I would bend the blade side of the wire shaft up which will help it get through the pads a little easier and give it more thump. With the wire more vertical when the bait comes in contact with the pad stems it will kick the bait out of the way and give it more action. If the spinnerbait bite didn't pan out I would swim a jig. Black or black and blue skirt with a chartreuse twin tail grub for a trailer. The twin tail will slow the bait down more and if needed I would scale down my jig weight to slow it more. 

[CHEVYRIDAZ]

Here we get em on noisy topwaters in the morning and pitching plastics as the day goes.

[Dalton Tam]

Spinnerbait heavy with big blades, senko, weightless lizard, if it warms up- spro frog or ribbit (may work also at dawn and dusk), zoom superflukes, or swimming jig. Good luck

[Needemp]

If it is cold, heavy stained like 3 to 6" visibility, then the first thing I do is realize that fishing is going to be real tough. You might not get any bites or you might only get 1 or 2 or maybe 3 bites. So you have to be more focused because they are usually soft bites. I fish the back waters of a river system that is 5 minutes from home. It has flooded frequently the past few years and when it does it muddies up. So I deal with your situation quite often.

This is what I do. I first go to high percentage areas and I look for active fish on a reaction bite. I use crankbaits mostly. Every once in awhile I find the bass active and I catch a few. But the window does not stay open very long in those conditions. Could be an hour or two usually at the most.

So when I have spent enough time (but not a lot) to determine that the bass aren't active, then I focus on a pattern that pays off for me more than anything else. I then take the frame of mind most fish will be uncatchable. The only active ones will be holding to cover real tight.

I use a variety of bulky, slow falling lures. I use 1/4oz or less jig with a PB Chigger Craw or Rage Tail, a PB Beast, or fat Senko type bait. Color doesn't matter much for me. This is a point-blank situation. You are dropping it right on their noses so color doesn't matter to me. I catch them on brown, black and green color jigs. So I take these baits and I flip them to cover. If you are fishing pads, but you know where some rocks or even wood cover is at in those pads (especially if the sun is out) and near deep water , then you softly put your bait as close to that cover as you can without hitting the cover. If there is a catchable bass on or near that cover, he can be caught. That slow falling, bulky bait drops right in his kitchen.

If it is a good spot and you don't get bit, keep tossing to that cover. Sometimes a bass is there but he is not feeding. If you throw 10 casts to that spot, that 10th one might aggravate him enough to bite. You hear the big boys talking about that all the time.

Like I said before, the fishing is usually tough for me during those conditions. I have gone all day without a bite. I have some days where I only get one bite. But I have had plenty of days where I had a 5 bass limit of 15 to 20#s. The few fish you catch are usually big.

Remember to realize you will not catch a lot of bass and you may only get one bite. Having that mindset should help you focus for a tough bite. You don't want to miss the only bite you might get. Especially if it is a 4 or 5 pounder. Then start off looking for active open fish. Once you determine it's not happening then go for the slow bite on rocks and wood. Look for that cover on areas of high percentage structure such as a flat right next to deep water or a point or ditch. Sometimes the fish will be shallow and sometimes 4 to 6 feet deep. Place your slow falling, bulky bait precisely on the cover. Make repeated casts to especially the best pieces of cover. And remember to stay warm and totally focused. Even if your not catching anything, remember you are still fishing

[A-Rob]

Not so much for the lillypads, but Ike came 2nd at the Bassmaster Classic the other year with a black/blue crankbait with lights in it. He fished that around cover and was picking them up.

So try the crankbait around cover, and perhaps a dark colored one for the stained water.

Good luck dude!