Murky water presents quite the challenge to the bass fisherman. While most fishing scenarios differ in a way or two, muddy water changes the whole manner in which one needs to fish. When fishing situations shift, and techniques must be altered in order to be successful, bass fishermen can often work their way through them without much difficulty, for the scenarios they face haven’t changed that much to start with. However, when fishermen encounter murky water, most of the well-known rules of the game are thrown out the window.
The very first thing fishermen notice about a body of water is its clarity, whether it is clear or muddy, respectively. Most often, the majority of water dealt with is somewhere in the middle; it possesses some aspects of murky water, yet is not muddy to the extent that this article covers. So, when the water is full-on muddy, this presents a scenario which fishermen do not see on as much of a regular basis as semi-murky water. Hence, when these situations come, not as many fishermen know how to handle them properly.
Fishing muddy water is never impossible – it’s just far different than most fisherman are accustomed. Both categories of bass fishermen – finesse and power – have to tweak their approaches with major adjustments (that we’ll cover later on) in order to be successful. Sometimes these changes go beyond what we are comfortable and familiar with, causing us to second-guess ourselves and doubt our ability to catch fish in such conditions. But fishing in murky water should never have this effect; rather, one simply needs to examine two main causes and effects of muddy water on bass fishing, and adjust as needed.
To begin, we need to be clear on one fact – the murky water discussed in this article means water in which visibility is limited to a few inches. To be honest, almost all bodies of water have a murky quality to some extent – in this article, muddy water means a body of water that has visibility limitations of a few inches.
This ushers in our first point – the fact that muddy water severely limits visibility. When we process this fact, we, for the most point, limit our thought process to what we see and, as a result, what we deal with. But, we have to remember that the bass deal with this exact issue as well, perhaps to an even greater extent than we do. Consequentially, we need to factor in how the bass react to this into our equation of handling our approach to fishing them.
The first thought that comes to most people’s mind is that our lure color needs to be “hi-vis”; and while this certainly isn’t incorrect, our lure selection cannot be limited to this. In fact, muddy water fishing arguably relies more heavily upon sound than sight, meaning that our approach needs to reflect that. For instance, I recall a time when I fished with someone who was using a chartreuse lure in muddy water. Of course, a lure with such visibility was a great idea considering the terrible water clarity; but despite the “hi-vis” lure selection, the muddy water so greatly restricted visibility to the point that the lure (when lowered into the water just 6 inches) disappeared entirely. In cases like that, we shouldn’t bank too heavily upon our lure’s sight appeal to the bass, but rather it’s sound appeal.
Practically speaking, think of lures that create a lot of noise when retrieved (a buzzbait, a crankbait with internal rattles, a frog, etc.). This allows the bass to be tempted into biting the lure without even needing to see it. With this power-fishing mentality (enticing a bass to strike without studying the lure), sight can almost be completely factored out of the equation in some situations.
Secondly, think shallow water fishing. In murky water, weed growth is restricted to shallower depths, meaning that oxygen levels are not as high the deeper one goes. In addition to this, bass feel more comfortable in the shallows due to limited sunlight and visibility. While this, at times, can be a hindrance, most often it plays better into your hand than the bass’.
While the thought process would suggest that cover is not as imperative in murky water, bass still like to hold fairly close to cover (like grass and surface moss). I can remember a time fishing when I filmed my brother work the mossy edges of a muddy farm pond. With every few casts, he would pull out a bass hiding within the first few feet of water around the grassy perimeter of the pond. It was with such consistency that he caught fish that we practically expected fish to bite just about every cast. Had the water not been so muddy, and the bass not confined to shallow water, I have no doubt we would not have met with the amount of success that we had.
As a side note, do not be afraid to test different lures and presentations. One time I fished a muddy pond edge with a buzzbait, ripping the lure beside the blankets of floating moss. At the end of my trip around the pond, I had two bass to show for my entire jaunt. In the meantime, a fisherman who had followed behind me had changed the approach slightly – instead, he was running a chatterbait a couple of inches below the surface. As opposed to my two, he had pulled out over 10 bass in the exact same pond edge I had fished only minutes before, simply by using a slightly different lure with a slightly different approach.
Addressing these thoughts (primarily low visibility and shallow water) are paramount to murky water fishing success. Each needs to be individually handled, but carefully doing so often results in a great experience. A lot of fishermen rule out murky water as impenetrable, or very difficult to work; but if you know how to successfully fish in such situations, you won’t mind if the water is muddy.