Cold , Muddy Water ???

[king fisher]

With all this rain and the cold water temps. I was just wondering what lures seem to work best in cold , muddy water? (LgM,SmM,KyB)

Thank You,
King fisher

[jcb]

My experience has been, nothing works very well. But the limited success I've had in cold muddy water has come on big, slow-moving, bulky baits like a big jig, wide-wobble crankbait or slow-rolled spinnerbait. When you think you're fishing too slowly, then slow down some more. And I always try to use scent attractant.

[DRob3382]

I would have thought the same thing but caught over 35 bass yesterday in heavily stained to muddy water on Nolin all on a small jointed shad-rap. Had 5 keepers that went a little over 10 lbs and had 3 fish get off that would have been bigger than the biggest one I got in. The hooks on the shad rap were not quite big enough to keep the 4lbers on.

[roadrunner]

DYNO-MITE

[Nick H]

Always best to quantify what the actual water temps and light penetration are when speaking of "cold and muddy." I find that bigger bass feed very well in off-colored waters from 50 down to around 42 degrees. By off colored, I mean that I can see a white bait down 18 inches-2 feet. Normally this body of water has 6 foot plus visibility. So getting the water quite stained and quite cool means lunker time for us. Small fish rarely bite then, so ten bites often equals 30 lbs. of bass. And yes, they are shallow by rule. Jigs.
Yesterday, at Lake of the Ozarks, the finals of the OMTT tournament weighed in massive stringers mostly caught on spinnerbait and buzzbait in the 55 degree water. These fish were hugging the banks. The big hickory shad were there too. Aha! Ait temps ranged in the high 30's and low 40's. Not to worry.

[18'stratos]

Fished herrington yesterday. Main lake temp is still 58-59. Back of creek at Herrington marina was 58.2 Stained but not muddy. Caught fish on a fluke and rattle trap. I usually do good fishing until the water gets down to the mid 40's. Fish slow and then slow down from that.

[king fisher]

Thanks for all the great advice! I will be heading out to fish early Sunday morning. Though I was not able to find Dyno-Mite, I did score a couple Shad Raps at Wal Mart. I got the little one that looks like a shad, and the next size up in the Fire Tiger, I look forward to using them and the great tips.

Fishing Slow,
king fisher

[AndyG]

I like a spinnerbait in cold stained water. Seems to be just as effective on sunny days in that water color. In the winter I throw a spinnerbait on 20lb mono, on a slow gear ratio reel. I creep it, I mean creep it. Let it fall to the bottom and pop the rod tip to get the blades going and start a super slow steady retrieve and allow it to make contact with the bottom. Great way to get a big fish and be sure to saturate any spot yo get a bite, there will be more fish there. I use half ounce double willow or tandem.

[colvin]

The area lakes, Barren, Nolin, are about 55-57 degrees. You can parallel the banks with crankbaits, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, jerkbaits and catch lots of bass. They are really feeding. Water is right.