There is a white jig hanging in BOTH of these jars. Surely most anglers would say they prefer fishing in transparent water like
that on the right. But muddy-water fishing isn’t as hard as it might seem if you learn a few tricks. (Photo: Keith Sutton)
Crappie in the Mud
One of my favorite crappie-fishing holes is a remote oxbow lake. My friends and I call it Lake Jekyll-and-Hyde because it has two different personalities.
From summer through fall, the oxbow’s water is clear. From winter through spring, however, the lake undergoes a dramatic transformation. A nearby river rises spilling into the lake and bringing silt and debris with it. The lake becomes very muddy.
This might not matter if Jekyll-and-Hyde wasn’t swarming with 2-pound crappie. But it is, so my pals and I visit as often as possible year-round. We’ve had to learn how to catch crappie in muddy water and clear.
At first, we avoided the lake when it was muddy. It didn’t seem possible that sight-feeders like crappie could find a bait in water the color of hot chocolate. We were wrong, however. We learned crappie will bite in muddy water. And if you know how to find and entice them in silty environs, you may catch more fish than in clear waters.
Effects of Muddy Water
Muddy water is like a night with dense fog. Visibility is extremely limited. Just as ship captains must rely on radar rather than sight to navigate under such conditions, sight becomes of secondary importance to crappie. As visibility decreases, the fish rely more on sound, vibrations and odor to find their meals. Therefore, the best enticements are lures that give off sounds or vibrations; live minnows, which produce scent; or lures enhanced with scent products.
“As visibility decreases, the fish rely more on sound, vibrations and odor to find their meals.”
Muddy-water crappie also are likely to be in shallower habitats because oxygen levels are better where there is more plant growth, and crappie seem to feel more secure in shallower haunts. In fact, crappie may be so shallow you can’t reach them with a boat and you may have to wade fish to get close enough.
Additionally, muddy-water crappie usually hold very tight against woody cover features. They’re usually rubbing right up against snags, stumps and stick-ups. To catch them, try sliding a scent-tipped jig or live minnow right down the wood, letting it touch the cover object as it descends.
Remember, too, that fishing for muddy-water crappie may actually be best on sunny days. Under other conditions, early morning and evening hours may be best. But in silty waters, midday hours usually are most productive.
One Angler’s Solutions
My friend Lewis Peeler of Vanndale, Arkansas often fishes Jekyll-and-Hyde with me and frequently confronts muddy-water conditions when fishing his favorite lakes. He says crappie prefer the least muddy water they can find, and looking for more favorable water conditions is the first step to finding fish.
“If the water I’m fishing is muddy, the first thing I do is look for places where the water is just a little clearer—up in creeks, the backs of coves, around beds of green vegetation, places like that,” he says. “Crappie are sight feeders, and even the slightest bit of clearer water improves the chance of them seeing your bait.
“You also should remember that crappie hold much tighter to cover when the water’s muddy,” Peeler says. “Most of us fish an area quickly, then move to the next spot. But in muddy water, you have to be more patient. Cover the whole 360 degrees around that stump or treetop, and do it much slower than you normally would. Work your bait close to the cover, work it slowly, and be thorough.”
Though primarily a jig fisherman, Peeler also keeps a supply of minnows for muddy-water fishing.
“It’s a good idea to carry live minnows on all your trips,” he says. “In muddy water, crappie can home in on a minnow’s scent and vibrations. A jig tipped with a minnow may out-produce a plain jig, so I often try that if fishing is tough.”
As water visibility decreases, crappie move to shallow water.
“In muddy lakes, I’ve seen crappie so shallow their fins were coming out of the water,” he says. “So, I concentrate my fishing close to the banks.
“Catching crappie in muddy water isn’t as hard as you’d think,” he continues. “In fact, I’m not sure it affects fish as much as it affects fishermen. Be patient, present your lure right in front of them, and you’ll usually find crappie eager to bite.”
More Tips
Catching crappie in muddy water may require frequent moves to find the best fishing locales. The following facts may help you pinpoint fish:
- If the water is high and muddy when fishing a big river system for crappie, do some scouting to pinpoint good fishing locales. High water lets you get back into chutes, cuts and backwaters off the river, places you may not have noticed before. And while you’re up in these areas, you may find that water off the main river is clearer and easier to fish. If you find the right spot, it could turn a bad fishing day into a good one.
- On windy days, light penetration falls. On calm days, light penetrates further. Keep this in mind even when fishing muddy waters. You may have to adjust the depth you fish by a foot or two as conditions change. Work shallower in wind and a bit deeper during periods of calm.
- When fishing where water is turbid, watch what happens to the water when you turn on your trolling motor. If it changes color around the prop, the water below the surface is clearer and you may catch more crappie by fishing deeper.
(Keith Sutton is author of “The Crappie Book: Basics and Beyond,” a 198-page, full-color paperback loaded with hundreds of fishing tips. Autographed copies can be ordered by sending a check or money order for $17.45 (includes shipping) to C & C Outdoor Productions, 15601 Mountain Dr., Alexander, AR 72002.)
