Tournament angler Dennis Outlaw said confidence in the ability to work out a
pattern keeps anglers focused until they find and catch fish.
Muddy Water Crappie
Story and photos by Terry Madewell
Tournament crappie anglers are a hardy lot and have learned to cope with adverse conditions to consistently catch crappie. But not all challenges in the crappie-fishing world are equal, specifically high winds, which complicate boat control, and muddy water, which, well, creates a mess.
When a couple of fellow outdoor writers and I headed for Lake Wateree in the middle of South Carolina, we knew our crappie guides for the day would face major challenges. When we arrived at Clearwater Landing on this productive crappie lake, we were met with the dreaded trio of trouble: high winds, falling water levels and muddy water conditions.
Waiting on us with boats in the water were three local crappie tournament anglers who were primed and ready to catch crappie.
My fishing partner for the day was Dennis Outlaw, a 70-year-old crappie-fishing tournament veteran who has achieved considerable success on the tournament circuit. Outlaw resides near Bethune, South Carolina and said Wateree is his home lake.
After introductions, I queried him about the chances of putting a few slabs in the boat for photos. My wording likely implied my lack of confidence because of the conditions.
“Well, it’s not the situation I hoped for, but we don’t choose the conditions when fishing a tournament. Part of the test is to deal with what we have on a given day,” Outlaw said. “All three of us are tournament fishermen, and we take pride in adjusting our tactics to meet the conditions of the day.”
Outlaw noted that having confidence that working through his fish-finding process will enable us to catch fish is one of the keys to catching them.
“My priority today is staying confident, and I’ll need that mindset to maintain boat control in this wind, while applying tactics that have proven successful for crappie in muddy water,” he said. “We’ll use electronics to find the fish and focus fishing efforts on those areas.”
Outlaw said muddy water makes it difficult for crappie to see lures or bait, and overcoming that is crucial to success.
“I love to fish jigs for crappie, but today we’re fishing jigs tipped with minnows, and live minnows, in this muddy water,” he said. “I do like to use bright-colored jigs in dirty water. It enhances visibility. We’re going to move slowly, pushing and pulling the rigs, allowing me to keep the lure and bait in the crappie’s proximity longer, enhancing vision and scent. On tough weather days, a jig and minnow combo, or a minnow, presented right in the face of a crappie, is likely to produce a bite.”
Keeping an open mind about where he’ll find crappie is another key, Outlaw said. Severe water and weather conditions may cause crappie to be in unusual locations compared to normal water conditions. They may be suspended, near the bottom or scattered throughout the water column. However, his experienced notion of where we’d catch them on his home lake proved right; they were near the bottom that day.
“One fortunate thing for us is that the muddy water arrived a couple of weeks ago,” he said. “The lake is still muddy on the surface, but the water near the bottom of the lake begins to clear first, creating a better option for crappie fishermen to succeed, and for crappie to see and forage more effectively. I’ll fish wherever I find them, but I’d prefer fishing near the bottom. The visibility of our bait is improved, and the live minnow enhances scent.”
Outlaw’s rigging employs the traditional setup used by many crappie anglers, referred to as spider rigging. It consists of multiple long poles, ranging from 10 to 16 feet, spread out from the front, and for us that day, in the back of the boat via rod holders. The setup covers a wide swath of water, and he constantly moves baits to different depths in the water column until he finds the sweet spot for that specific area.
His specific rig that day was a ¾-ounce weight with a jig head and a minnow about a foot below the weight, and a live minnow hook about a foot above the weight. The double-hook rigs enabled Outlaw to target different depths with different baits, searching for the pattern.
“Normally, I’ll set up where the rod tip is very near the water, reducing the impact of the wind on the presentation as much as possible,” he said. “With tips too high, it’ll bounce worse and is typically less productive. And this setup works year-round, but seems to be most effective when fish are in deep water.”
Outlaw said he prefers sinkers in the ½-ounce range, but windy conditions dictated that we use heavier weights to maintain control of the rigs to improve lure and bait presentation. He said that when fishing shallower, common in muddy water, smaller weights are better.
“With the combination of wind and muddy water, we’ll keep our focus more on the downwind side of drops,” he said. “Over the years, that’s been a consistent pattern for fishing in these conditions.”
Outlaw kept control of the boat, working the ledges near the bottom. He manned the front rigs, I watched the back, and while the fish-catching action wasn’t off-the-charts, both types of rigs produced fish.
Outlaw said his keys for catching muddy-water crappie include not having a preconceived notion of where the fish are in the water column, and using traditional electronics to find them. If water is muddy on the surface, but it’s been several days since the rain event, it may be clearing near the bottom. If so, look for crappie near the bottom.
Don’t let muddy water stop a crappie fishing trip, especially during spring. The fish are available and can be caught. Don’t let this condition muddy your plan for catching crappie.
(Terry Madewell of Ridgeway, S.C., has been an outdoor communicator for nearly 50 years. He holds a degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Management and has a long career as a professional wildlife biologist/natural resources manager. He’s passionate about sharing outdoor adventures with others.)
