For event anglers, there are a selection of intervening circumstances that may flip an excellent chew bitter. Louisiana professional Greg Hackney doesn’t sugarcoat it: “Chilly, muddy water is by far the worst set of circumstances you may fish,” he says.

Sadly, many anglers don’t get to decide on the best circumstances to fish in. In case you’re a 9-to-5 working man, Saturday is your day on the water and the event administrators aren’t going to reschedule simply because there’s a chilly entrance and muddy water flowing into the lake.

Hackney says that that is one scenario the place it’s attainable to take lemons and make lemonade.

“Fishing is hard, however one factor that chilly, muddy water usually does is push the fish up shallow,” he advises. “They’re extra cover-oriented, and so they’ll be about as shallow as they’ll get. They don’t prefer it both, in order that they’re going to search for a consolation zone, which is shallower.”

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Usually, that is most related within the early a part of the yr — January, February and March. “That’s the time of yr that it occurs and it’ll put the fish ‘within the grime’ — in shallow water, 2 ft or much less. In actual fact, 2 ft is deep in that scenario,” Hackney continues.

Whereas one secret’s to decelerate, Hackney has discovered {that a} jig or worm crawled slowly by the duvet is usually not the only option.

“These fish are very inactive in chilly, muddy water, so that you want one thing that may irritate them into biting. That’s the rationale I don’t like a jig or a backside bait — I need one thing with loads of ‘thump,’ ” he says. “They’re not actively feeding.”

“The principle factor is to fish huge baits and darkish colours,” he continues. “I grew up in an space the place we’ve got these circumstances each spring. Certainly one of my finest baits in chilly, muddy water is a Redfish Magic, which is principally a security pin spinnerbait. The spinner harness is clipped to the jighead. It has twice as a lot vibration as any single-spin Colorado blade on the market at the moment. You may reel it at a very sluggish velocity. It hasn’t lined up but to win a nationwide event, however it will. It’s made for chilly, muddy water.”

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His most popular colour sample entails a black-and-chartreuse skirt. He often reels it steadily, making repeated casts to remoted items of canopy.

“It’s a bait that I can proceed to placed on a chunk of canopy the place I feel a fish needs to be and principally irritate it into biting,” he says, noting that he doesn’t are inclined to get in a rush. “You’re typically fishing for simply three to 5 bites a day.”

As soon as he will get a chew or two, the bass inform him what his subsequent transfer needs to be. A run-of-the-mill 12-incher doesn’t assist him slender down a sample, but when he ties right into a fats prespawn fish, “I’ll tear that space aside,” he explains.

Hackney factors to the primary yr BASS visited Clarks Hill (Ga./S.C.) for instance of when he final caught high quality bass in quickly declining circumstances. “I discovered some key fish in an space the place the chilly, muddy water had pushed the baitfish up shallow,” he remembers. “I used to be principally casting into the grime.”

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When in search of ultraskinny water, it will probably pay to assume in an unorthodox trend. On the 2008 Bassmaster Basic he discovered some fish on the sort of chew, though he ended up not going after them throughout the occasion. But when it had panned out, he would have had all of them to himself. “You don’t even essentially should have deep water shut by as a result of they’ll transfer out as distant from that stuff as attainable,” he advises.

Fishing chilly, muddy water is just not a fascinating scenario to search out your self in, nevertheless it’s no motive to throw within the towel, both. Decide up the massive stick, head shallow and thump some bass.

Editor’s Notice: Article was initially revealed in January, 2011.

(Supplied solely to BASS Insider by Z3 Media)