Top 3 Lures For Muddy Water (And How To Retrieve Them)
- By: Pat Ogletree
- on
What could be the top 3 lures for muddy water fishing?
Are there specific profiles and colors that work best?
Learn the answers to both questions right here!!
Top 3 Lures For Muddy Water [VIDEO]
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List Of Equipment Mentioned:
- Gold Digger BOMBER
- Four Horsemen Popping Cork
- Johnson Silver Minnow Spoon
- Hoss Helix Hooks
- Z-Man Texas Eye Jighead
First, let’s define what muddy water is.
Muddy water is not necessarily stained or off-color water like tannin water or bright green sediment water.
We are talking about muddy, brown water.
The muddy water cuts down visibility for both you and for the fish.
You won’t be able to see the fish beneath the muddy water and the fish will have a tough time seeing underneath the surface as well.
Predatory fish often won’t be able to see a meal and they themselves don’t want to become a larger fish’s meal due to low visibility in muddy water.
In these situations, predatory fish are going to hold tight to hard structure.
Examples of hard structures are docks, rock piles, seawalls, bridge pilings, and oyster beds.
When it comes to fishing in muddy water, there are three major components you want to look for in a lure.
The Ideal Muddy Water Lure
Water Displacement & Size Of The Lure
In short, this simply means the vibration that a lure puts off as it displaces water during the retrieve.
Fish will be able to use their lateral line to hone in on the vibration to help them find your lure.
Flash
Flash is critical in muddy water scenarios because there is less light penetration in the water.
You want something that is reflective and will flash off of the sun.
Oftentimes, when fishing in crystal clear water, bright flashy lures turn fish away.
But in muddy water, you need a reflective lure to put off a lot of flash and attract strikes.
One of my personal favorite colors to use to create flash is gold.
Gold is a super useful lure color because it takes the least bit of light to reflect flash off of it.
Scent
Fish that are accustomed to hunting in muddy water are used to not having to rely on their sight for hunting baitfish.
They will use their lateral line in tandem with their heightened sense of smell.
Adding Dr. Juice or if you prefer Procure will help fish hone in and find your lure.
Favorable Types Of Structures
Docks
My favorite lure to fish a dock is a large paddletail lure.
Particularly the Salt Strong Gold Digger BOMBER.
The Gold Digger is a 5-inch black paddletail lure with gold flakes sprinkled throughout the body.
You always should try and use darker color lures in muddy water.
As mentioned earlier, the color gold is ideal for muddy water and the gold flake in this lure reflects off a lot of light.
As far as my approach for fishing docks with this lure, I will work the insides and sides of the dock.
You can work around the pilings and skip it underneath docks with ease.
Make sure you hit each dock piling and work around both sides methodically.
You never know which way the fish will be facing, just that they may be holding close to these pilings.
When I am fishing with the BOMBER style lure, most of the time I am rigging this up on a 4/0 Hoss Helix Hook in 1/8 oz. weight.
This will cover almost every inshore fishing scenario.
If you happen to be fishing in slightly deeper water, then you can opt for the Z-Man Texas Eye Jighead in 1/8 oz.
It can still be rigged weedless and this will allow your lure to quickly dive deeper.
Oyster Beds, Rock Walls, & Seawalls
This is when I lean on the Johnson Silver Minnow Spoon.
It is called the ‘Silver’ Minnow but I prefer to use the Gold color.
Not only will this lure create a lot of flash in the water, but it will also send out lots of vibration.
What sets this apart from other spoons is the weed guard.
The weed guard keeps this lure from getting hung up on rocks and you’d be surprised how close you can fish to hard structure with the Johnson Silver Minnow.
Muddy Grass Flats
After heavy rainfall, water will start flowing out of the creek mouths and into grass flats carrying with it muddy water.
In this situation, fish are going to slowly patrol the grass flat in search of the baitfish getting flushed out of the backwater creeks.
So they may not be holding super tight to hard structure in this scenario.
There are few tools that work as well as a popping cork when it comes to calling fish in to strike your lure in muddy water.
Popping corks are simply a floating cork that creates a popping noise to attract strikes from curious fish.
Beneath the popping cork, you typically will have 10-12 inches of leader and then your lure.
Lure choice is up to you but I recommend either a shrimp lure or a paddletail lure rigged on a jighead.
Lots of times it can be difficult for a fish to find your paddletail or shrimp lure if it is only rigged on a jighead.
The popping corks call the fish in and make it easier for them to locate your lure.
By using a popping cork, along with a paddletail, and additional scent, you are maximizing your ability to catch a fish’s attention and trigger strikes.
When fishing with a popping cork, I like to cast it out and let it sit for a few seconds before giving it two quick pops.
Let it sit for a few minutes and then give it two more pops.
That is just to read how the fish are biting and just like with any other lure, you want to get a feel for what retrieve works best on a particular day.
The number of pops on the cork and length of rest in between can vary and you want to change it up periodically.
Muddy Water Retrieve
When fishing hard structure, you need to make sure you are getting your lure as close as you can to the structure.
Whether that be dock pilings, oyster beds, or rock walls.
Also, remember to work the lure at different speeds to find out where the fish are holding.
Usually, fish will hold higher up to the structure on high tide and vice versa on low tide.
Furthermore, do not be afraid of adding extra twitches and pauses to your retrieve.
Additional vibration helps the fish find your lure and sometimes pausing is what will get fish to commit to strike.
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Conclusion
Muddy water poses an obstacle for both us as anglers and predatory fish in search of a meal.
The idea is to use your tackle to your advantage and select lures that will stand out and shine in muddy water scenarios.
If you are struggling to find fish in muddy water, remember these tips on your next fishing trip.
List Of Equipment Mentioned:
- Gold Digger BOMBER
- Four Horsemen Popping Cork
- Johnson Silver Minnow Spoon
- Hoss Helix Hooks
- Z-Man Texas Eye Jighead
Do you have any more questions about the top 3 lures for muddy water fishing?
Let me know your personal favorite lure for fishing in muddy water!!!
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Good tips Pat!
Pat, thank you, fantastic analysis! I built my own flasher jig head and owner twist lock paddle tail lures from eBay parts. I cannot post a picture here in the comments, but I did test them in a farm pond and the action was great!
I posted a post about them. Tons of vibrations in the water too. One of the captains who post for salt strong and I can’t remember his name right now went out with another guide out of Suwanee, The video is fantastic. Talk about the chatterbates in that video.
What do you think about adding the Battle Rattles to the soft plastics?
With muddy water it’s always a good idea to add sound when possible. Great idea Mark!
I have seen several posts of battle rattles being fantastic in the muddy water. Those of us in Big bend understand how muddy muddy water can be
The area I fish has tannin colored water. I cannot see more than 2′ FOW. Can the fish see better than I can in tannin colored water? What are the best lures to use in tannin colored water? I have had more success with golddigger color or leprechaun.
The fish can definitely see better than we can in tannin water plus they have their lateral lines to pick up vibrations too. Both lures you mentioned are great choices but an even better one is the FRED. That one works great in that tea colored water.