Nothing ruins the occasional fishing trip more than driving a long distance to your favorite spot, only to find out it’s been raining for the last few weeks and the water is the color of Chocolate milk! Many years ago, I was like most weekend anglers, and would immediately try to find another lake or river that might be a little more clear, or just turn around and go home. But I found over the last 20 years, that it isn’t necessary to give up so quickly on muddy water.

There are many times when a creek arm, or a certain portion of the lake or river isn’t as muddy, or there is a transition zone where it goes from muddy to stained, which can be a good area, but, even if there is no clearer water, there are many things you can do. Most gamefish react the same way to muddy water, they go shallow and they move closer to structure. This could mean a lot of different types of structure, such as brushpiles, laydowns, rocks, stump fields, pads on shallow flats, anything! When the bas are holding tight to cover, because of low visibility, the lure presentations sometimes need to be precise, such as when flipping a log or tree roots with a jig. Post any good bass fishing pictures that you get on FishingRecreation.com