I've been frustrated for about 6 months when the 4.5 acre retention pond got muddy from my new home construction. It hasen't cleared up since. Last summer it has a good green tint to it with about 18 inches visibility. Now it has about 6 inches visibility (suspended clay).

We were catching some good bass last summer including an 11.2 that I caught in Sept. The bass quit biting when it got muddy (at least we assumed they did cause we weren't catching anything with our old techniques).

Well we've finally figured out how to catch them. They are extremely shallow within 1-2 feet of the banks and we've learned that plastic frogs such as the Ribbit (rigged texas style and fished on or near the surface) are absolutley deadly. I caught 9 yesterday in about an hour and lost missed 8 more. Just wanted folks to know that it is possible to catch bass when water is extremely muddy. You just have to try new techniques.

Have a great day!

unclefish, good tip - sounds like fun...

Another tip for catching fish in muddy/off-color water is "glo-in-the-dark" lures/flies/etc.

I've been doin' good with a $Gill spin fly, tied with all "glo" synthetic materials.

Good work, Unclefish. I've had good luck with plastic frogs in clear water, as well.

I fished an extremely muddy pond once outside of Gonzales and had great luck on Rat-L-Traps. A slow retrieve, barely maintaining the vibration, did the trick when the fish couldn't sight feed as well in the muddy water. What techniques did you use that worked when the water was clearer but are not working now?

They say that when the water is muddy, you should be fishing as close to hard structure as possible because the LMB will hold right up against it.

In muddy water flood situations, they say the LMB will be up in the "new" shallows" again by structure.

When the pond was clearer we fished alot of texas rigged worms, spinnerbaits, and jerks baits. I don't think a worm gives off enough vibration for them to find it in muddy water.....but the frog gives off alot of vibration with it "kicking legs".

Also almost all of our bites have been in the top of the water column.

unclefish, my favorite way (at least most reliable way) to catch LMB in very fresh extremely muddy water is to throw a texas rig up on the bank and slowly drag it off the edge and into the water. The key is to make as little noise and vibration as possible when it enters the water. Most LMB will be caught within 2ft of the bank. In my expierence, too much noise or vibration has a tendency to spook the bass that are used to clearer water. Try throwing a rattle trap sometime right after it gets real muddy, it's not unusual to see LMB come flying out of the water and fleeing when the bait comes by.

Shorty,

I agree with you. All of our fish are coming within 2 feet of the bank. I bought a new swimming jig with a Blade that vibrates like a jack hammer. I could literally see fish trying to get out of the way from it as it came by.

I think there is a nice medium between too little vibration and too much. I think I've found my happy medium!

unclefish, Sunil's advice on the hard structure is also very good, my texas rig technique seems to work best on our dam where I drag it off the grass and onto the rocks. The bass are frequently sitting in or under the flooded grass and on top of the rocks in very shallow water.

Unclefish,

An 11.2 is a great pond fish! I like to tie a deer hair frog imitation and it works real well this time of year. Also, I've found when LMB are shallow like now, spawning and guarding the nests, a shallow running small crank bait that looks just like a 2 inch BG really makes them mad. I've recently caught some really large LMB on this very small crankbait.

Got any more info on the 11.2? Florida, F1 or native?

Meadowlark - I really don't know what she was....more than likely an Fl, but almost assuredly not native. Its a retention pond that was built/stocked about 8 years ago. From what I've been told there were only F1's stocked. I was shocked when that big fish jumped out of the water. I never dreamed a fish like that lived in my backyard.

She was 26 inches long with average girth (20"). Caught last Sept on a new moon.

I would have guessed F1 as the most likely....too big for native and a Florida of that size would be extremely difficult to catch. 26 inches is a monster pond fish...a fish to be very proud of.