Bass part 10 - Muddy water vibrators for bass

Bass use their lateral lines to detect vibrations in the water, much like bats use sonar to find their way in the dark. When you throw a stone in the water you see the circles going out from where the stone hit. When anything moves under water pressure waves go out in all directions, the lateral lines on the side of a bass pick up these pressure waves and through them the bass is able to compute how far the prey is away, its size, its direction of travel and the probability of a successful capture ( gee! Jet fighters need a 6 million dollar computer to do that! ) and we thought bass were just dumb fish!

People who study fish have put blinders on a bass, and it still was able to capture prey. So that is why in muddy water you need a lure that puts out lots of vibrations, they allow the fish to see in the dark.

Lake Mead near Las Vegas is a classic example of muddy water basin. This lake is usually crystal clear, but when the winds come up, as they do in most of the desert lakes, it creates shoreline mud lines. The mud is created when waves crash on the shoreline and stir up the mud near the shore. There are lots of small organisms stirred up in the mud, and the small fish move in to feast on them. Now the large predators move in to eat them. You know how a small child puts a pillow over their head and thinks they are hidden because if they can't see you, you must not be able to see them. A bass is much the same, it feels safe in muddy water because it can't see you.

When the wind comes up at Mead and muddies the points, and most other bassers are running to coves sheltered from the wind, HIT THE POINTS!!!! Put on a Bagleys DB3 in chartreuse, come in bow to the wind and cast the crank bait into the wind and bring it back with the wind and current, ( its a pretty heavy lure and casts well into the wind ) when using fifteen to twenty pound test line, the lure will run about eight feet deep. By casting the lure across the point into about six feet of water it will kick up dirt as it digs its way across the top of the point, then it will run free after it crosses the point. This is usually when the bass will blast it. Bass are in shallow dirty water for one thing, TO EAT!

If a bass is there he will blast it first cast, if no strike on the first cast, make your next one a little farther out. Still no hits, pick up the rod with a 1/2 oz spinner bait on it, and as you drift past the point, cast the spinner bait right to the shoreline and bring it back to the boat with a slow to medium-slow retrieve. Now go to the next point, and repeat the scenario. After six or eight points you should see a pattern developing as to how deep the fish are, and what they prefer, the crank or the spinner bait. Once a pattern develops, stay on it, don't waste time throwing the spinner if most of your fish are coming on cranks and visa- versa. Points that are barren when the water is clear and windless, will suddenly come to life when the wind muddies them up. Give muddy water fishing a try in your clear water lake, and I'm sure you will be thrilled with the results!!