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Posts: 2687
Location: Hayward, WI | A couple lakes I fish most often are pretty stained. summer Secci disk readings are about 2-3 feet. Both have fairly heavy algae blooms starting in mid July or so.
My question isn't only about when the lakes are bloomed and green, but also during other parts of the year when the water is just a dark copper color.
Are there any techniques that you generally rule out, just due to the dark water? I realize you can never completely rule anything out, but nearly everyone has things they wait to try until last just because nothing else has worked.
On dark water lakes do you avoid tactics like burning small bucktails and fishing jerkbaits or plastics like Bulldawgs? One of the stained lakes (both are actually man-made flowages), people do pretty well on jerkbaits and gliders, on the other, jerkbaits are rarely used until fall. The two lakes are about 50 miles apart, north to south. Is it really possible that the fish are "different," or are the popular tactics just different due to something that word of mouth probably started years ago?
A lot of times I have used speed to trigger fish that I didn't feel were actively feeding. Does anybody feel that speed is a negative in dark water? Most musky fisherman don't troll much slower than 3 MPH, and that doesn't seem too fast for trolling. I don;t think you can burn a bucktail at 3MPH, but some people might say fishing a bucktail that fast is too fast for dirty water.
I realize this thread is fairly jumbled. I'm just thinking out loud (or the keyboard version of loud).
Basically, when people ask how to fish dark water the common answer is large profile, high vibration lures, which usually means different forms of topwater, big bucktails-maybe even double bladed bucktails, etc. Do any of you use smaller, more subtle, or faster moving baits a lot in dark water and have good luck with them?
Just another random winter musky thought.
curleytail
Edited by curleytail 2/19/2007 10:45 PM
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Posts: 1530
| hi. here in dark water or stained algae blooms we troll 6 inch baits. frog patterns seem best. putting the bait in the water it should basiclly dis-appear all but spots. on tea color stained waters also try a copper based lure its awesome trolled. i use my woodies with a hi degree of wander and thump at roughly 6 ft deep at 3.9 mph... blooms also dictate a warmer water period which means less oxeygeon so we fish early or later evening. sometimes it feels like fall window fishing but it does produce excellent results. jmho. |
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Posts: 32890
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I fish several lakes that have the exact conditions you describe. When the bloom isn't a factor, I don't treat those waters any differently than the clearer lakes I fish with one exception; I fish shallower. Reeds and slop on a couple systems put out most of the fish, and a combination of weeds, reeds, cribs, and rocks on the other. Since the water is dark, the weedline is in 4' to 5' at the most.
Spinnerbaits and topwater are the choice on a couple, with gliders and bucktails entering the picture where I can fish rocks and cribs.
For some unknown reason, I do really well on topwater during the September bloom on the dark water over here. I still do ok on the spinnerbaits, but a Top Raider or Weagle in the slop and out on the structure seems to really shine then. Looking forward top seeing what a Rumbler will do. |
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Location: The Yahara Chain | I have fished a lot of darker (stained) water and slightly slowing down my retrieve on a bucktail has worked very well for me. Bright colored blades have also been better. As Steve pointed out the weeds grow shallower in the darker water, so when the fish are relating to the weeds they will be real shallow. Topwater rules for me on this type of water. For jerkbaits my chartreuse Suick and orange Banana Bait have produced very well for me. The Banana Bait is unreal in the slop. |
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| I think fishing dark water is more of a mental thing for us to overcome more so than the fish.. if it moves, they can find it...
Don't rule anything out... spinnerbaits, bucktails, topwaters, it all works.. one darkwater flowage I know black burts work very well...on another dark water lake for whatever reason the fish seem to like black/black bucktails..in dark water! so never rule anything out...like others have said dark waters can move fish shallower than you might think...fish shallow with topwaters, bucktails, and spinnerbaits... |
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Posts: 317
| I fish the Fox chain, and those northern lakes turn green pea soup in the summer, and the south lakes are always chocolate milk. One of the most effective tactics is speed trolling 4-5 mph with small cranks on shorter lines. |
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Posts: 1185
Location: Iowa | Real dirty water I turn to something with noise and bright...like a firetiger jointed believer...or a firetiger depthraider...or orange pacemaker...don't have much water like this around here though except clear lake...
Big Perc |
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Posts: 786
Location: Minnesota | Waconia turns green green green in summer and I use anything with a THUMP! Top water or bucktail. My fav bucktail for thump is the big double #10 bladed Cowgirl. |
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Posts: 132
| The greenist thing I fish is Little Arb in the summer. Bucktails with fast spinning blades work best for me. Hands down, white bucktail with a fluorescent orange blade. Thats the only place I use it but its like magic in the bloom. |
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Posts: 1996
Location: Pelican Lake/Three Lakes Chain | I fish a whole bunch of stained water, make a living on it in June for sure. I think people put way too much emphasis on the water color when fishing it. I use all the same tactics and techniques I would on clearer water, the one exception being the same as Steve's, I tend to look awfully shallow.
Think about it, a 25# musky did not get that big by chasing after firetiger colored suckers with rattles embedded in them. They are effective predators in these conditions...they don't even know their water isn't clear. Don't be afraid to try all the tactics available. A musky is a musky is a musky....don't overthink them. |
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| I'd shortline troll over, around and through weeds with spinnerbaits in less than fifteen feet of water. I agree 100% with nwild in a lot of ways, ie: water colour probably impacts us and our approach more than it does the fish's. I honestly can't think of much I've done of a clear lake that hasn't worked on a dark lake or vice versa to at least some degree. Just get the baits wet. Maybe the answer is just like the 500 acre lake in the other thread, pay for a guide hahahah. |
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Posts: 605
Location: Marshfield, WI | I fish a lake that gets pretty stained and usually has a bloom each year. I've done best throwing natural patterns, like walleye, sucker, black, perch, etc. For whatever reason, the only 'bright' color that produces on a regular basis on this lake is red. I throw everything I have confidence in. Favorite baits last few years are jerkos, squirkos, phantoms, suicks, g-log, and bulldawgs. Can't wait to try my new 6" g-log I just ordered. I think it will be perfect for this lake this summer.
If you are fishing spots that get a lot of pressure, throw something that the other boats aren't. Lake I fish, every boat I see is either throwing a bucktail or topwater. Last year, I don't think I boated a fish there on a bucktail. Can't wait to try the cowgirls there this year. Sure no one has thrown them there yet.
Krishna |
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Posts: 157
Location: Wausau/Phillips WI | I live on a stained flowage and tend to use more big loud bucktails and black surface baits. To throw a curve into all this, my son hates throwing big lures and he uses small Rizzo tails with black or motor oil tails and brass blades. Fishes shallow and hits every little hole in the slop and does real well.
Buddy |
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Posts: 726
Location: Eau Claire, WI | curleytail, check your email....sent you a message yesterday.
Jono
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Posts: 76
| i fish pretty muddy lakes in ohio and fire tiger, clown, tennesee shad colors seem to work the best. small bucher tails work good also. i mostly stick with tuff shads, erinies, and moster shads. |
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Posts: 8788
| I pretty much only fish stained water, be it muddy, algae blooms, tannic...
(Funny - learned how to fish in gin clear water, sight fishing mostly.)
Anyway, while conventional wisdom would be to choose colors that are most visible in the color water you are fishing. Mepps has a good example of how this might work:
http://www.mepps.com/mepps/library/article.asp?ID=77
But then a muskies eye structure is different than ours, and they feed up, viewing the lure against the background of the sky instead of how we see it...
In any case, my theory is this:
1. If you can't see the lure, neither can the fish.
2. They don't starve where they can't see (they even feed at night, right?)
Must be relying on something else, huh? Like the lateral line 
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Stained water effective/innefective techniques