When the river gets high and muddy, I always think about old "Bench" Coleman and how he would react to it.
He passed away a few years ago, but I'll always remember some of his sayings. One of my favorites was "clear mutt." When the river got high and dirty, he would say the river is "clear mutt," meaning the river was muddy all the way across.
Recent storms turned the river to mud this past week. It really lit a fire under the channel cats. When the river first started rising, the bass fishing was excellent. As the water got dirtier, the walleyes joined in the fracas. When it was really muddy, the channel cats took over.
Fish in general get turned on when the water rises and gets dirty. Apparently they know that a lot of food is being washed into the river and they take advantage of the smorgasbord. The backside of all of this is that when the water levels recede and the clarity improves, there is usually a lull in the fishing. Usually the bass fishing improves somewhat, but the channel cats settle back a little. The walleyes become more nocturnal and move back into the deeper areas.
This is an unusual June as far as water levels are concerned. In most of the recent summers, the rain usually shuts off and we have low, clear water by now.
For the bass anglers, this calls for a variation in tactics. Smallmouth bass are still very efficient predators in off-colored water. Bumping bottom with tubes always works to some degree, even in dirty water. Crankbaits and spinnerbaits really come into play in dirty water and allow the angler to cover more water.
I like to throw crankbaits such as Bandits, Bombers and Rebel crayfish. Crankbaits with rattles and brightly colored bellies attract bass bites through vibration, noise and color. Even in dirty water, color is sometimes the key, and crankbaits come in a wide variety of colors. White, orange, yellow and chartreuse are good colors to use in dirty water. Try different colors until you find out what they want that day. The river is constantly changing, and what you catch them on one day, may not work the next day.
Spinnerbaits are another great smallmouth lure. I've had a lot of people tell me they can't catch fish on spinnerbaits. I wouldn't go bass fishing without them.
There is some confusion as to the difference between a spinnerbait and a spinner. A "spinner" is a lure with a single in-line blade that revolves around a shaft. Mepps, Blue Fox and Roostertails are popular "spinners," and they work well for both largemouth and smallmouth.
Spinnerbait refers to the single- or double-bladed lure with a rubber or silicone skirted jig arranged on a wire with an "R" bend. These are the lures that confound some anglers, and there was a time that I was also confounded by these contraptions. When I first started using them, I had trouble catching fish with them. Eventually I learned that they are indeed great fish-catching tools, but like many lures, they do not work all the time.
There are multitudes of color variations for the blades and skirts. In general, use bright colors and slower retrieves for off-colored water, and natural colors and fast retrieves for clear water.
Don't let the dirty water scare you off. The fish are still out there and can be caught, even in the "clear mutt."
n Ken Maurer, Herndon, is a licensed fishing guide and a regular contributor to the Outdoors section.
Sports
Ken Maurer's Inside Line column: How to catch 'em in the 'clear mutt"
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