Muddy Water Crappie - by Brad Wiegmann

Are you tired of fishing in muddy water? It’s been a wet spring and many of the reservoirs in the southeast are high and muddy. While muddy water isn’t always the best for anglers it is for crappie.



First let’s look at the science behind why flooding or high water conditions are good for crappie and crappie fishing. “The one thing about high water is it’s really good for the fish, but it can be really hard on the crappie angler,” Jon Stein, Region Fisheries Supervisor for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, continued, “You get consisted natural reproduction and recruitment. That means you have a lot of vegetation and timber so once the crappie spawn with the high water conditions the crappie fry have places to hide. In years with low water levels the crappie don’t have those places to hide.”


Stein also noted that the high, muddy water conditions also bring in nutrients to the lake. The nutrients help the food chain by bringing in nutrients. “Small fish like crappie eat zooplankton and when you have a large amount of influence coming in the food chain is going to improve. So you have a large number of newly spawned threadfin shad and gizzard shad that survive for the crappie to eat,” said Stein.

Muddy or stained water conditions in May after the spawn with water temperatures 70 degrees or more will move crappie to brush piles noted Stein. “Crappie will move offshore to brush piles or areas with standing timber as good places to fish,” Stein continued, “Crappie will also start suspending around docks. Anglers will also start trolling crankbaits during that time of the year which is a pretty effective way of catching crappie.”


High, muddy water doesn’t discourage Wally Marshall from going fishing. “Right now most of the reservoirs I have been fishing are stained or muddy,” Marshall continued, “So instead of casting and retrieving a lure, I’m dropping a lure right on them to get them to bite. The key is to keep the lure in the strike zone as crappie need to see the lure to strike it.”


Marshall has been using his MEGA LIVE Live Imaging Sonar to see the crappie and baitfish. This keys him into the strike zone which in high, muddy water conditions is normally 1- to 3-feet deep. Although the crappie are shallow they might be suspended under boat docks or over deep water.



To catch these crappie, Marshall will use a 12- or 14-foot long Wally Marshall Signature Series rod to drop a Mr. Crappie Scizzor Shad rigged on a 1/8-ounce Mr. Crappie Sausage Head. As for color patterns for his soft plastics, Marshall likes to contrast the jighead from the soft plastic lure he is using.



If dropping and holding the jighead doesn’t work with the long rods, Marshall will add a Mr. Crappie Rattlin Pear float to hold the lure at a predetermined depth. Marshall likes to keep the lure just above or at eyelevel.


Don’t let high, muddy water keep you from fishing. Crappie can still be caught. You just have to change where and how to catch them.