How muddy is too muddy

[Atimm693]

The question I have is, how long does it take to clear up?

The rain stopped on Sunday. Was out last night and the lake was still chocolate milk on the lower 2/3rds. Have had some light rain once or twice but nothing like it was, extended forecast looks mostly clear.

Water rose sharply on both of my favorite lakes, one has already been drawn down to power pool, the other is still 10ft high. Raises even more questions about how the Crappie are going to behave.

[TerryD]

I used to occasionally fish the Duck river below the dam in Columbia. I always had my best crappie days when the water was stained to muddy. Hot pink head with a 2" white or pearl twister tail was my go to bait.

[CrappiePappy]

Cold & muddy water = bad conditions

Warm & muddy water = much better conditions

(or so I've been told)

[Ketchn]

Muddy and Cold is a bad mix for sure to ketch crappie in best I can tell you . But I don’t think it bothers the fish much , just us ...

[Yaker]

The subject of muddy water leads me to pondering bait choices,or rather color choices..After watching a few videos and demonstrations of lure color in different water clarity at different depths,I'm led to believe that overall, purples,blues,blacks,and Browns are better choices in all water charity's ,at all water levels.
That leads me to the next question,it seems like the color craze leans toward the brighter eye appeal colors,what say ye?
In one demonstration,a fellow had 4 containers filled with different textures of stained water.In his demo,the bright colors showed well in clear water,but diminished quickly in each stain of water.The darker lures,all showed well,and actually seemed to improve the more stained the water became as far as contrast .
With that said,logically it appears the more natural colored the lure is,the better the appeal.Im not wanting to stir the pot,I'm just saying what I've kinda always thought,I've never seen too many naturally bright colored live baits out there,wouldn't it be prudent to say,the natural colored baits have more appeal to the fish,and the brighter colors have more appeal the the fishermen? .......

[CrappiePappy]

The subject of muddy water leads me to pondering bait choices,or rather color choices..After watching a few videos and demonstrations of lure color in different water clarity at different depths,I'm led to believe that overall, purples,blues,blacks,and Browns are better choices in all water charity's ,at all water levels.
That leads me to the next question,it seems like the color craze leans toward the brighter eye appeal colors,what say ye?
In one demonstration,a fellow had 4 containers filled with different textures of stained water.In his demo,the bright colors showed well in clear water,but diminished quickly in each stain of water.The darker lures,all showed well,and actually seemed to improve the more stained the water became as far as contrast .
With that said,logically it appears the more natural colored the lure is,the better the appeal.Im not wanting to stir the pot,I'm just saying what I've kinda always thought,I've never seen too many naturally bright colored live baits out there,wouldn't it be prudent to say,the natural colored baits have more appeal to the fish,and the brighter colors have more appeal the the fishermen? .......

That would be true if fish see like humans see .... but they don't. They see better, more clearly, and farther than we can ... in their environment. Contrast is the key in most instances, along with how much light refraction comes off the bait. Then you have to add in the water temp, since a Crappie's eyes see better in colder water temps. They can also see better than we can in a murky water scenario. Plus, you also have to add in their lateral line, which picks up vibrations (water pressure waves) of things moving in the water. And that's not the end of it, since they can also smell the scent of various critters in their proximity.

[SKs Crappie Catching Adventures]

muddy water scares fisherman not fish , white crappie thrive in muddy waters ,remember that

X 2

[silverside]

This muddy water discussion makes me ask: in muddy water bass can switch from sight feeding to sound feeding. Do crappie do that as well?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

[Tom 513]

Dark water dark bait, I have found blue/black works well for muddy water bass, and in preparation for sundays muddy water crappie fishing I stopped and picked up some black with flake plastics

[Yaker]

Dark water dark bait, I have found blue/black works well for muddy water bass, and in preparation for sundays muddy water crappie fishing I stopped and picked up some black with flake plastics

Let us know how it works for ya,I'm tired of wasting fishing time due to the muddy water we seem to always have in the spring.