Color and Jigs for cold murky water?

New to Crappie fishing but had success this year following advice here. I went fishing in 80 degree weather and was the only one catching Crappie while a few others did not bring in anything.

I used slab sauce and a small shad jig with straight charteuse tail and a shiny light blue body on 1/32 oz jig head. Casting from shore and found most hits closer to shore.

It has become cold and water is brown and murky. What colors should I try for these situations and should I change the jig type? Only got I small one and no hits. Walked the shore also.



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I would try blacks, golds, orange. Any of these with chartreus in them should do you some good. Maybe use a spear tail type jig to create a larger profile in the murky water.

:welcomeWelcome aboard from east central Mississippi. Like silverside said black/chartreuse etc. are really good colors for murky water. The biggest miss stake I see people do is fishing the bait too fast. Slow down your retrieve and when you do slow down some more. Another thing I have learned and I have learned a lots(and still learning) here on Crappie.com is go with the smallest line weight that you can as it helps. Biggest thing is don't get discouraged as even the pro's don't catch fish some days that's the reason it is called fishing and not catch'in. Check this out also it will work with all baits also. And remember slow down.

Charlie Brewer's Slider Company - Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â* Weedless Crappie Slider "Why&How"

purple /chart. blue / chart . black/ chart . Scrat is spot on, I would also say fish will move toward the surface so always think shallow in muddy or choppy water . Like a foot deep even in 15-20 ft. of water .

When water is still cold and muddy I use bigger baits that are easy to see . We usually vertical jig 1/8 insert heads in a 2'' purple/chartreuse tube . When it comes to fishing pre-spawn cold muddy water we use a 1/4 oz head with 2.5 '' tubes in glow colors like orange/chartreuse . Big Crappie eat big bait and helps if they can feel and see it . Too many with the mind set of using tiny baits in natural colors . :twocents

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What they said- bigger baits and heavy colors with chartreuse mixed in. I red head is also good, but watch out for the catfish, if you are spider rigging.

Welcome aboard! I would do what's been working for you so far. Since you are shore bound, you might want to look into a slip bobber rig with that 1/32 oz. jig head below it. Sometimes the want it that slow! Other times, like you've experienced, they prefer it moving more. Try different presentations and feed them what they want.

As far as color goes, I'd also opt for the brighter, more fluorescent type colors. Anything with chartreuse will catch crappie. A bait with contrasting colors seems to work well in heavily stained water. Just remember, crappie (and all fish) see better than we do in the water. So what seems like muddy water to you, may in fact not be that muddy to the fish. Something to think about. Good Luck!

I have found that black or the outlaw special Bobby Garland Baby Shad or the Crazy Angler chart blue back slab bandit has save the day in murkey water more often than any thing else.

I’m new to crappie fishing too ( new to fishing in general) but what I found the most successful is a blade jig head and a stump bug in chartreuse.Attachment 320408Attachment 320409Attachment 320411

Yup good combination. Never used stump bug but I’ve used similar. :ThumbsUp

Good first post. Welcome to forum. :cheers2 :welcome