Learning how to choose lures for your fishing conditions is one of the most important skills for professional anglers, or fishermen who want to get more strikes. That’s why in this article, we’re going to talk about what to look for in lure selection when fishing muddy waters!
The first thing you should understand about lure selection is that it’s highly dependent on light levels and by association, water clarity. While green pumpkin may be the best senko color for bass in clear waters, it will likely perform poorly in muddy waters because the bass just can’t see it, heavily limiting your opportunity for strikes. Going for brighter or darker colors is a better strategy. Here are our picks!
White
I’m used to fishing muddy fresh water ponds and rivers in Florida, and our water is pretty dark in a lot of places. I discovered entirely by accident that white was a fantastic color for my location, failing to catch anything on most other lures I tossed out. At the time I didn’t know anything about lure color selection, but I’m glad that I learned.
White is one of the best lure colors for working with deep and/or darker waters. It’s easy to see, and because of that it’s also a great color to use if you want to drag it through spawning beds. Any slightly aggressive fish will attack a brightly colored white shad lure violently, offering you great strikes and making for a good day of fishing out on the pond or lake.
Chartreuse
Another super popular color for muddy waters is Chartreuse. This obnoxious looking color is anything but natural, but if you’re fishing for large mouth bass in deep waters, it might be a better performer than white. However, it’s also a really great pick if you’re targeting small mouth bass, because they are highly aggressive towards it.
This color might be off putting to fish in shallower or clearer waters though, so buyer beware! However, if you don’t want to go full neon, then you can get a number of other lure colors which feature just a splash of chartreuse. Usually the tail will be highlighted, while the body might be another more attractive color like June Bug or Black and Blue, which brings us to our next color!
Black/Blue
While black seems like it’d be a bad pick for dark waters, it’s actually many angler’s number one choice. Bass see differently than we do, and using dark colors like black or dark purples can provide contrast. Contrast helps them to see different baits against the bottom or in areas where visibility is limited and they have a hard time identifying food sources.
Black can be combined with other colors too for better results. Black/Blue is one of the best chatterbait colors around, and any black lure which contains sparkle flakes is a good performer in these conditions.
PS. Chatterbaits are also a great choice for muddy water because they add vibration in low visibility enviornments! Consider learning how to use them and adding them to your fishing arsenal if you frequently fish in darker waters, or in the weeds.
June Bug
Another great dark color to try is June Bug. This one features some nice green sparkle flakes which can really add something to your lure. Bass have a visual spectrum which prioritizes red and green. These are the colors which they see the best, and green is also a color which is featured prominently on smaller fish which bass like to eat, like Bluegill.
So, when you dart a June Bug chatterbait through the weeds in dark water, the bass sees an outline which looks like a tasty bluegill snack, and they get that little flash of green sparkle that looks like scales. It’s a great way to tempt a bass into striking, and June Bug is a popular color with fishermen for many different types of lures. (It’s one of the best worm colors for bass too!)
