[Andy Marquis]

I see so many posts where people are concerned about dirty water killing a day's lure fishing.

But why??

We fish at night, pitch black, no light at all, heavily overcast with no moon, the bass cannot see the lure, yet we still catch, well I do nayway and I am sure there will be others who do as well.

I also still catch fish in very dirty brown water after a blow with lures, OK so I might try and avoid it if I can but at the end of the day a bass still has to eat and will still be eating.

they are a top predator and are finely tuned to locate food day and night, dirty water or clean. A bit of dirty water is not going to stop a fish finding food and it does not have to be a big lump of crab, imagine going all summer with no food just because you can't smell a fish and no crabs on the peel...

So what do people need to do to catch in dirty water??

well personally for me it's the same approach as night fishing, slowly, gently catchy fishy.

Keep the presentation natural, weightless or near weightless SP's, maybe a rattle in the tail and a jerk now and then but none of this whack it out and wind it back as fast as you can. that only works in clear water in the day when bass can see the lure and predator instinct takes over, but then the lure has to be seen to work!!

So don't think you can't catch in it, keep your confidence high, but learn to fish a lure slowly, mid diver worked slow and it keeps just below the surface. The classic old J13 is great for this as it has a good vibe and worked slow will still keep it's head down.

But this is where weightless SP's come into their own, you will have to think about it, fish a mark where you know bait fish congregate as the bass will know this as well and be on the prowl.

I've caught plenty in the dead of night in zero viz, it can and does happen.

if you do not have the confidence in this style of fishing, try some LRF over the winter months, learn how to work a small lure gently in darkness, stay under harbour lights til you feel better about it if you like, but when you have worked out the LRF, size it up into spring and you will start to catch. Guaranteed!! been there myself!! See my Avatar pic!!!

 

[mike symons]

Great reading thank you Andy.

 

[Retired]

Great post Andy.

The only downside to catching in dirty water (there's a downside to catching fish? I hear you ask), is that you can't watch the fish during the fight or see what obstacles lie beneath the surface. That's where a low water recce comes in handy.

 

[Andy Marquis]

Bang on Paul, forgot about that bit. Best done on marks you know.

 

[Neil Dixon]

Great tips, Thanks Andy!

 

[Matt Newcombe]

Nice read Andy, thanks for that. Got to admit I do get put off slightly by dirty water. Doesn't stop me fishing it though.

 

[derek walsh]

Great read ANDY really beneficial information to a novice like myself. Would have and have, given up before i even started when arriving at a mark and the sea was a dirty brown. CHEERS

 

[Marq]

Interesting read Normally i turn away when the water is brown Look out tomorrow

 

[Bagpuss]

Andy

Define dirty water for me please.

I don't have an issue fishing in coloured water say like the Bristol Channel. But dirty water to me is water with lots of churned up suspended sand particles in it. And fish don't like swimming in that as it's a massive irritant to them.

 

[Andy Marquis]

But you get tons of bass in the surf when the sand is all stirred up looking for worms etc washed out of their homes??

 

[Bagpuss]

No we don't Andy they tend to lurk just on that break between the churned up water & the clear stuff.
After a blow here you can see a clear line in the colour of the sea which depending on the severity of the previous rollers coming in can vary in distance from the shore from a matter of 20 yards to probably up to around quarter of a mile. You have to be able to chuck a lure or bait passed this sand churned up mixture to catch. I have seen the same thing at Shell Island on the BASS fish-ins. We were catching nothing in the churned up coloured sand filled water where as Jonathan Rundle went out in his kayak & right on the line of the clear water he hooked three nice bass.
So is coloured water coloured by something other than sand sediment suspended in the water in your area??? Or maybe bass tolerate different water conditions in different areas.
Incidentally I watch the seals here a lot whilst fishing & they never swim through the dirty sand suspended water, always staying a few feet in to the clearer water

 

[Keith White]

I see so many posts where people are concerned about dirty water killing a day's lure fishing.

But why??

We fish at night, pitch black, no light at all, heavily overcast with no moon, the bass cannot see the lure, yet we still catch
I also still catch fish in very dirty brown water

Whilst i think this is likely to be great thread...
I have to contradict you on the 'in bold' sections from your quote.

Fishing in the dark, moon, no moon, clear water, dirty all require independant approaches IME.

1) no matter how dark it seems, there is always some light at the depths we are likely to be fishing regardless of new or full moon. Fish just hug shadow lines and the depths more IME on brighter nights. Even on a dark 'new' moon, I can see a lure 5 meters underwater if it is presented above me and has a dark, bold colour and is moved slowly enough. This is based on me being submerged for less than 90 seconds and acclimatising to localised conditions so I'm sure Bass manage just fine.

So, IF the water is clear, Bass see just and feel just fine IME.

2) Dirty water, less than 3ft of vis requires a different approach, again, IME, Bass might not feed in the darkest of dark nights because they have less advantage to do so. They choose half lights or broad daylight in very weeded area's. Fish come higher in the water and tend to follow certain weed types, not so much hard structure as in clearer conditions. You might find Bass frequenting bubble vraic with 2 -- 3 ft of water over it. Vis range gives them cover to hide and, the amount of visible light allows them to see sillouette above them whilst the Bass themselves are pretty much concealed. I'm not guessing on this latter statement, i was shown this behaviour by a really good diver who has known about this for decades. It has transformed my dirty water fishing.

Hope this info helps...

 

[Mike Sullivan]

This has been a very interesting read all the way through. i fished a chocolate water yesterday, there were fish there and spotted a couple though no feeding. well try it again when it clears at least a little bit.

 

[Adrian]

I think we have to remember that coloured water and dark (night) water are not the same at all. Coloured water is caused by particles in suspension which cannot be seen through however good eyesight you or the fish has. Clear water in the dark can be seen through depending on how good your night vision is and how much light there is. And who's to say that fish can't see into the infrared or ultraviolet?

I generally don't fish coloured water cos my success rate is appalling, but I do fish in the dark and do ok.

 

[Andy Marquis]

Useful comments.

The thread is of my findings of course, I don't fish much compared to many on here so there is a lot more better angelrs out there. I fishhowever when i fish, doesn't matter what time of year, the tide, the wind etc etc, I just fish when I do and normally the same time of day all year round so the light levels vary from bright sunshine to moonless heavily overcast well away from the "glow" of life at 3am in the morning, sure there will be some ambient light, but not a lot.

IMO bass sense lures/prey the majority of the time, they don't use their eyes as much until at close range. My opinion again.

I have had lots of bass in heavily coloured water mostly suspended mud and sand for a better description of what the water is like. it's strange how different places vary Nigel as we get loads of bass right in the messiest water in the surf.

I'll keep going and post various ramblings like this. Hopefully we'll get a useful one now and then!!

 

[Stephen Olsen]

Very interesting post.When the fishings tuff I do prefer to fish in cleaner water compared to the dirty stuff.But if the fish are active and feeding you will catch them if you adapt to the conditions like Andy mentioned.Normally if youre thinking its to dirty to fish its because of the 1/2 ton of weed on your lure thats really hacking you off.I have some shallow marks where on a certain wind and out going tide it forms a dirty patch right on the shore line and bass love it,perfect for hunting sand eels and small flat fish under cover.

As Nigel mentioned pelagics do use a colour line for ambush purposes,hiding in the dirty side and pouncing on there prey.

 

[Giwrgos]

For me here in Greece coloured water works wayyy better then clear,i think the predators especially bass and cudas love it cause they have huge advantage over smaller pieces,crabs will get thrown out of sand cause of the surf and all smaller kind of fish its harder for them to swim in a good surf,dont forget bass in this situation use more their nerve detect line,sorry i dont know english name its the line that starts over their eyes and gose far back until their tail,check out that when in dirty waters its even more visable cause its workin for them even more to catch every vibration or twich of the prey its a system that has worked for them so many years,surely its good fishin in near light spoted places at night but that kind of light humans started using it the last 200-300 years or so,so fish surely hunted and have advanced other methods to hunt aswell such the vibe catchin line i described above.I hope you get what i mean sorry for the bad english ^_^.

 

[Keith White]

For me here in Greece coloured water works wayyy better then clear,i think the predators especially bass and cudas love it cause they have huge advantage over smaller pieces,crabs will get thrown out of sand cause of the surf and all smaller kind of fish its harder for them to swim in a good surf,dont forget bass in this situation use more their nerve detect line,sorry i dont know english name its the line that starts over their eyes and gose far back until their tail,check out that when in dirty waters its even more visable cause its workin for them even more to catch every vibration or twich of the prey its a system that has worked for them so many years,surely its good fishin in near light spoted places at night but that kind of light humans started using it the last 200-300 years or so,so fish surely hunted and have advanced other methods to hunt aswell such the vibe catchin line i described above.I hope you get what i mean sorry for the bad english ^_^.

Brilliant post.

strong, powerful lights much less than that too.
Of course, we all know that Bass switched to night feeding when they first installed electric lighting around the harbours of the world.

LOL

I'm really glad someone picked up on this.

 

[Retired]

I like the thinking too.

We are sometimes very quick to focus on what we know as the position today, without recognising the relatively recent, if devastating, effect the human race has had on the natural world.