Oklahoma pro fisherman Tommy Biffle sometimes takes an unusual approach to bass fishing -- he looks for muddy water.
"Often I fly over a lake [before a tournament] just to find muddy-water regions," Biffle says. "As a matter of fact, at home in Oklahoma, I fish water as red as tomato soup."
There are several advantages of fishing muddy water, according to Biffle, who won the B.A.S.S. Megabucks championship last year.
* Most fishermen prefer clearer water, so fishing pressure is lighter in areas of stained or muddy water.
* Muddy water makes bass move into the shallows, which creates a smaller area to be fished.
* With the fish concentrated by muddy conditions, the angler may concentrate on creeks where there is abundant cover and structure and the depth is 3 feet or less.
A good way to fish muddy or murky water is to work one's way in toward cover and structure from the edge where clear and murky water meet.
"My favorite three muddy-water tactics are pitching and flipping jigs, crawling crawdad type baits and big worms along the bottom and utilizing spinnerbaits with large, No. 5 to No. 7, gold-finish Colorado blades that create a lot of vibration and flash," Biffle says.
"Placing the lure in the exact location where you believe the fish are located also is critical. . . . Putting the lure right in front of the fish and working it slowly increases odds of hooking up."
Crappie tips
Think of fisherman and television show host Bill Dance and usually one associates him with largemouth or smallmouth bass, but Dance knows a bit about panfish, too. Especially crappie, which are moving into the shallows in the coves of our reservoirs as the weather warms.
"The No. 1 lure choice for crappie fishing is a jig," says Dance. "They flat out catch crappie."
The trick is to find crappie and to entice them to bite.
Start with a 10- to 12-foot medium-action rod, which will allow coverage of a much larger area than a 6-foot rod. Then scout out a likely area.
Crappie relate to cover and depth, even when they are in the shallows. Shallow water with good cover and a 2- to 3-foot drop-off nearby is good this time of year.
Tie on the jig and start vertical movement of the lure. Once a fish is caught, return the lure to the same depth.
