i have been reading posts here for a while now and decided it is time to contribute. Rainy and foggy Friday, around 2:45, got out of work early today and I notice a few birds off my dock so I decided to give it a try. With all of this rain the water is very muddy brown. I tried a few different lures, rattle trap, rapala, a few spoons, and some storm minnows. It was a little frustrating as I could see the fish surfacing, even right next to my boat, but nothing would hit. I decided to tie a double rig with two storm minnows and that did the trick. I caught 6 stripers between 21 and 25 inches, nice and fat too. Released them all. All fish were caught within 30 feet of the shoreline. East of the elbow and west of Fenter island. Done fishing by 4:30. What started as an excuse to simply take the boat out, turned into a fun time reeling in some fish.
Great report, thanks for sharing. Good to hear some fish are eating in the muddy water. I was worried we would need a few more warm days before they would start to eat in the dirty water.
Oops, I meant to say 30 yards not 30 feet. The fish were feeding in water that was 10 feet deep or less.
I’ll bet the water 2’ under the mud is clear! Glad you had a good evening, glad you decided to contribute!
I fished last Saturday in the mud, but fish were steady biting. Water temps were in the 58-59 degrees range and the bigger fish (10-12lb) I caught all came off shad. Can’t wait to get back out this weekend.
Where we fished in the MSC tournament was pretty stained but not what I’d call muddy. We could see our baits 6-7 inches below the surface; so that was plenty of visibility to give it a go, and the fish were chomping! Pulling in 15-80 feet of water, we boated around 30 keepers. Just didn’t get the kicker fish to take us to the top and came in 9th. I think too many folks find stained water off-putting when it can provide some of the best fishing.
James “Captain Fog” Lindler
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