Rollin’ Mud Blues

Seems like at times we get more than our fair share of rain. Every time water levels get near normal for a couple days, along comes another storm and in comes the water. More times than not, that water is rolling in mud, especially in our river systems, which many eventually end up feeding into our reservoirs and making them murky, too. Lots of people end up throwing in the bass fishing towel and waiting for things to settle out, but that’s not necessary. So today, I thought I’d take a moment to post some of the research that has occurred concerning feeding in both largemouth and smallmouth bass in turbid environments. So, if your water looks like this picture, then this post is for you.

Study #1 from Todd A. Crowl entitled, “Effects of crayfish size, orientation, and movement on the reactive distance of largemouth bass foraging in clear and turbid water“, came to the conclusion that in clear water, visual recognition is an important factor, and the larger the prey item or the more movement from the item, the farther away a bass would rspond to that item. In turbid water, size and movement made no difference. However, fish would still likely react upon visual recognition, usually immediately.

Study #2 from Reid, Fox and Whillans entitled, “Influence of turbidity on piscivory in largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides)“, came to the conclusion that “piscivory is primarily regulated by the availability of vulnerable size-classes of prey fish, as opposed to water clarity.” In other words, bass won’t stop eating in the murky water, but they might be more selective concerning the size of prey they consume.

And finally, Study #3 from Sweka and Hartman entitled, “Reduction of Reactive Distance and Foraging Success in Smallmouth Bass, Micropterus dolomieu, Exposed to Elevated Turbidity Levels“, found that turbidity did reduce the likelihood that a bass would react to a particular prey item, but did not influence foraging success once the bass did choose to react to the prey.

So the science “take home message” today is to not stay home and sulk when your waters are rolling in mud. Fish still have to eat, though they may not be quite as aggressive or even a little selective when it comes to things they’ll bite. So your presentation has to change a little, and the real trick becomes how to literally put a bait right in front of a basses face. But if you can successfully do that, odds are good you’ll still get bit!