Fishing Muddy Waters. We’ve all been there. Pack up the rig the night before, wake up before daylight and head out to our favorite s...
Fishing Muddy Waters.
We’ve all been there. Pack up the rig the night before, wake up before daylight and head out to our favorite spot, visions of fish peeling off line in your head the whole drive only to arrive and find the water murky, stained, off color. Suddenly your hopes and anticipation for a great day of fishing become deflated. Fishing in muddy/colored up water can be a little discouraging to most of us. If a fish can’t see your fly, how are you going to catch anything?
Water color can change suddenly for a variety of reasons. The
most common is heavy rainfall. A lot of rain will flood and blow out the
feeder creeks that flow into your favorite river, especially if the heavy rain
is combined with rapid snow melt. The amount of color can vary depending on how
blown out those feeder creeks are. If the water literally looks like chocolate
milk it is truly time for despair, but if there is 8 or more inches of
visibility, putting in the extra time and effort it takes to find a fish, can
really pay off. If you can properly control your fly and put it right where you
think the fish are, all you really need is a foot or less of visibility.
Chances are, that the fish hasn’t really seen much activity, or much of
anything because the water is colored up. So if you can get that fly in front
of that fish’s face it’s likely to be ready to strike either out of hunger or
aggression.
Another reason a river could be colored up is because it is
glacial fed. In this case, the temperature gets so hot during the day and
starts to melt the sediment filled glacier that feeds the river. This can give
the water more of a green-grey color rather than brown. The visibility can vary
a lot depending on how hot it was the day prior. One cool night can shut off
glacial run-off, depending on the distance of the water you are fishing from
the glacial source, a river could run clear in the morning and then cloud up later,
or if you are further downstream the opposite could occur cloudy water becomes
clear. If a glacial fed river is blown
out the same rules still apply to me, 8 or more inches of visibility and it’s
worth fishing.
As far as fly choice goes, in muddy water I’m going to put on
something fairly large and black. A couple of weeks ago, I was fishing a local
river after a few days of hot weather, it was colored up to less than a foot
visibility. I put on one of our Rabbit Strip RL tube flies and hooked up with a
nice steelhead and multiple trout. Black flies stick out in colored water
nicely, and it’s what I’ve personally had the most success with. Other flies
like the Fish Taco, Egg Sucking Leech Tube Fly, Rabbit Strip Tube Fly,
Articulated Leech are all good flies to use in colored water and in any
circumstance.
Something else to consider when the water is colored up, BE
CAREFUL WHEN WADING! Not being able to see where your next step is going to
land makes wading a lot tougher. Adding extra grip on your soles like GoatHeads, or Aluma-Trax Soles from Korkers, can be of great aid. As can a wading staff, to help find safe
spots to plant one foot before lifting up your other. At any rate, take it slow, feel around with
your feet when you’re taking steps. You obviously won’t know exactly how deep
it is either unless you are very familiar with the water you’re fishing. Be
safe, especially if the water is blown out due to rainfall. Swift muddy water
is nothing to mess with.
