chocolate brown waters

[boogie]

What is the best presentation for spring eyes under these conditions ?

Thanks
Boogie
Poisson On !

[stevefellegy]

Find clear water!!!!!!!!!! Just my experience but I think it is next to impossible to get a good bite going in chocolate water. From Erie to the Illinois River to Lake Winnebago...it just doesn't happen. If there was a trick....the boys and girls at Erie and Spring Valley would know.(and score sheets do not reflect that they do) I've traveled however miles it takes to find clear water at Erie...even rented a plane to find it faster. Chocolate water? Forget it!

Now....mud-lines on western reservoirs is another story. However, these mud-lines are ONLY on the surface and the fish are in clear water below. So that DOES help the bite sometimes in shallow water. All the jig pitching, crank-baiting etc., works in THAT chocolate water. Two totally different situations....one is muddy to the bottem...one is not.

[Nodak]

This past summer we had problems on Sakakawea with chocolate waters, not just mud lines but the whole west end of the lake was dirty water. The bite was not very good, but our best sucess seemed to come on sunny days using gold spinner blades, rattle beads, and gold reef runners. I am not sure why gold was the best color, but when the water cleared up gold was no longer the hot color.

[Large Robert]

My home water is the Illinois river.We measure water clarity by inches. When there is 12 to 15 inches of water clarity that is considered clean. Some of the ways I catch fish in these conditions can very day to day. The first will be trolling with three ways and leadcore pounding the bottom I cover lots of water and keep my eye on the depth finder looking for fish. If I see marks in a certain area and the fish are not hitting the cranks I will go back and pull three ways up river very slow with live bait. The three way has a 1/2 to 1 ounce jig with a very short dropper, on the other side of the three way I have a short leader tied just to a hook with a couple of beads. I like to use heavy jigs so I can pound the bootm hard. These are some of the ways that work for me but I am always trying new ways to catch more fish.
Robert Brady #313