muddy river ideas

[help]

Scenario...high current due to heavy rainfall, very muddy water, river fishing....not many real points..more straight stretches with light curves...

What would you do in a tournament to find, catch fish....techniques would be appreciated....

[Doc_wi]

Look for any clearer water, feeder creeks etc.
Look for areas out of the current or deep water.
TechniGlow Jigs, with rattles
Look for any wood or rock too.
Try BIG presentations looking to "connect" with the fishes lateral line and get a reaction strike or SMALL natural presentations, maybe a 2" piece of crawler for negative fish.
Pretty general question, how big a river, how deep, natural or industrial river etc etc.

[thanks]

Thanks for the feedback....yes, I guess it was very general. This is a regular river that has been increased in size due to a dam downstream. We have had lots of rain to our West and now the water is coming east, causing more current, muddy water and fluctuating water levels due to dam increase and decrease. Tournament this weekend. Regularily fish in 12-18 feet of water as often find fish on shelf of old river banks and flats......some water is up to 60 feet deep in the main channel but have never fished those spots before. Widest areas are about a 1/4 mile wide and less....river does not have any real sharp bends more gradual bends....has your sand, mud and rocky areas...no wingdams or big rock/wood structures that I know about. Tried fishing our regular spots with some "Yum" bait...orange, yellow, green, red combinations on heavier jigs.....caught two small ones that was it....others are finding it hard to get more than 3-4 all day long pre-fishing. Tough conditions...any ideas would be appreciated....we are novice to these conditions but have done real well when all water aspects on this river system are normal.
Thanks!

[SUPERTROLLER]

I fish a dirty water lake. We use alot of wide wobbling lures to let the fish zero in on them easier. Hot-n-tots and Rattletots are our best. Then, Deep jr. thundersticks and shadraps. Deep husky jerks catch a few too. You don't necessarily need to be going slower than previously worked for you either. Go by the current water temps. and experiment to find what works for you. Slower isn't always a good thing. We like to cover more ground and contact as many fish as possible and get the reaction strikes. If it's not working, then of course go slower.

Another thing we use alot on dirty water is heavy jigging spoons. Hopkins spoons in silver and gold, 1/2 or 3/4 oz. being the best. Bang them on bottom in known fishing hotspots when the action is not going like normal to see if they want something a little more aggressive. These things work when jigging and rigging is coming up empty.

[right on]

Right on, great feedback, thanks for the details. What about when this dirty is due to extreme current..what does a person do then?

[SUPERTROLLER]

Find pockets of slack water or areas with less current. Fish aren't going to fight extreme current unless they are moving to another spot. They won't be feeding at those times.

[river man]

When the current is rageing check the back waters. I fish a over sized spinning rig in 6-10 ft water behind log jams outside of the current. Looh for any where the currnt is broke by any rock or trees. Then float the spinner rig rightin the slower current. I also run a float on my rigs in this codition. If you locate the fish use a raodrunner jig and ball up a nightcrawler and vertical jig the fish add split spots if needed to keep the rig down.

[appreciated]

Your help on this topic has been greatly appreciated! Thanks for your help!