Anglers often think of gin clear waters when it comes to fishing for trout, but as fishermen know, we can also be faced with volatile weather that causes flood conditions and dirtier water in our favorite trout streams and rivers. The fish still have to feed, and it does force us to change approaches, but it doesn't mean you can't catch fish anymore. There are a lot of things that open up when the water gets dirty, so we thought we'd run through what we do to change our tactics when the water gets dirty and high.
WHAT IS TOO MUCH
"While pea-green soup is okay, I will say that fishing in mud brown water is generally not very productive," said longtime trout guide David Taylor of Sore Lip 'Em All Guide Service and Trout Magnet headquarters. "When the water gets dirty there are levels to it, and the dirtier the water gets, the more aggressive you can get with your presentations and color choices. But it also means there are a lot less opportunities for the fish to see your lures. So, you need to focus on covering water and finding those few key spots instead of trying to fish everything."
When the water gets too muddy, your success can be drastically limited. But high water with a little color added to it can actually make fishing pretty good in places. New flooded banks wash terrestrials into the water and give the trout new areas to explore. Dirtier water can tend to also put the fish a lot shallower, allowing you to fish faster and cover more water quickly.
Higher, faster-moving water can move the fish tighter to the bottom at times too. They will seek to find places just out of the current when it runs hard but that doesn't mean they quit feeding. Most of the time it just means they've moved to a more opportune area to feed. And it can make new places predictable ambush spots with new obstructions diverting and causing pockets to ambush and feed.
ADVANTAGES IN HIGH WATER
According to Taylor, one of the biggest advantages of fishing for trout in higher dirtier water is you can get closer to fish. And you can be a target oriented and fish faster to cover a whole lot more mileage looking for good spots as you go. The fish also feel safer in water with some color to it. So they are often more apt to bite if a bait slides into their strike zone.
You also don't have to be so meticulous with the finer details. You can use your uglier jigs and gaudier colors and work the baits more aggressively. Instead of floating a 1/64-ounce Trout Magnet, hopping a 1/8-ounce D2 Jig can be a lot more effective. And you can work in hard baits like the Trout Crank to fish aggressively through shallow areas and cover water as you move.
Higher water can also concentrate fish in small areas, so when you find a one little protected area or slower inside turn, the fish can really pile in there and it can be some fast action.
On a recent trip to the Spring River, we encountered some of their worst flood conditions and dirty water in 50 years. But it also made fishing fast and furious in a few small areas. At one point we were catching fish directly below then end of our 9-foot Trinity Rods, leading our jigs just like euro-nymphing flies on a fly rod. They fish were congregated in the slack next to a run and targeting those seams produced a bunch of quality trout.
READ THE WATER DIFFERENTLY
When the water is gin clear, we are often just riding and looking for fish while also fishing our well known runs and pools. But when the waters get high and dirty, you can often find trout in areas you've never fished before. Most of the time, we're looking for new shallow water protected from the volatile current. This can be creeks dumping into the main river, It can simply be back eddies created by new obstructions in the water like logs or big rocks. It can often just be new current seams created by the new flow of the river.
It's still reading water like you are used to when trout fishing, but now the locations are different because the water levels and color is different.
"I think there are times where dirty water makes shallow water look more like they are used to in deep water," Taylor said. "They are used to hanging out in when the water is clear but dark because the light penetration and visibility is lower in deeper water. Which is also in the case in shallow, dirty water."
And keep in mind, much of the time with big water fluctuations, most of the dirty water is on top while a portion of the deeper water is still pretty clear. Giving trout another place to hang out in the changing conditions.
LURES AND TACTICS FOR HIGH / DIRTY WATERS
High Muddy water can call for abandoning your normal finesse presentations and beefing up your lure sizes and working your lures more aggressively. Jerkbaits, bigger jigs and spinners can all perform nicely in high dirty waters.
Don't get us wrong, floating a Trout Magnet still works in these conditions as we proved to ourselves last fall on the Eleven Point River in Missouri. David Taylor and I trekked up there after their 50-Year Flood and found it to be very difficult conditions. But we still caught 2 dozen trout on foot, walking through the woods and accessing waters above and below swift runs and along feeder creeks. And several of those fish came floating a Trout Magnet under an E-Z Float.
But a large portion of our fish came on D2 Jigs hopped aggressively as well as hard baits worked across the slack areas and in the seams as well as above runs and where feeder creeks were dumping in.
This is also a time where Tungsten heads seem to work better. Heavier weights to keep the jigs down in increased current and allowing you to work the lures a bit faster if you need to in shallow water.
Sometimes we can't pick the absolute best conditions to go fishing. And it pays to spend time learning to catch fish in less than ideal environments. We make a point to get out in tough conditions periodically to test different presentations to better understand what trout do where their environments change radically.
