"Ronnie" wrote in message
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Sunday - January 24, 2010 - Day 23 - one day missed

Muddy winter fishing conditions can be tough. I usually go for a loud crank
bait or a spinner bait tied on and slow crank everything that might hold
fish. Something red or black or purple. Colors that have a high contrast.

I've got a buddy with more patience than me. He finds vertical trees and
flips with a giant black and blue jig in those conditions, or a giant white
jig. Something he also does during one of our rare alga blooms. I've
watched him and it takes patience to do what he does. Pitch to the tree and
feed line so the bait drops vertically within and inch of the main trunk.
Let it sit unmolested for several seconds and then drag it very slowly away
from the tree. Painfully slow. Pause, drag until its several feet away.
Then hit the same tree again. He says he doesn't fee he has worked the main
trunk properly unless he has gotten a perfect presentation on atleast 3
sides. He would prefer to hit all four, and since I showed him how to sweep
the rod to pitch behind a tree he usually does. If he goes over a branch
or several he will bring the bait slowly up over the branch and then
immediately drop the rod so the bait falls vertically under the branch. He
will do this for each and every branch he pulls over. I asked him if there
was a target depth, and he told me in our system it doesn't matter. Trees
in 3' are as likely to hold fish as trees in 10'. The only advantage to
deeper trees is people can't see them and don't fish them as often or as
thoroughly because it's a lot harder. He says he's got the location of a
hundred or so of his favorite trees in different backwater lakes memorized
well enough that he can find them by triangulation to landmarks and a little
test casting no matter how muddy the water is. Trees you can only see when
the water is clear. I asked him about GPS and he said that only gets him
close, but he locates them faster if he keeps his landmarks under
observation the whole time he is approaching.

My buddy's jig/tree pattern does not produce as many fish as some other
presentations might, but they do tend to be a little bigger on average. If
he gets a limit on a tough muddy day he's probably going to be in the money.
I don't mind sharing and he freely shares this pattern because almost nobody
can do that for 8 hours and only get a handful of bites all day long.
Sometimes only 2 or 3.

Sounds like you have the patience for slow work though and it paid off with
one good size fish.

I've got a tough tournament coming this weekend with Yuma Pro Am. It rained
about a week ago pretty hard and the river is muddy. Although by this
weekend it should be clearing some. Water levels are low, and temps are
low, but may be up a couple degrees depending on what the rain water did to
the temps, and how much is being released upstream. I suspect there will be
some early staging fish if the water has cleared enough that they are not
struggling to breath in the mud still. I saw one spawned out red finned
female come to the scales a couple weeks ago. She was big. Almost 8
pounds, but the guys who had her only had 4 winter rats to go with it.

I'm probably going to gamble on finding some clear or clearing water on
staging cover first thing and try to provoke some reaction bites. The thing
is here staging spots can be just a few feet from bedding spots. I'm also
going to check some of my early spawning pockets. If I don't draw a partner
I may spend a little more time looking than I normally would too. As of
Wednesday there were already 25 anglers signed up, and half a dozen or more
who said they plan to. There will be some good anglers out there so I'll
have to weigh a limit and catch a kicker or two to have a chance of getting
in the money. Even in these tough conditions I know I won't be able to get
in the money with a limit of rats.

Bob La Londe
www.YumaProAm.com

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