How To Catch Fish In Clear Water

what's up guys tim little welcome back to tactical bass and today's video we are talking about fishing in clear water should you be throwing little micro jigs or big swim baits today i'm giving you some tips and tricks to help you guys catch more fish the next time you end up fishing clear water [Music] all right guys so clear water can be [Music] it could be overwhelming especially when you find yourself in 10 15 20 30 feet of visibility i fished a lake last year that i kid you not 42 feet i could see bottom without my polarized sunglasses on it was insanely clear and that could be discouraging it could be overwhelming because guess what those fish know what's going on and if you can see them they can see you from a lot farther away so today's video i have some key baits that i like to use and some tips on boat positioning and using the sun to your advantage and all sorts of stuff so let's go into it you know myself i actually really enjoy fishing clear water i don't know if it's because i can actually target fish stuff offshore you know a lot of fishermen they love pounding the bank they love beating the bank because they can pick their target they see the lay down they see the point they see what they're casting to and then they can cast to it maybe that's why but you know clear water when you're fishing 20 or 30 foot visibility and you can see that that bottom composition change you can see that boulder that sticks out more than everything else and you can visibly target fish it maybe that's why or maybe i just enjoy the just the the clarity and everything but i don't know i really enjoy clear water it doesn't doesn't affect me like it does some anglers maybe it's because of in northern california you know a lot of our reservoirs get really really clear my number one tip is be stealthy you know when you think of clear water fishing you think of guys that are throwing four five six pound test they're throwing little tiny micro jigs or they're downsizing and throwing little tiny shaky heads with a little beaver on it you know they're fishing really slow they're fishing really natural and yes that works but there's also some other key baits and and techniques to take advantage of that clear water you know these fish they know what's going on it's their lake it's their territory they know when boulders i mean they know everything right so you have to be on your toes you have to be stealthy and you got to make long casts so those are just some some little things to think about but um you know if you're fishing from a boat and or a kayak something on the water you have to really be cognizant of the sun the positioning of where you are your shadow those types of things so if you can you want the sun kind of at your back you don't want to be casting a shadow out way out in front of you but maybe just down a little bit so always keep that sun at your back if possible because that puts the sun in their eyes when they're coming towards you looking at the bait hopefully that makes sense so if you can if you pull up to a point and you and you can position that sun like right here where it's coming down this way you have a little short shadow it's not sticking 20 30 feet out in front of the boat or the kayak and you throw your top water bait or your swim bait whatever you're throwing out there bring it back and that bait's gonna be coming into the sun and those fish are gonna be tracking it looking and into the sun it gives them less visibility in that clear water and another thing is make long casts i just talked about a little bit but if you can make a longest cast as possible because that lets you fish more water but it also puts more distance between you and your bait and more distance between you and the fish to not spook them you know these fish are very very spooky if they're not used to clear water you know if you're fishing a body of water that's typically uh i don't know a foot or two or three feet of visibility but let's say you had a less rain this spring and now you have 6 8 10 12 feet of visibility those fish are going to be way more skittish way more spooky so you don't have to be fishing 20 foot of visibility but if your water is clear than normal then this information is going to apply as well so again make sure that sun placement is is right for you make sure you're making long casts and when you make your long cast it's very important i catch myself all the time at the last probably third cast or maybe the last quarter of my cast the last 20 feet or so i start to adjust my trolling motor for that next position or that next cast so be very cognizant of staying off the trolling motor you know like i said these fish are they're in their domain with that water clarity they can see a lot farther away you know you put a bass in in water they could see six inches or 12 inches they're not going to be as spooky as you put a bass where they can see 30 40 50 60 70 feet right they can see everything that's going on so the trolling motor is another key i see a lot of guys do that you know they get halfway through their cast and they start they step on that trolling motor boo you know believe it or not no matter which troll motor you have they have sound under the water so again those fish are really spooky so as far as bait selection you know i talked about sun positioning i talked about you know long distance casts and i talked about the trolling motor those are just three real easy things that you can do to to help yourself have success in clear water but as far as baits i like to break it down in three categories in the first category we'll talk about finesse but it's gonna be go natural you know if you're throwing your finesse baits you're throwing your ned rigs your drop shots your wacky rig senkos whatever finesse bait you're throwing make sure you go natural you know you don't need big bright bold colors when those fish can see 30 40 50 feet right so you want to go as natural as possible if you're going slow so something like the ned rig i love your green pumpkins you know green pumpkin black flake watermelons those those type of natural colors they get bit especially in clear water so little ned rig you know if you're gonna go if you're gonna go with uh a nico rig or a wacky rig i want some i'm gonna show you guys something here and just just shortly but again it's really hard to beat just your your your basic green pumpkin black flake wacky rig senko or whatever your favorite stick bait is uh nico rig same thing but i want to show you guys something real quick you know you guys know that i love throwing nico rigs uh this is actually a product i'm really really impressed with this is actually um it's made by vmc they are nico rig pliers so they have little storage compartments in the pliers themselves and they have these rubber bands there's their o-rings they're a little bit wider it's got two storage compartments you guys can see that right there and there you put one of those bands on there and then you slip your worm down through it and put your band on but what's cool about these bands check this out so there's a nico rig you see that hook is rigged parallel with the worm they have holes so then if you want to go wacky rig now you're perpendicular if you're wacky rigging rig it like that i know it's a little bit of a tangent off of today's video but i'm really really impressed with the it's one of those things it's like why didn't i think of that little nikko rig pliers and they have the storage compartments for your o-rings and your bands so very very cool but if you are finesse fishing again these fish you're going slow these fish are going to have a lot of time to analyze and inspect your bait you know you're down there dragging a ned rig or shaking a drop shot they're going to sit there and be able to look at it right so you want to go as natural as possible so if you're fishing finesse and you feel like it downsize go with lighter line and go natural now if i am fishing uh say a drop shot or a nico rig me personally i almost always throw braid to a leader so to a fluorocarbon leader and one of the most often questions we get asked is how long of a leader should i tie now we'll probably do a more in-depth video on this but just to keep it simple i actually on my spinning gear i will throw longer leaders you know on a bait caster i typically have a leader that's just long enough that my bait is the right distance to cast and my connection knot is just outside the line guide on my baitcast reel spinning reel completely different story i could have a leader that's 30 or 40 feet long depending on the water depth that i'm fishing if i'm fishing a clear water fishery that's say 25 feet i'm gonna want to make sure that at least my leader is 20 feet long i don't want that connection knot down near that bait where those fish can see that before they see the bait where this really comes into play is if you're throwing a little finesse swim bait or some kind of bait that is coming straight at you you're not really bottom fishing but you're throwing it out there and you're reeling mid column that connection knot is coming and then that bait is coming you don't want that bait too close to your connection knot because if you are intercepting that fish between you and your cast and that bait's coming at them they're gonna see your connection knot before they see your bait so keep that in mind but spinning rods i definitely make a longer leader multiple benefits to it you still have the sensitivity of the braid uh it's still more sensitive than straight fluorocarbon but with that longer leader if you do get hung up and you break off you don't have to retie an entire leader and just throughout the day it saves you time you don't have to tie multiple leaders uh hopefully that makes sense now with that said if i am going out finesse fishing in clear water i almost always start with some kind of small swim bait there's a little 2.8 that's actually on the okashira head i also love the dirty jigs guppy head just like every video i'll link my favorite baits down below in the video description but that right there guys if you want to see if there's fish in the lake that you're fishing put a 2.8 swim bait on there 2.8 size 3 inch sized swimbait on a little head like that on six eight pound test fired out there on a spinning rod long long casts and uh you'll see what is in your leg another another one that we love throwing that little guy right there that's actually on the same okushire head that's just the spin head you can see it just adds a little bit of unstability i guess would be the word it it destabilizes the bait and makes that little spark shad just have a lot of shimmy to it a lot of rock and uh that bait right there the small smallmouth love that bait especially on the great lakes and you know some of those fisheries that we fish up north you're looking at bottom and 30 plus feet and you're seeing the fish avoid you you know it can be frustrating to say the least when you see a fish they've already seen you most of the time you fire out to them and you see them avoid your bait and you're like time to pack up and go somewhere else so be cognizant of your boat positioning make sure you're wearing polarized sunglasses so you're looking in the water and a lot of times or some of the times you can see them before they see you and you can lead them and watch them come over and eat your bait it's really really cool sight fishing but not necessarily bed fishing one other bait that i wanted to talk about if i'm i wouldn't even say i'm finesse fishing but this guy right here the dark sleeper through the last couple years hands down is probably our best confidence bait for big big smallmouth in clear water you know especially that three-inch size there's a lot of sizes of the dark sleeper if you only have to pick one go with that three-inch it's not too big it's not too small they have some great colors this is one of my favorites again you're going to fish this you could fish it mid column or you can creep it on bottom and if your fishery has little bluegill little crappie or gobies this thing is a must so now that we kind of talked about the finesse stuff let's talk about uh techniques that i like to use to really uh trigger those fish or or basically you wouldn't necessarily think about throwing in ultra clear water so my first category was finesse and go natural my next category is go big if you are in clear water and you want to see what fish live in your lake throw a big bait throw a six seven eight inch glide bait or a six or seven inch swim bait this is actually the rashi glide this is an awesome awesome glide bait the s waiver 168 you guys can see the two you know we've talked about these guys for years well decades years um you will be surprised what fish will eat in clear water if you throw a big meal out there a presentation you don't necessarily have to be worried about your connection not because guess what they're looking at that meal that lazy glide bait that's just going side to side twitch twitch you add those those reel twitches in there get that thing dancing around and those fish are keying in on that bait they're not worried about your connection knot i still use braid to leader i'll throw a monolith or if i really feel like it that they are line shy i might go with a longer fluorocarbon leader but again go big that goes for your topwaters you guys will be surprised with fish coming up 20 30 feet in clear water up to eat a big five or six inch top water bait i didn't talk about it earlier in this video i'm going to talk about it now because i just thought about it look for the color line those fish bass are ambush predators they are looking for areas that they can hide and ambush their prey they're looking for areas that can hide in the dark and look into the light so there's two places shadows and the drop off the color line if you guys are looking in clear water you know get on google earth go out to your fishery wherever where your polarized sunglasses you will see that water that color line where it changes where it goes from light to dark that is the area that those fish are going to sit they're going to sit in that dark and they're going to look to the light so if you're fishing a swim bait or you're fishing a top water you don't have to be thrown to the bank throw out on that color line because that's where those fish are going to be and on the flip side if you are fishing the shoreline look for things that cause shadows docks lay downs the sun setting on a on a on a bluff wall now that shade line's really tight to the bank throw that top water right along the edge of that shade line because those fish are gonna use the dark as as their as their cover so kind of missed that in the beginning but fish the color line and fish the shade lines so we talked about natural if we're going finesse we talked about going big don't be afraid to throw a big swim bait a big glide bait a big top water my third tip or or technique is going to be go fast you know if you want to get these fish to commit to reaction baits in clear water you got to throw something that covers a lot of water you know if it's a crankbait that's our tactical that's our tactical crank uh phenomenal clear water crankbait burn it you're throwing it on a seven or eight to one gear ratio reel from burma paws you guys have heard us talk about this for several years now but get those fish to just chase you got to get that bait moving don't give them the time to inspect the bait like you would with those little finesse baits burn it get that thing moving get it deflected and don't give those fish a chance to really analyze and inspect your bait on the flip side if you're throwing top water throw baits that throw that move or cover a lot of water your straight you know whopper ploppers or your buzz baits i typically go with a black or something with with less less bold in the water i don't want them to get a really good look at it so a whopper plopper is a great bait because you can burn it pause it when you get to that shade line and cause those uh those speed changes and the crankbait you know when you're deflecting when you're burning that thing down there and you're bouncing off a cover uh that is really really hard to beat because the bass are just hard wired just like a cat when you drag something by it they want to chase and react so when that thing blows past them really fast and then bounces off to the right or bounces off the left that's what makes them trigger and eat doesn't have to be a deep crank same thing with my square bills this little spro right here you can see that's a little matte shad color i still go natural in the glide baits or the swim baits ice in the big baits i still go natural in the crankbaits and square bills i'm moving this thing fast again i don't want them to have time to really inspect this bait but if you are fishing smallmouth you can take the color stuff and throw it right out the window because they will eat your bones they'll eat your pinks they're chartreuses you know they they're just mean and they don't really care about the color as much so i'm i've caught plenty of five plus pounds smallmouth on top water in 20 or 30 foot of visibility with a bone walking bait whatever you know either a river to sea or a tackle or a vixen i mean whatever it is but a bone-colored uh walking bait side to side and they come up and just smash it so if you're fishing smallmouth colors aren't that important uh on top but if you're going subsurface go natural and go fast you guys don't be overwhelmed with fishing in clear water and like i said earlier it doesn't have to be 30 foot visibility if you're typically fishing a lake that has two or three feet of visibility and now all of a sudden you're in six eight or ten feet of visibility apply these techniques go smaller if you're going to finesse fish go natural colors if you're going to throw big baits give them an opportunity because those fish will show themselves you know i didn't really talk about in this video but when you throw this big glide bait out the arashi glide per se you throw this thing out you know they're gonna commit you're gonna get bites on it but even if they don't make sure you're always watching your bait because nine times out of ten those bass they're curious creatures they're gonna come out and they're gonna come out and see what is that you know if if you're fishing a smallmouth area or you know or a spotted bass fishery that's never really seen big baits those fish are going to come from a long ways away clear water those fish can see this bait from a long ways away so you're literally fishing more of an area with this big bait the drawing power you get to see where those fish are coming from and where they live then if they don't commit you either go back with finesse stuff and try and finesse them or go back in low light conditions you know earlier on i talked about that sun placement if you're not get bitten bit middle of the day on those shade lines those fish could be spooky go back in low light times go back conditions go back when it's overcast go back when it's the sun's just rising just before uh the sun rises or just as the sun's setting fish into that that later evening go back when those fish are gonna move up shallower and try try fishing the same baits you know again those fish can be skittish but if you do all these things and you can't still get bit but you see the fish go back in those low light conditions and you will have better success so hopefully guys that helps you out you know you don't always have to go throw little micro jigs on four pound test and cross your fingers and pray that you get bit there are things you can do to really trigger fish and fish more water and see what's in your fishery and get more bites so if you guys like this video please hit that like button if you uh learn something from it hit that like button please leave some comments down below uh in the comments section i'd like to hear your guys thoughts or some advice on what baits you've had success in clear water but guys don't be overwhelmed don't be afraid to go out and fish that crystal clear water because you could have some of the best sight fishing days not bed fishing but sight fishing watching those fish come up and eat your bait that you've ever had again guys we appreciate you if you like this video thumbs up remember to subscribe we'll talk to you [Music] soon you

Channel: TacticalBassin

Views: 25,936

Rating: 4.9680257 out of 5

Keywords: bass fishing, beginner fishing, beginner, beginner fishing tips, beginner bass fishing, bass fishing for beginners, clear water, crystal clear water, gin clear water, clear water fishing, how to catch fish in clear water, fishing tips, how to fish in clear water, finesse fishing, dropshot, ned rig, dropshot fishing, dropshot for bass, plastic worm, rubber worm, worm fishing, crankbait, topwater, swimbait, Summer topwater, tacticalbassin, tactical bassin, Tim Little

Id: W1_G7RjDin8

Length: 22min 49sec (1369 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 09 2021