Stained water and flies

[flygoddess]

I read a lot where people choose to change from using a fly to using bait because the water is too muddy.
Well, the rive I fish is muddy 89% of the time. To the point I have no idea what I have hooked till it breaks surface.
I am strictly fly and that is my choice.
But even with muddy water, the fish seem to find my offering. Even one eyed!
The Carp caught last fall.


This afternoon


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[doggonefishin]

Yeah, I'm guilty as charged of going with bait or gear (especially spinners) in off colored water at times. The fast results often make the decision easy to make though.


That said, you prove an excellent point. I think it is easy to underestimate the sensory ability of fish in murky water via their lateral lines and other mechanisms. In the river you are catching those in, a fish wouldn't last all that long if it couldn't adapt and function in the muddy water.


I think even in trout streams, the same principles apply. A few weeks ago, I ran up to the local blue ribbon trout stream for a couple hours. They were doing a water release from the dam and the water was kind of high and notably off color. In spite of expecting a slow day, I still went for it. (I only had a fly rod and flies, so no gear, river is AFL only) To my surprise, I had fast fishing on some nice fish and had a great afternoon.
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[BigCountryUT]

True. Fish still have to feed even if the water is muddy.

When I see that the water is off color I generally do not change my approach. If fishing is slow I may bump the fly pattern up a size or two to make it a little more visible and that usually does the trick.
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[flygoddess]

Absolutely! I also experiment on different depths till I find them.
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[Envenomation09]

How in the world do you catch carp when you cannot see them?? Can you feel the take or something?
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[BHuij]

Fishing streamers in my experience generally results in takes similar to fishing spinners on non-fly gear. In fact, in my experience, trout usually hit a Woolly Bugger a LOT harder than they hit a spinner.
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