With the recent deluge of water that’s soaked the country a lot of our dams are rising and rivers running a banker. What this translates to, for us fishermen anyway, is one thing – dirty water.
Now, we all know the dirty water bait basics where bright and loud baits work best to cut through the clouded water.
In that lot, our favourite has always been an orange bladed 4×4 Bassman spinnerbait. It’s pulled us out of a pickle on more than one dirty occasion and is usually our first choice.
But, bright loud and big baits should not be the only baits you pack if you’re forced to fish in chocolate milk coloured water.
Reason being we’ve had a truckload of on water experience over the last ten years where one particular type of bait, which goes against all popular opinions, produces in discoloured water.
Sile
That is the silent but violent, soft plastic. Yes, with no bright or loud properties, they rely on vibration to goad a goodoo into striking.
Our first encounter was on a chocolate brown Murrumbidgee river where visibility was nil, after a huge 100mm downpour the week before. After rolling through our bright baits with no luck, Hilly chucked on with a chuckle his blue and white Jackall Transam soft vibe.
The chuckle was due to him opting not to try a rattling Jackall TN or Berkley Frenzy, but a silent bait.
“How are they going to see or hear that thing in the water?” I laughed.
Well, it took no less than a handful of casts before I was eating a big slice of humble pie, as he pinned a 30lb+ cod by the nose.
The little puzzle piece in the bigger goodoo picture proved extremely valuable as the rest of the season was a ride off for a lot of anglers with more rain falling for the rest of the winter.
Buoyed by that first cod capture, we continued to try all sorts of silent presentations in the Big M coloured ‘Bidgee water with rock star results. Keeping it on the down low Hilly scored some career best cod at the time, all on his small and silent Transam.
This trend was further validated in the dams some years later when the Storm RIP Shad curl tail racked up some serious cod when the water went brown because of a late season storm.
So, if you are looking to squeeze a trip in before the close and the water is less than vodka clear, make sure you pack a few silent soft plastics as they might outshine even the brightest baits in your box.