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Can fish find baits like caffeine shads and other stop start baits in water w/ low vis? like 8" visibility? the biggest fish i've caught in water this dirty was pitching worms, but you have to pretty much hit them in the face with it. I'm not sure if they'll come after a caffeine shad when it's stopped, but it seems like a good bait to work around shallow docks.... not everybody throws them....
It isn't that they can't see in the muddy water. They can pick up sound waves from their lateral line. Fish just hold tighter to cover when the water is dirty and won't normally venture as far away from it to take a bait, making it necessary to present the bait closer to the cover to get a strike. I think it is more for a personal security issue for them.
fish at night...that will show you that fish can see/find baits fine in muddy water. http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/wink.gif
good point! I guess I forget about that. I have caught fish missing 1 or both eyes and they seem to be doing fine.
My theory is that if the vibration is strong enough, the fish will expend the energy to go after it IF they're in a feeding mode. Locales that typically have very dirty water, or have had very dirty water for an extended period, the fish adapt and key in on vibrations more, even if they can't see the bait. Where it gets tricky is that often when we encounter very dirty water, we're in post-front conditions following a storm that muddied up the water, so the fish aren't accustomed to feeding mainly by vibration AND are probably in a non-feeding mode. Still, even then your best way to get a bite might be by putting a reaction bait right in their face. But a "reaction" bait passing 3-4 feet away from them when visibility has overnight been reduced to 6 inches may not have much chance of drawing a strike.
That's one of my biggest challenges in bass fishing: knowing when to throw a drop bait and when to throw a moving bait. Lots of variables to factor in.