Quote Originally Posted by binfordw View Post
Suppose I try to get out and fish this weekend.

water temp has been 43-44. We've will have had several days worth of 50's weather, and a good amount of rain. I figure this will make creek inlets decently warm, but muddy.

If you were going to try to fish a rain swollen reservoir, would you check out shallower creek inlets for warmer water? Or stick to winter style fishing in deeper water closer to the main lake channel.
I always start shallow and work to deep water. I would concentrate on the West & Northwest banks that are exposed to the most Sun during the day ... even better if they're dark bottom banks, rocky banks, or have a lot of wood on them. Live trees that have a few feet of water up the trunks are also good spots to try, especially in dirty to moderately stained water. I'd try and avoid "muddy" water areas, because muddy, cold water is usually not very productive. But, if you have no other choice but to fish such water ... scent your artificial baits & fish them extremely slow ... or tip jigs & jig/plastics with a live minnow, if possible.

Remember, too : fish can see much better/farther in cold water, than in very warm water -- fish can see farther in murky water than we can see in lightly stained water, plus they can sense movement/water pressure changes thru their lateral line, which tells them the direction of the object (in relation to them). They can also detect whether the moving object is coming towards them, going away from them, or staying at a relative distance. (*one reason I like using Road Runners, even in heavily stained water. While the blade doesn't afford much "flash", the turning of the blade does create water pressure waves that can be detected by the fish's lateral line long before they can "see" it)