No telling which lures will work until you find the fish to begin with (pic heavy)

[Spoonminnow]

When I go fishing after a pause due to bad weather (rain, heat), I wonder the change in fish location and the lures needed to catch fish. By lures I mean shape, size and color brightness in waters closer in color to pea soup on the surface than usual for spring and fall. The 12th was a wake up call for the following:
Don't depend on previous patterns whether yearly or daily to find fish. After the incredible rainfall we've had, fish moved from most anywhere I caught them a few weeks ago and relocated to shallower water due to water levels that had come up over 6" in a week of heavy rains.

Never assume things about lure design and color. Panfish, bass and a catfish all struck the lures I chose cast near specific shorelines. Bright white was a color I hadn't used in semi clear water this year, but figured why not try it in murky water. Also, two other lure related unknowns were: would curl tail and thin straight tail grubs work? Sho enough they both did well and for 4 fish species! Even this mudcat hit the flat tail along with other fish:







I wasn't confident in casting Da Claw in green pumpkin considering the water color, but as usual it produced:



Even this motor oil tint straight, flat tail caught many of the 60 fish:



Note the water color.

Lastly, I hadn't caught fish on the Joker grub since spring and figured why not?


Removing one of the three tails worked better for some reason of which this 2lb bass agreed:


(Who says big fish don't bite small lures?!!!)