THE FORMULA IS pretty simple: Water plus earth equals mud. But while the slippery substance is little more than a floor-tracking nuisance on terra firma, mud — specifically, mudlines — can have a significant impact on your bass fishing game.
Rains and snowmelt often bring muddy inflows that impart various levels of impact, depending upon seasonality. Sometimes, it’s a good thing; other times, not so much.
Causes and variables are many, but mudline clarity (couldn’t resist) comes through understanding how the turbid stripes benefit fish and how those fish leverage these scenarios. Bassmaster Elite Series pro Matt Herren’s a big fan of mudlines, as he sees them as a fish-concentrating opportunity.
“The change from muddy water to clear water is almost like a feeding curtain for the fish,” Herren said. “They can sit outside the edge of the muddy water and look back into it. The food sources coming out of that dirty water have no idea the fish are sitting there ready to ambush them.”
As Jason Christie points out, that feeding curtain also offers creature comfort.
“I think it gives them security to get up shallow. The biggest thing is it gives them camouflage to ambush stuff. They use it kind of like a bush.”
We’ll look at mudline dynamics in a moment, but food really is the main deal. As Herren explained, baitfish have a tough time breathing in turbid water, so predators patrol the edges to pick off vulnerable forage scurrying to escape.
“Mudlines can present some of the most amazing days you’ll ever spend on the water. Basically, it’s a wall for them to sit behind and nothing in that way knows they’re there. When they pop out in that clear water, it’s an easy meal. It’s kind of like us walking down the buffet line and picking out what [we] want.”
When It Happens
Mudlines most commonly result from inflows, primarily rain runoff and
