Hi all.  I do the majority of my fishing in a pretty clear reservoir....like five feet of visibility at least.  I fish in a river often, but it's the upper Potomac, and the water there is pretty clear as well, and rather shallow.
I found a new river to fish, and the water (comparatively) is really stained.  I'm afraid to throw soft plastics, because I don't know how the fish will see them.  Is this nonsense?  Should I be pitching space monkeys into lay downs just like I would at my reservoir?  Any kind of advice to deal with the stained water would be gladly accepted!

 

bulky plastics with more action i.e rage craw/space monkeys give off more vibration for fish to find baits in dirty water. The river I fish is almost always stained and you can throw most if not all variations of baits you can on clear water reservoirs but you will need to alter your color selection and presentation to fit the conditions. Black/blue is a popular color in stained water. I've had the most luck with a color called Blue Craw/Magic Craw. Also bright orange/GP like bama craw works great as well. Fish rely more on their lateral line in low vis conditions so using baits like chatter baits, spinner baits, wide wobble squarebills, red eye shads and of course the plastics I mentioned earlier will give you a better feel for dirty water. You don't always need a bait that is a moving bait either. I've caught countless fish slowly dragging shakey heads and trick worms in muddy water. Current is "king" in river systems. It controls everything and where everything goes or sits and waits for food.  FInding eddys or current breaks will tell you where the fish are located. Any brush/log/tree w/e is your friend. More often than not when you find a few fish there are quite a few more as they are in that specific area to feed. The fish need to eat so they have figured out how to. They will find your bait. Good luck.