I fish a particular stretch of the Wisconsin river for smallies, typically I do preatty good catching em on tubes.  This stretch of the river is loaded with smallies. The river is pretty dirty with about 6 in of visibility, it's very rocky, and the channel only gets about 8-9 feet deep. I would like to experiment with some new presentations, maybe something i can cover more water with.  Keeping the visibility in mind, can anyone give me suggestions (colors, blade type, crank etc.) on what they would try in this situation. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanx.

A spinnerbait with Colorado blades...thats important in putting out a lot of thump to let them know it's there. Either in a dark color, or bright color. I would also suggest a rattletrap in something chrome, or bright. Both allow you to cover lots of water....Good Luck

A spinnerbait with Colorado blades...thats important in putting out a lot of thump to let them know it's there. Either in a dark color, or bright color. I would also suggest a rattletrap in something chrome, or bright. Both allow you to cover lots of water....Good Luck

Good advice.

I fish on the snake river and times it is pretty muddy.  I do well with a rebel wee-R pearl/red eye.  Haven't been able to get any more of them, so I switched to Bandit series 100, seems to do just as good.

try small lipless cranks   maybe a small chatterbait       if those dont work  try your traditional soft plastics

I second Marv.

Cranks too. I prefer LC's and Rapala DT's in chartreuse and bright reds (i.e. texas craw)

check you out some bandit crankbaits in chartruese rootbeer

also try a dark colored jig w/ craw trailer. Brown, black, blue etc... put some stink juice on it too  8-)

Hey, you dont have to just use cranks and spinnerbaits. You can use soft plastics too. Just remember, in muddy water you have to fish really tight to cover. You can also add rattles. As for colors use dark hues, because you are trying to create a sillouette.

Spro Lil John crank in Chart/Rootbeer.

This bait has been destroying them on the Pamunkey River, also a dirty river system loaded with smallies.

Also give rat-l-traps a shot and the ole reliable black/blue jig.

A spinnerbait with Colorado blades...thats important in putting out a lot of thump to let them know it's there. Either in a dark color, or bright color. I would also suggest a rattletrap in something chrome, or bright. Both allow you to cover lots of water....Good Luck

Good advice.

X3

thanx everyone for the replies, now i can't wait for the ice to melt

The upper Mississippi where we fish runs fairly dirty most of the early season.  During that time we use tubes, spinnerbaits, buzz baits and crankbaits.  We use rattles in the tubes.  Crankbaits are mostly lipless models in some kind of Chrome color pattern.  Spinnerbaits are single colorado blade or tandem willowleaf blades in white or chartreuse.  Buzzbaits are Persuader double buzzers in white or chartreuse.    ;D

I would also use the single calarado with a black skirt and a 3" white mister twiser trailer. a 3/4 oz version. Most of these 3/4 oz models are nightime models, but they will should work great in your dirty water. And its a perfect presentation when it smashes into rocks and along the bottom.

The trailer will make the spinner bait an easier visual target, it will add vibration and slow the bait down. .

I discovered this bait after watching a weigh in. Winner was using this bait. Works for me too!