Niagara R. mud vs night fishing question

[BP Swing]

Went to the Niagara today, gorgeous November day, full moon, falling barometer, nice temps, thought all the stars were aligned except I was worried about the water clarity. I was right vis was 6", 9" at best. No surprise after all the small craft advisories lately. Looked like chocolate milk, literally. Needless to say no hits today or rarely ever with the vis that bad. Now the question I have. Why do muskies hit at night but not when its mud? If they are relying on vibration at night then it shouldnt matter in the mud....right? wrong. It leads me to believe that maybe it is actually their night vision that makes them hit at night like a walleye and not so much the vibration. Then again just when you think you have everything figured out its back to square one. Thats fishin.  Has anyone here ever done well in the mud with less than 1 foot vis?

[iiwhistlerii]

They definitly don't rely on just vibration at night or in the mud. Color is very important while night trolling the Niagara. I have a few colors that just won't produce and some that take most of my fish. Same thing with Jigging or trolling off color water up there, lure color definitely makes a difference so they can see in both situations.

[Tigerhunter]

Here are my thoughts- they may be totally wrong so....

When the water is muddy, water clarity is poor resulting in limited sight distance regardless of light conditions. I think that no matter what, your eyes cannot adjust (I know nothing about fish eyes so this may be totally off).

At night, water clarity is the same as in the day (assuming moderate-good clarity for this). The sight distance is fine but light is the limiting factor. I think their eyes adjust similar to ours that after some time, their eyes adapt and they can see "ok". Add clear skies and some moonlight to the mix and it makes it better.

Base on those assumptions, I think that besides vibration, light reflecting/flashing off the bait will also get the attention of the fish. When the water is muddy, any light that does penetrate through the water and hits the lure, which I think is probably minimal, would then be lost due to the poor clarity.

In short, I feel it is a clarity -vs- available light situation.

[Ivan]

Muskies will still hit in muddy water. I fish ohio in the spring and we often have to deal with very muddy water. Those muskies dont seem to mind much. We use bright colors and sometimes baits with rattles help. Then again, i think that places like buffalo harbor and lsc, for example, that generally have clear water become more difficult when they are muddy compared to those waters in ohio that are used to being muddy. I would say if you are there, and it is muddy, stay as confident as possible and give it your best shot. Somebody always catches some fish no matter what the conditions.

[Ivan]

Heres an example of a muddy water fish Dad got this spring in OH. Very little visibility and you can see how pale looking the fish is from being in the muddy water. We did well that weekend and got quite a few out of that muddy water but they were all on firetiger, orange tiger, or white. Im not saying those are the magic colors for muddy water in the harbor but experiment.

And to throw a curve ball, I've also done well some places in muddy water on a brown color like pike scale.

[mostlymuskies]

Capt Jim Hanley guided his client to a 52" muskie today in the Buffalo Harbor and lost another big girl in tangled lines by the boat.

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[BP Swing]

What was the vis today?

[mostlymuskies]

Buffalo Harbor water visibility is 4ft and surface water temp is 46.5 degrees today, Friday.Winds going back up over the weekend thru Monday, maybe snow too!

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