How should my approach differ between clear and stained water?

Choose baits by which sense you are feeding. Clear water is an eyes game: natural colors, tighter actions, thinner line, longer casts, and low-light timing, because the fish will inspect before committing. Stained water is a lateral-line game: vibration, thump, wide wobble, chartreuse or dark silhouettes — a subtle finesse worm often goes ignored in muddy water not because fish will not eat it, but because it is not "loud" enough to be found. Same fish, different channel.

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