Novice Ohio lake fishing

Question
Sorry if my question gets a little long, I'm a 19 year old girl and no one seems to take my love of fishing seriously. My favorite fishing spot (besides lake erie) is a 100 acre cloudy lake that I want to say is a brown color, perhaps greenish too. I'm going to try a Texas rig, but can you use any plastic bait, or just worms? Also what color would be appropriate for a sunny day, and what kind for a cloudy day.

I have yet to catch anything there, but I know there are trout, musky, and bass. What size hook and lure would be most appropriate for going after a bass? I bought some Matzuo prism grubs pre hooked in a bright yellow color with gold flecks and a "real panicing eye", they seem like they would be a good choice, do you agree? Also any information about using a spinnerbait or crankbait to catch these fish would be excellent.

I also feel lost when it comes to rigging, I know nothing beyond a texas rig (which I have yet to try), since my dad always rigged our rods with a crappie rig and a nightcrawler regardless of the conditions. Any information on rigs would be nice too. I intend on fishing from shore 90% of the time.

Thanks for your time, I'm sure you will hear more from me in the future.

Answer
Hi Heather,

First of all, "I" can see you are serious about fishing with the questions you are asking!  Now, I'll try to answer your questions in order.

The Texas rig is a great rig especially if you are fishing around weeds or other obstructions.  Nothing is completely weedless or snag-proof, but the texas rig is about as close as it gets.  The texas-rig originated with worms, but it can be used with a variety of soft plastics like lizards, crawfish, tubes, slug-go's, and even creature type baits like Sweet Beavers or Berkleys Beast.  

As far as colors go, purple or black are great places to start, especially in murky water.  In clearer water, you can go to the more subtle colors like watermelon, but stick with dark in the darker water.  To add a little zing, pick a black or purple with a little glitter in it.  

For other lures like cranks and spinnerbaits, you can get into the brighter stuff on sunny days like firetiger cranks or chartreuse spinnerbaits with fluorescent blades.

The old rule, "bright lure on a bright day - dark lure on a dark day" holds pretty true for topwaters, crankbaits, and spinnerbaits.  Also, gold or copper blades are better in cloudy water than silver blades.

The Matzuo grubs that you bought sound like a great sunny day choice.

Fishing from shore, I'd suggest spinnerbaits in the 1/4 to 3/8 oz. ounce range.  Single spin will run a little deeper and tandem spins will run a little higher.  I wouldn't be caught dead fishing a lake like you mention without at least one white and one chartreuse spinnerbait with tandem willow blades.  Very versatile!

Cranks from shore are a little more difficult since you don't want them to run too deep.  Pick lures in the 1/4 to 3/8 ounce range that will run from 1-4 feet deep.  In your cloudy water, find something that has some rattles to help the fish key in on it.  Find yourself an original Storms Thunderstick (4").  You can crank it, twitch it on the surface, jerk it, etc. Great lure!

Don't forget surface baits.  They are great around shore.  Something like a Skitter Pop or a Buzz-bait.

For Texas rigging, a 2/0 off-set worm hook will work great for 4-6" worms and all the other stuff I mentioned.  Spend the money and buy good hooks.  Gamakatsu's or Owners or anything like that.  These are spooky sharp and make it so much easier to set the hook through the plastic on a texas rig.

I hope this helps you out.  Please feel free to ask more questions if I didn't answer something or if something else arises.

I am inspired by your interest in fishing.  I can only hope my daughters love fishing like you do when they are 19!

Now get out there and catch some!!!

PS.

Find some straight pen worms like Senkos, Chompers, Yum-Dingers in a 4" length.  Fish them wacky-style, that is hooked in the middle with a single hook (exposed).  Cast them out and let them sink to the bottom.  Twitch it a foot and let it sink again.  Repeat, repeat,...  Day in day out, any conditions, any lake, from spring till fall, it's the easiest, deadliest system out there for bass.