The slammer is my all time favorite lure. I throw it all year.

I catch a ton of fish cranking it down a few feet, so if they're shallow, they can definitely find it in dirty water. Speed cranking will actually catch fish in almost any conditions and any time of year. It's a total reaction bite and sometimes they just have to eat it.

The best conditions for waking it in the spring have been in the usual rain and/or wind for me as well. Whenever we get little spring storms, it can absolutely go off with the slammer out at Santa Margarita. Anytime it's windy, they'll hit it on top. Especially in the afternoons when they start chasing bluegill on the surface. You can almost always catch those chasers with a slammer. I think it's always assumed that the slammer is mimicking a trout, but it's obvious the bass think it could be a bluegill as well. That's probably why it flat out catches so many fish.

It's interesting that Lopez bass are a bit different. In the summer and fall, they will murder that bait. Sometimes waked and sometimes cranked depending on the conditions. I don't do quite as well in the winter and spring though, for whatever reason.