How Clear Is Clear Enough?

[J Francho]

I think this is starting to be over thought.

[RoLo]

I think this is starting to be over thought.

 

There is no over-thought, but there is errant thought

[J Francho]

I'll take that. Lol.

Good stuff as usual guys.

[normmcclean]

Dang I have never seen someone so sensitive on an outdoors forum. Me thinks roger needs a hug and some fishing therapy. Guess I have thick skin from duck hunting forums. At the end of the day its just fishing not a quadratic equation get back to basics and enjoy nature instead of quantifying it.

[bigbill]

I use a rattle on every jig too plus a scent.

Fishing from shore I can get the water conditions wrong sometimes. This is why I carry the different colors. I just switch colors till one works. Plus my casts are so far the water conditions could be different out there.

Don't get hung up on one color for too long. Change colors. I'm a color freak anyway.

Peace gentlemen God bless, bill

[WIGuide]

Here's my point: Water Clarity is only 'one' component of the fish's Underwater Visibility. Other criteria that enter the equation

are Sun Angle, Sky Clarity & Wave Action. For instance, regardless of the 'water clarity', fish see much better at high noon than at midnight.

Regardless of water clarity, which is 'fixed', fish see much better on a sunny day than on a day with heavy overcast,

which equates to degraded water clarity. Regardless of the water clarity, underwater visibility is superior on a calm day

when there's no underwater distortion. Wave action caused by high winds produces crisscross refraction

that can sharply impair a fish's underwater visibility.

 

Last but not least is Lure Depth

For example, suppose I select my lures colors based on 30" water clarity (stained water). I begin to fish the lure as a subsurface bait

about 1 foot below the surface. Then I decide to deliver the same lure about 10 ft below the surface. Regardless of water clarity,

which is 'fixed', the light level at 10 ft below the surface will be significantly lower that the light level 1 ft below the surface.

So in spite of water clarity, I'd probably change to a darker color at 10 ft, in order to enhance the contrast.

 

Roger

I'm not sure if they can see better at noon or night, but I do know that a bass's eyes can gather 5 times more light than the human eye which means that they can see a lot better than we can in dim situations. I don't really think wind effects a fishes vision. It does prevent some light penetration, but it's not like the fish just go blind because of it.

 

Personally I don't necessarily switch colors just because I'm fishing deeper or shallower. Maybe I'm wrong, but I seem to do just fine doing what I do.

[Preytorien]

Well.....this is a great deal of information.

 

Looks like I'll just throw what I think they MIGHT like and if I don't get hit, try something else. Fish are so finicky....

 

Thanks for all the help guys.

[Brian Needham]

I dont want to spin the OP out and have him thinking crazy........ but here goes.

 

first question is should you choose your color based on water clarity or the color of the crawfish in your lake?

 

I use 3 colors..... black and blue, greenpumpkin with orange(think bama craw or the Jfrancho color) and PBJ.

you will be hard pressed to find a better 3 colors than that, all of them catch fish in all water colors.

 

it has been said Bass see 3 times as far as humans..... so if the water is 3 foot visablity then a bass can see 9 foot in it. (whether that is true or not I have know Idea)