Fun/funny fact about clear water vs dirty water.

[Catt]

@Brad Reid the only reason ya can't see beyond 15' on Toledo Bend is there's to much grass, timber, brush etc on the bottom.

 

I've seen house foundations, cars, & school bus.

 

Caddo man-made? That's funny right there!

 

[Deleted account]

8 hours ago, soflabasser said:

Yes it feels like you are floating in air when the water visibility is +60 feet. I have been fortunate to have done freedive spearfishing in +100 feet visibility water and it is one of the most memorable moments I have had in the outdoors. Have freedived in Mexico, Grand Cayman, Jamaica, and other locations and my favorite places to dive is the Florida Keys and various locations in South Florida.Have freedived a couple freshwater springs in Central/Northern Florida and the water visibility is often +60 feet and more in these springs.

I have a couple of buddies that are into free diving fishing competitions. Not my thing, but I can certainly see the appeal. We used to go down to the keys every winter for a couple of weeks every year, dove it a lot. What I really liked was how lobsters backed out of pots and into my bag, who teaches them that...  

Horn of Africa has some really good diving, who knew.

[Oregon Native]

Lake Powell I thought was super clear when I fished out west.  

[12poundbass]

The picture below I pulled from the internet. It's from "The Big Spring" located in Michigan's upper Peninsula. This is directly over the center of the spring it's 40' deep. I highly recommend if you're in the U.P. check it out and see the huge trout swimming around in there too. The depth is very deceiving with that clear of water.

 

[Troy85]

If visibility was 300', how long would your fluro leader have to be??!?!?!?!?!!?  

 

[12poundbass]

[Ratherbfishing]

I won't contest how shallow or deep this image is however, when I have gone to Lake of the Woods Canada I have to remember that just because I can see the bottom doesn't mean it's 2 feet deep and that I can jump off my boat and into it.  This is almost foreign concept to me.

[Choporoz]

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/sunken-ships-lake-michigan-are-visible-ghostly-blue-180955108/

[WRB]

It's amazing what Zebra/Quagga mussels can do to filter out particulates to make water gin clear. Lake Piru near me had maybe 5' depth of bottom clarity on a good day before Quagga mussel infestation, now 20' is the norm, same lake, same water source.

You can clearly see sandy bottom areas around our Channel Islands and Catalina island at 75'-100' depending on currents, making scuba diving a popular pastime. Fresh water isn't usually gin clear like off shore salt water.

Tom

[moguy1973]

It's pretty common to be able to see down 30' or more in Table Rock and Bull Shoals.  

[soflabasser]

9 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

The picture below I pulled from the internet. It's from "The Big Spring" located in Michigan's upper Peninsula. This is directly over the center of the spring it's 40' deep. I highly recommend if you're in the U.P. check it out and see the huge trout swimming around in there too. The depth is very deceiving with that clear of water.

 

Thank you for posting this, I will consider visiting this spring if I visit the area.

9 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

Looks like the freshwater springs I dived in Central/ Northern Florida.

3 hours ago, WRB said:

It's amazing what Zebra/Quagga mussels can do to filter out particulates to make water gin clear. Lake Piru near me had maybe 5' depth of bottom clarity on a good day before Quagga mussel infestation, now 20' is the norm, same lake, same water source.

You can clearly see sandy bottom areas around our Channel Islands and Catalina island at 75'-100' depending on currents, making scuba diving a popular pastime. Fresh water isn't usually gin clear like off shore salt water.

Tom

 

I fished a lake up north that was infested with Zebra mussels and the water visibility was +10 feet. I talked to some locals and they told me the water visibility use to be less than 5 feet before the zebra mussels came to this lake. This is a very good lake for many species of fish and I am sure there are fish eating the zebra mussels. A couple years ago I freedived in Catalina Island and got to swim with seals. Also saw a great white shark on the outside of a pinnacle's kelp forest. The water visibility was easily +80 feet the day I dived and I plan on visiting Catalina Island again since it was one of the most memorable dives I have done so far.