water clarity.

[king fisher]

I am curious as to what readers definition of water clarity is. I read all the time what color people prefer to use in dirty, stained, clear, etc.  Problem is one persons stained is another persons mud. Some would say 6 feet is clear, others fish water that you can see 20 to 30 feet.  I fish a lake that has 1.5 to 2 feet visibility, I consider that highly stained.  Do others feel the same?  Does anyone have a chart they go by?  Does anyone routinely measure the visibility.

 

[Sam]

Always measure visibility.

 

The bass can see up to six (6) times farther than we can see in water so keep that in mind.

 

You can have clear, stained, heavy stained, and dirty water. It is up to you to decide which condition you have and then select the baits and colors that will fit the water clarity.

 

A simple way to consider using colors is follows:

Clear water use Watermelon.

Stained water go with Green Pumpkin.

Heavy stained go with June bug.

Dirty go with black or black/blue.

 

Of course there are so many off-shoots of these basic colors that you can drive yourself nuts.

 

After you select a color do you want it to make noise and vibration or be silent?

And at what depth are you fishing?

What is the type of line you are using?

What is the line test you will be throwing?

Baitcaster or spinning rig?

Water temperature?

Sunny or overcast?

Front just move through and you have blue bird skies or a normal day with fluffy white clouds?

Rain or sunshine?

Windy or calm?

Plastics or hard baits?

Use a scent or not?

 

Just a few questions that also influence what colors and types of baits you use.

After trying some options you will find the best bait and color that will give you confidence and you will use that color and bait type and presentation the most.

 

Check out the two catalogs to see the various colors that are available from Zoom.

http://virginiaguidebaitco.com/vag_7_002.htm

 

Good luck and tight lines.

[Jig Man]

The visibility changes in the lakes that I fish by where I am.  Down towards the dam the water is normally clear with visibility 6-10 feet in the early spring.  It normally is less in the summer.  As I motor up stream the water starts changing getting more dingy.  The farther up the rivers that I go the visibility decreases.

 

Yesterday I was fishing up a river.  I was catching bass on a bleeding shad spinner bait and a white buzz bait.  I worked my way up to where visibility was maybe a foot.  Both baits produced in both locations.  I was alternating with a black buzz bait in both areas.  The black never even got a hit.

 

 I pay little attention to water color vs bait color.  My philosophy is change and keep throwing until something works.

[Spankey]

This year has been a crazy year and my baits patterns have been just as crazy as to what has been productive.  Crankbait fishing has been pretty much a natural season so far. Shads, bleached out bluegill colors, some perch and bream patterns. 
 

When water clarity was stained or heavy stained where generally black, dark olive, fire tiger, chartreuse, purples will work. No so much this year. Natural/Shad has been 

more productive. I’ve fished a Shad pattern more this year than anytime in the past 40 years. Gonna just stick with it until the fish tell me differently. I believe the science and assumptions of colors but it always doesn’t not hold true. 
 

This winter I’m going to experiment with one of my favorite patterns. Rapalas original bluegill. (Not real image version). I’m gonna buy a new DT-10 and remove hooks and split rings, put a dab of caulk on hanger eyes and tie eye to prevent rust, tape of the bill. And hang it off of one of my tree branches. Fading that original bluegill color some, I think is gonna be a killer. Been wanting to do that for a few seasons but never got around to doing it. Hanging it off a branch for a month or so may fade that pattern some. 

[N Florida Mike]

I agree with Sam’s assessment. I fish most clear to stained waters, but occasionally fish very stained or what I call murky waters. His color selection is very close to how I fish each example of water clarity. 
One thing I would add is bait selection is also influenced by how much light there is. I do well with june bug or black grape in clear to stained waters also IF fishing low light condions, esp. dusk for some reason. In clear to stained I use watermelon colors, but in sunnier conditions, watermelon red. In cloudier days, watermelon seed.

I dont have much murky water near me, but black/blue and rootbeer seem to work best there. Speaking only of soft plastics, which are my go-tos.

I also would say Ive caught fish in clear and stained waters on a much wider color scale than in deeply stained or murky waters...

[Captain Phil]

Here on the Harris Chain, water clarity has been a topic of discussion for years.  Scientists use a Secchi Disk and a Forel Ule Scale to determine water clarity.   Twenty years ago after the hydrilla spraying apocalypse, our water clarity was so bad their disk disappeared in 8 inches of water.  Rattle traps and vibrating baits worked best.  Flipping paddle tail worms with rattles won a lot of tournaments.  The go-to crank bait colors were chartreuse and anything with a lot of flash.  An all chrome rattle trap with a green back was a bass killer.   

 

Now that the water has cleared somewhat, top water lures and frogs catch a lot of bass.  Our Chain has an extremely wide diversity of water clarities.   You may be fishing a clear canal one minute and flipping a point out in the main lake the next.  In my opinion, adjusting to water clarity is one of the major determining factors in bass fishing success. Some people believe bass don't like dirty murky looking water.  This is totally false.  Instead of searching for fish that will bite the way you fish, adjust your fishing to the bass. 

 

[A-Jay]

Water up here in the north woods is routinely very clear.

Often hard to describe to folks who've not seen it but think gin or drinking water clear.

Can be intimidating at first.

 

I am usually hunting for big brown bass.

Staying well off structure/cover, making long casts and some depth rule the day, mostly all season.

The few times the water gets a little 'color' - usually from a decent rain event, 

 I head straight to 'shallower' water; especially if there's some sun. 

When making the decision on presentations made in water where the visibility is less than what it usually is,

some color & or vibration or rattle is common.

Otherwise, in the clearest of conditions, my most productive baits

have a somewhat muted color pallet and are for the most part, silent.

A-Jay

 

 

[BassNJake]

I live near one of the clearest lakes around here Norris lake.

I would say 6-8 feet in clarity, but I wouldn't really call it clear.

 

However, when I lived in Ohio I was used to water being gin clear and being able to see every pebble in 15 feet.

 

 

[king fisher]

Thanks for the reply's.  The basis of my question, was not what to throw in different water clarity, that has been discussed often.  My question is what do people consider the actual definition of different descriptions of water clarity in feet and inches.   I realize there will be a difference in what one person thinks is dirty and what another angler considers dirty.  I am interested in finding out the differences as well as the similar opinions on the most common clarity terms.  Thanks again for all reply's.

            Dirty  

            heavy stain

            stain ?

            normal?

           clear?

           any other common term used to describe water clarity?

 

[Team9nine]

The Color-c-lector was probably one of the first “tools” to specify clarity based on how deep you could see the probe. If it was less than 2 feet, you read the “muddy” band. Between 2-4 ft, the “stained” band, and greater than 4 ft, the “clear” band. That is still a decent guideline IMO, though on my waters, I’d tweak it a bit. For me, anything under 12” is muddy, 12”-24” is lean hvy stain, 24”-36” or even 42” is lightly stained, and greater than 3.5-4 ft is clear. Anything approaching 6-8 ft vis or greater is super clear to me.

[king fisher]

Just now, Team9nine said:

The Color-c-lector was probably one of the first “tools” to specify clarity based on how deep you could see the probe. If it was less than 2 feet, you read the “muddy” band. Between 2-4 ft, the “stained” band, and greater than 4 ft, the “clear” band. That is still a decent guideline IMO, though on my waters, I’d tweak it a bit. For me, anything under 12” is muddy, 12”-24” is lean hvy stain, 24”-36” or even 42” is lightly stained, and greater than 3.5-4 ft is clear. Anything approaching 6-8 ft vis or greater is super clear to me.

Great answer, exactly what I was looking for.  Thanks.

[Fishes in trees]

You can buy or make a secchi disband then keep track of the variance in water clarity where you fish.  I have one.  My issue is that I often forget to bring it along and when I do I forget to use it.  Where I do most of my week to week fishing ( 200 acre or so Missouri Dept. of Conservation Lakes ) you often get different secchi disc readings depending on where you are in the lake.   Mid lake, 100 yards off the dam will read different than half a mile down lake much more often than not and half way back in a large cove will read different than all the way back in the same cove - more often than not.

The secchi disc is a handy tool when you remember to use it.   I've had mine for at least 9 years.  The first few years that I had it I was fairly religious about using it and basing soft plastic color choices on my interpretation of the readings. My problem these days is that I will look at the water and make assumptions based on past secchi disc readings I've taken elsewhere.   You can be deceived if you rely on memory for water clarity.  Just sayin . . .

 

A previous post reminds me that I have, somewhere in the bowels of my fishing shed, a Color-C-Lector that worked when I used it last.  I should maybe find it and give it a try sometime this year.

 

As I recall, using the Color-C-Lector, some colors that are popular now weren't even available when the Color-C-Lector was first marketed.  I'm thinking of green pumpkin, regular pumpkin and various watermelon shades, as well as other currently popular shades like June Bug & Redbug.  I don't think that glitter, colored glitter and bi-color and tri-color laminated baits were a thing either, when the Color-C-Lector was first marketed.

[Tatsu Dave]

Good thread! I go by water visibility depth to get an idea, 

34 minutes ago, Fishes in trees said:

You can buy or make a secchi disband then keep track of the variance in water clarity where you fish.  I have one.  My issue is that I often forget to bring it along and when I do I forget to use it.  Where I do most of my week to week fishing ( 200 acre or so Missouri Dept. of Conservation Lakes ) you often get different secchi disc readings depending on where you are in the lake.   Mid lake, 100 yards off the dam will read different than half a mile down lake much more often than not and half way back in a large cove will read different than all the way back in the same cove - more often than not.

The secchi disc is a handy tool when you remember to use it.   I've had mine for at least 9 years.  The first few years that I had it I was fairly religious about using it and basing soft plastic color choices on my interpretation of the readings. My problem these days is that I will look at the water and make assumptions based on past secchi disc readings I've taken elsewhere.   You can be deceived if you rely on memory for water clarity.  Just sayin . . .

 

A previous post reminds me that I have, somewhere in the bowels of my fishing shed, a Color-C-Lector that worked when I used it last.  I should maybe find it and give it a try sometime this year.

 

As I recall, using the Color-C-Lector, some colors that are popular now weren't even available when the Color-C-Lector was first marketed.  I'm thinking of green pumpkin, regular pumpkin and various watermelon shades, as well as other currently popular shades like June Bug & Redbug.  I don't think that glitter, colored glitter and bi-color and try-color laminated baits were a thing either, when the Color-C-Lector was first marketed.

The last paragraph says a lot here, the sparkle and glitter especially with laminate baits seems to be where its at for me. Laminate plastics with a dark color offset by a light color really work good for me in constantly stained water, the flash of sparkles especially seem to add to the visual attraction. I don't use a single color anymore that doesn't use one or better both attributes for visual attraction. My 5 always rigged colors Junebug - Blk/Blue Electric - Rainbow Trout - Watermelon/Heavy Gold Sparkle - and Crime Scene all have sparkle and 3 of the five are laminates. Our water is always tannin stained (kinda like ice tea) and varies with runoff, 1-2' visibility common with 3-4' exceptionally clear, nothing like the gin clear water I fished in Maryland. The newer generation of colors and flakes have really made a difference for me.        Dave

[12poundbass]

Here’s some clear water. This is the view from the raft at the big spring in Michigan’s UP. BTW that’s 42’ deep. 
 

 

[MickD]

For really clear water, don't forget white and ghost, unobtrusive colors, like A-Jay says.

[Jig Man]

21 hours ago, Team9nine said:

The Color-c-lector was probably one of the first “tools” to specify clarity based on how deep you could see the probe. If it was less than 2 feet, you read the “muddy” band. Between 2-4 ft, the “stained” band, and greater than 4 ft, the “clear” band. That is still a decent guideline IMO, though on my waters, I’d tweak it a bit. For me, anything under 12” is muddy, 12”-24” is lean hvy stain, 24”-36” or even 42” is lightly stained, and greater than 3.5-4 ft is clear. Anything approaching 6-8 ft vis or greater is super clear to me.

I have one of them around here somewhere.  I haven’t seen it in years.  My daughter bought it for me.  I found it to be bothersome so I quit using it.

[geo g]

1 hour ago, Jig Man said:

I have one of them around here somewhere.  I haven’t seen it in years.  My daughter bought it for me.  I found it to be bothersome so I quit using it.

 

 

I too have one hanging around somewhere.  Make sure to remove the batteries.