Water clarity/Lure selction trick

[jwo1124]

I thought about this a few weeks ago, and I'm not sure how well this will work, but here it is.

All you'll need is a glass goldfish bowl, or small see through aquariumn and a 1 gallon water or milk jug.

All you do is take about a gallon of water from the lake or pond you're fishing, and transport it into a fish bowl or aquarium. After doing so you can test the visibility of lures in the water from the side view instead of just looking down at your lure from your boat or the bank.

Now, the only flaw I see in this is that the fish will be looking at the lure through many feet of the water that could contain a lot of suspended material like silt, mud, algae, plankton, etc.

So this isn't a great test of long distance visibility, but how your lure contrasts or sticks out in the water.

I haven't tried this since the ponds round here are frozen, or were last time I drove by, so if one of you southern guys wants to give this a try if you think its worth while I'd like to know how it goes.

[Guest avid]

GREAT IDEA

I was getting tired of dunking my head in the lake to see how the lures looked underwater  

[jaskoh]

There are two problems that I think you might run into.  First, the deeper your lure the less light penetration you will have.  And the second thing is if you are fishing bigger bodies of water the water clarity can be drastically different from one area to the next.  

This being said, I think your idea will be a good tool just to get a feel for how water clarity affects the way your lure will be seen.    

[maxke01]

there was a show on PA Outdoor Life on this and they used an underwater camera to do several test, the results were inconclusive

[Matthys]

How about using a glass?

[surfer]

UF Lake Watch uses a Scosi (or something like that) disk.  It's basically a white diner plate with a 1 inch wide black cross hare and 1 ft marking on a rope.  Lower it in the water until you can't see it anymore.  That depth is the depth of water clarity.  It's not highly scientific but is accurately repeatable for comparisons between any bodies of water.

[Tokyo Tony]

Color C-Lector

I actually bought one of those when I started bass fishing, used it like three times, and now I realize it was a waste of money.

[FD.]

It is called a suchi disk. My wife is a member of the lakewatch program and we sample Kissimmee in 3 locations once a month. You would be supprised in the difference in visibility between marker #8, #9 and the channel east of Brahma island. I have seen as much as 2 feet depending on the wind direction and speed. Again, that is the visibility at the surface where the light is the greatest.

[jwo1124]

Yeah I am familiar with Secci Disks as we used them in middle school and high school science classes.

I guess the idea was sort of 1/2 @$$ed

It's just the ponds I fish seem to be really dirty, I've seen fishing shows up in NH and the water looks crystal clear like you can see down 7'. I don't think you could see bottom if you were sitting in three feet of water at these places.

I guess I'll start relying on using the lateral line to attract fish.

[cpr1]

Yeah I am familiar with Secci Disks as we used them in middle school and high school science classes.

I guess the idea was sort of 1/2 @$$ed

It's just the ponds I fish seem to be really dirty, I've seen fishing shows up in NH and the water looks crystal clear like you can see down 7'. I don't think you could see bottom if you were sitting in three feet of water at these places.

I guess I'll start relying on using the lateral line to attract fish.

I'd prefer having 3' or less visibility than having 7' visibility. There is less chances of spooking the fish during my approach and I'd be able to get closer for a more accurate cast.

Like you said, relying on their lateral line to attract fish under those conditions play a bigger role. Once you got their attention, then the color selection of your lure steps into play. In addition to "matching the hatch", take into account the bottom composition and color when choosing your lure. Black/blue or black/red color combination for bottom baits are popular because they provide a good color contrast to most lake bottoms.

Cheers!

[Wayne P.]

The popularity of black/blue color jigs has nothing to do with lake bottom color, it's because it matches the crawfish colors in most lakes at certain times of the year.

[jwo1124]

I don't know how true that is. I did hear that some crawfish turn a blueish color in the winter, but it makes since that black, no matter how much light penetration or bottom color will probably be the best contrasting color, in other words its the easiest for a bass to see.

I think this is prevalent in most color selections, I think the color that best contrasts or stand out in a bass's environment will get the most attention, and hopefully the most strikes.

[Bassnajr]

jwo,

May I pose a question? How will "turnover" affect/effect (I always get the two mixed up!!) this theory? Also how about traffic on the water, boats, jet skis etc.??

By the way, I like the idea!!

bassinajr