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Posts: 229
| I was wondering what constitutes dark and clear water. Looking at lakes using Minnsota Lake Finder they list water clarity by feet. At what depth of water clarity does a lake go from dark to being considered clear? Thanks.
Andy
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Posts: 2427
Location: Ft. Wayne Indiana | It all depends. Some lakes you can see 20 foot down, others you can see 2 inches.
If you have a couple of feet visibility it is probably clear, anything less than a few feet is stained.
Hulbert |
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Posts: 229
| Mike,
Thanks for the response. I guess I could have asked it a bit better. The angle I was trying to take is with lure selection(e.g. natural colored lures on clear lakes and the bright colors for stained/dark waters) When starting out on a new lake and taking water clarity into consideration along with forage fish and other things how do you decide what type of color patterns to go with natural colors vs. the bright colors. For example one lake I'm looking at according to the Minnesota DNR the water clarity level is at 4.1 ft. Is this considered clear or stained? Thanks.
Andy
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Posts: 1046
| I think in most articles 4' visability is considered clear water and is actully good in my opinion.One thing about match the hatch,natural baits for clear water is not a steadfast rule in my fishing,those hot type colors can and do pound fish in clear water.In my opinion discounting these lures is a old wives tale.Just how I see it! Handy |
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Posts: 259
Location: Alexandria, MN | Handy is right 4 feet would be pretty clear, that means the light will go 8 feet deep, which gives you a good idea of how deep the weed line will go. The natural vs. "hot" colors is a tough topic -- everyone has their own idea, and I have mine.
I put more weight on the weather and moon phases than which lure I am using. When the fish are ON, I don't think lure style and color matter that much, just put something with hooks in the right place at the right time.
When the conditions are not "perfect" -- 99.3% of the time -- you need to experiment. Try natural or bright colors, rattles or no rattles, topwater down to the bottom, fast and slow -- you get the picture. I tend to start with natural on clear water and bright on stained/murky waters, then make changes when/if needed.
One day Walleye fishing, I had three in my boat and we had three in a second boat, we all pounded the Walleye and at the end of the day we compared notes, My boat was using bright jigs with shiners and the other boat was using black with leeches. We were both hitting doubles and size was equal.
Focus on prime spots at prime times and throw a lure you have confidence in.
Freak
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Posts: 20269
Location: oswego, il | Handy is right about the clarity. As far as lure selection goes, I like white and silver for clear water. I like baits with chartruse with some orange for brown stained waters. Most algae or greenish lakes I fish are heavily pressured and those lakes seem to be good with white and silver baits.
Edited by ToddM 4/15/2003 7:43 PM
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Posts: 1536
Location: God's Country......USA..... Western Wisconsin | Don't hold me to this but I believe that water clarity as we fisherman are concerned goes from clear to dirty with "stained" being somewhere in between. Water clarity is measured with what is called a psieci disk (spelling?). Clear water is termed as when you can see the disk down to 8 feet I think. Stained water the disk disappears at 4 feet and dirty water at about 2 feet. This is highly dependant on how well one sees however. If the person doing the testing has poor vision the results will vary accordingly. This is not for sure of course but is what I remember reading about somewhere. |
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Posts: 32953
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | The entire issue depends on the lake type, classification, and particulate that is there. Algae can cause the water to become very turbid, as can mud. Usually, 'dark' water is considered tannic or brown stained, which usually drops visibility to less than 3 feet and limits weed growth to about 6 or 7 feet. |
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