Larry, and of course all others, I wanted to ask a question regarding fishing depth verses water clarity. As some of you know, I hale from the Intermountain West, and then the Pacific Northwest for the last 20 years or so. Now I am living in the land of warm winters, the “Sportsman Paradise”, Louisiana.
From the Front Range of Colorado to the Pacific Coast, we consider dirty water as anything we cannot see bottom to 10 feet in. We consider anything muddy that you cannot see a white lure at 5’. LOL
Now that I am in the South, a different water standard is found, one I am still learning. Much of my area of Louisiana, the Western part, has Gumbo soils that contain a lot of Iron and Magnesium. When the water runs over and through the soil it “blackens” the water. In fact, it is often called black water. A white lure disappears in one to three feet, even though no actual sedimentation is suspended in the water column. So far, except for the lower third of Toledo Bend, I have not seen what I would have previously called “clear”. Nevertheless, the sight feeding predators, like Largemouth and Spotted Bass, and Crappie grow big and plentiful.
After moving here late last fall I found the bass shallow and aggressive. I was impressed with the overall quality of the fish, so I never considered fishing deep. While spending time with my wife, instead of fishing, during the holidays, I got to thinking; just how much does water clarity impact the depth you can successfully catch sight feeding predators?
Larry, when fishing for sight feeders around the world, how much does water clarity come into play for you? If you had water clarity of 3 or 4 feet, but a good drop off to 30 feet from a bank where an old creek channel ran, would you consider working the depths?