what would you call this water clarity? PICS!!! 2025
donbeatya reply :
Was wondering what you guys would clasify this water as, dingy, stained, murky. Also what color/patterns would you use.
Gatorbassman reply :
slightly stained
TommyBass reply :
Stained.... no specific color or tactic would hit me for that... I wouldnt use tranluscent colors or very light watermelons but any black, blue, red, darker green etc would be best. Alot of people deal with alot worse clarity on a daily basis.
Glenn reply :
Depends on where you live and what's the "norm" for the lakes in your area. In my neck of the woods, the norm is really clear water, so that's dingy water. I'd throw green pumpkin plastics, white/chartruese spinnerbaits, and any crankbait with red and chartruese in it.
NitroMan reply :
I call it stained not a lot but a little bit.
As for lures I would throw any type of crankbait in a firetiger color
mattm reply :
I would go with stained as well.
fourbizz reply :
WOW. I have always thought of this as stained
Stained being off color water that is off color because of tanin or something, but not off color because of mud, algae, etc.
Water like your picture, where it is clearly off color because of particulates, i would call dingy,murky, muddy, etc.
mattm reply :
Fourbizz,
I'm not suprised at all in your difference of opinion. When I started to seriously get into bass fishing it seemed water clarity was the only thing I couldn't get a ton of info on. You can read all day about structure, cover, lures, rods, reels, line, boat and weather conditions. However, it seems it is just up to the angler to decipher the difference between clear, stained, dingy and muddy.
Even though brief, I believe that your description of what constitutes dingy vs stained to you is the first attempt I've heard at it being explained.
fourbizz reply :
If I came off like I'm right and you guys arent, thats not my intent. But like you said, I have found no conlcusive definitions either. But that is the only way of classifying that i could come up with that seemed logical.
mattm reply :
You didn't come off as a know it all in the least bit. Besides we all know you don't even think fish can see 
It has always been frustrating to me that water clarity seems to be open to interpretation. With as detailed as we get about every other little thing about our "sport" it surprises me nobody has came up with a guideline for water clarity so that we can all be on the same page when discussing it. If I was 5 or 6 times smarter and less lazy I would do it myself.
fourbizz reply :
Ok, here is something that helps my view point at least.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbidity
QuoteTurbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by individual particles (suspended solids) that are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in air. The measurement of turbidity is a key test of water quality.
So basically turbidity is what I would denote as muddy, dingy, etc.
I was unable to find anything helpful regarding tanin stained water in these few minutes. But I know that tannins are water soluble, thus not particulate, and therefore, not turbid.
bigfruits reply :
ive always thought of it as how far down you can see your lure. if i cant see my lure 6-8 inches under the water, id consider that muddy
Gatorbassman reply :
I fish so many different clarities of water during the year that I've started getting away from thinking of weather the water is stained, dingy, muddy, etc. I've started looking at it as "How far can the bass see in the water." I take a lure, (usually white) and let it sink in the water. When it disappears I stop and measure the length of the line. I then double it and that's as far as the bass can see. I use that information along with the color of the water to choose the color and action of my lures. ....... I hope this makes sense.
Catt reply :
Water clarity: the distribution of temperature and dissolved oxygen, the concentrations of nutrients both dissolved and particulate materials in water.
Hum this is an interesting question and one that is determined like Glenn stated what the normal color for this body of water.
I also agree with fourbizz, in that water can have color and still be clear depending on what types of nutrients and particulate materials are found in the water and to what degree. Now dirt washed into a body of water is a different classification all together and would be considered muddy, murky, and dingy.
As for color of lures I think pretty much anything would be seen easily by the bass
Low_Budget_Hooker reply :
QuoteDepends on where you live and what's the "norm" for the lakes in your area. In my neck of the woods, the norm is really clear water, so that's dingy water. I'd throw green pumpkin plastics, white/chartruese spinnerbaits, and any crankbait with red and chartruese in it.
Same here, for me, that's mud
When I think of "stained" I think of tea colored, not real cloudy,just dark. (what biz said but in laymans terms)
BassinBoy reply :
Murky for me
Paul Roberts reply :
Great thread.
I do the same: I measure clarity in terms of depth too, noting whether lack of clarity is due to turbidity (an algal bloom, suspended material), or dissolved material (not so common here).
Looks to me like your pics show an algae bloom (the green), esp in the shallows by the rushes -maybe that is due to warmer temp or maybe it collected there from a breeze or other circulation.
fishfordollars reply :
I would call it stained.
CWB reply :
QuoteDepends on where you live and what's the "norm" for the lakes in your area. In my neck of the woods, the norm is really clear water, so that's dingy water. I'd throw green pumpkin plastics, white/chartruese spinnerbaits, and any crankbait with red and chartruese in it.
Agree with Glenn.
My local waters are mostly Gin clear so to me it would be stained.
fourbizz reply :
I typically just describe the visibility in depth too. But I go by how deep i can see the bottom.
Jake. reply :
That's barely stained where I come from.
Micro reply :
That looks like some of the cloudy tidal water I fish. For plastics, I'd probably fish green pumpkin or black. For cranks, I'd probably go with chartreuse, firetiger, a bright red craw color or something flashy.
Cravin reply :
Stained/murky I'd easily throw any color in it, I think Id like a little noise or flash with a bait.
Mattlures reply :
Stained to me has always meant darker or colored wtaer with a few feet visability. That water looked murky/muddy. Not chocolate milk muddy but it looks like only 1 1/2 - 2ft vis.
IdahoLunkerHunter reply :
QuoteDepends on where you live and what's the "norm" for the lakes in your area. In my neck of the woods, the norm is really clear water, so that's dingy water. I'd throw green pumpkin plastics, white/chartruese spinnerbaits, and any crankbait with red and chartruese in it.
X2...Only in spring during run off for about a month or two is the water possibly that color... Usually up the creeks etc. Most of the time you can see 5+ feet deep. On the rivers its about 15+ feet in summer... Makes great for sight fishing structure.
Colors as Glenn noted.
J Francho reply :
That water isn't what I'd call stained. That's algae, and I usually refer to it as pea soup. That looks like mild pea soup, with a bit of silt thrown in. I don't get too fancy with colors, but I'd use some variation of black or motor oil for jigs and plastics. I'd try adding rattles if I was having trouble getting bit. Anything with chartreuse for reaction/crank baits, and Colorado or other wide blades for spinnerbaits.
SimonDM17 reply :
I'd call that muddy water, not stained. I actually think bass can "see" much better in stained water (although they definitely see some colors better than others) than in muddy water.
On the flip side, I get way, way better reaction strikes in muddy water. For muddy water like that, I agree with what's been said already--colorado spinnerbaits, dark colored plastics that have a big profile and/or vibration.
I'd also like to add a white frog in there. Twitching a white frog, either a Spro or a floating sizmic toad on a 3/0 EWG through shallow reeds and weeds in muddy water=magic.
TrippyJai reply :
This is the method I use to tell. I take a spinnerbait to determine:
If I can see 2 feet or more = clear
stained = 6 inches to 2 feet
muddy = anything less than 6 inches
Paul Roberts reply :
Pretty interesting how there are so many diff takes on "clarity" in those photos.
scbassin reply :
To measure water clarity scientists use a device called a Secchi disk. It's a standard size black & white disk that gives repeatable readings. It will put you on the money. Or use the white jig meathod as has been described already, which is what I use too. It also looked stained to me. 
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