litmus test for water clarity?

[8fishermen]

I read lots of things on what to use when water is clear, stained, muddy, etc. How do you determine what the visibility is in the water? I read several years ago to use a 8" white disk to determine the depth the fish would bed at, is there a similar test to determine if water is stained or clear? I guess I am looking for a standard to go by.

[foul hook]

I think that it is an accepted practice to use a white bait, and if you can see it in 6 ft of water it is considered clear . I was o n Lake martin a while back and those boys call that clear water. I could see the bottom in 10 ft.

[CrappiePappy]

I read lots of things on what to use when water is clear, stained, muddy, etc. How do you determine what the visibility is in the water? I read several years ago to use a 8" white disk to determine the depth the fish would bed at, is there a similar test to determine if water is stained or clear? I guess I am looking for a standard to go by.

that, a body of water is:

clear - if I can see a chartreuse tube jig, below 6ft deep
stained - if it disappears below 3ft deep
murky - if it disappears below 1ft deep
muddy - if it disappears within inches of the surface

Now, that's no "standard guideline", by any means .... but, water clarity usually isn't an issue, on the lakes I fish. They're all "stained", during the times I fish them.

If you have to resort to using a Secchi Dish, to determine water clarity, you're getting a little too technical (IMHO) :p --- Most lakes will have periods of time, where they're going to be at any one of the stages of clarity mentioned. That's why I use a contrasting color combo on my jigs ... a dark & light color combination ... most of the time. When & if that fails, I'm prone to going to either extreme ... all dark, or all light colors. Should that fail, also, then it's experimenting time ... and I go for the most outlandish color combination I have. Further failure makes me think of two things --- maybe I need some minners .... or maybe I'm fishing where there ain't no Crappie :p

... cp

[LBM]

that, a body of water is:

clear - if I can see a chartreuse tube jig, below 6ft deep
stained - if it disappears below 3ft deep
murky - if it disappears below 1ft deep
muddy - if it disappears within inches of the surface

:

Where I fish seeing a jig in 1ft of water is clear water and if I could see a jig in 3ft of water I would have to watch myself so that I wouldn't be dipping that water up for a drink if I was thirsty. :D