People tend to overlook the water clarity and forage present in a waterway. These two factors impact the lure selection and the techniques you will use. Lure colors must be seen well enough to make a silhouette and match the forage or prey. You need to think about how the fish sees the lure.
Suppose you look in other people’s tackle boxes. The chances will be one color being dominant or every color. Using one color may be fine if fishing the same waterway all the time. Using more than one color does cover more waterways. But you have to choose the right color.
Water Clarity Effects on Fishing
Water clarity has a big impact on fishing. In clear water, fish go deeper and into heavier cover. The muddy water limits a fish’s ability to see a lure. You will have better success in stained waterways. There are a few different stain colors of stain.
Yellow-green and red sandy are the more common stain colors. The amount varies with staining also. The advantage of stained water is fish do not seek the deepest water or hide deep in cover. Stained water blocks sunlight. Fish do not like sunlight penetrating deep into the water.
Think about the clarity of the water from the fish’s perspective. A lot of light makes it easier for them to be seen by the prey or predators. It makes it harder to catch food or become eaten. Fish move more freely in stained waters. You will find fish on the edges of the cover and in shallower waters.
Forage or Prey Effects on Fishing
You need to know what the fish feed on in a waterway. Each waterway has different baitfish or other sources of food. The fish will prefer these baits or lures imitating the bait. Trout anglers call it matching the hatch. At times, it is the only way to catch fish.
Everyone has experienced times when anything catches fish. Yet most of the time you need the right bait. You knowing what the fish eat helps you find the right bait or lures to use.
Examples would be crayfish. This shows the fish are feeding down near the bottom. You need to use a crayfish or jig with a soft plastic imitating crayfish. If fish are striking at the surface a topwater lure is best. Between is where jerkbait and spinners come into play.
Then you need to choose a color that shows up like the prey. The colors will look different at depth beyond your vision. The darker colors tend to be better for deeper water. Lighter colors for shallow and clearer water. The clarity and depth influence the color choices.
Conclusion
Water clarity and forage tend to be overlooked by many anglers. A little attention to these two elements can make a big difference in fishing. The clarity affects where the fish will locate in a waterway. The forage is generally their preferred food source.