Title says it all

Away from shore

Ok, so if I was fishing out in the middle of the lake and there were big submerged weed beds, would that be considered open water?

Not frozen

Ok, so if I was fishing out in the middle of the lake and there were big submerged weed beds, would that be considered open water?

Yuuup.

Open water, to me, is water away from shore with nothing visible above the surface like stumps, weeds, etc.

Open water is relative.  Generally it represents water with no clear cover above the water but it also relates to the distance between the surface and the element you are fishing (weeds, humps, etc.).

 

Example.  Fishing submerged grass which is just a few feet from the surface not open water to me.  The predominant element is the weeds and not the water.  In other words the gap between the surface and the weeds is marginal.

 

A submerged hump in 33 feet of water that only goes up 5 feet gives me 28 feet of open water.  Fishing a spook over this hump would be considered open water fishing.

The top has been unscrewed off the bottle. Seriously, open water as I understand and define it is water void of any cover. Cover and structure are two different things. Weeds,pads, trees, stumps, piling, etc. are cover. Humps, drops, bluffs, creek channels, ledges are structure. Structure can be void of cover. That's the way Rick Clunn explained it in a VHS tape he did about 30 years ago. Find structure that draws fish such as a point or saddle and add come cover, brush piles and you have a great place for fish to live. Fish where they live and your catching should improve. Clear as mud ?

Open water is relative. Generally it represents water with no clear structure above the water but it also relates to the distance between the surface and the element you are fishing (weeds, humps, etc.).

Example. Fishing submerged grass which is just a few feet from the surface not open water to me. The predominant element is the weeds and not the water. In other words the gap between the surface and the weeds is marginal.

A submerged hump in 33 feet of water that only goes up 5 feet gives me 28 feet of open water. Fishing a spook over this hump would be considered open water fishing.

I don't get it.

To me open water refers to the boundaries containing the water or anything portruding above the water. To me it has no reference to depth.

Pandora has been loosed.

Open water is water void of cove at whatever depth your lure is traveling in.

Cover is aquatic plants, docks, trees, brush, floating or growing in or extending over he water.

Tom

open water to me is the fish can go where ever it wants but has nothing to tangle you up on or cut you off or hide around etc 

open water to me is the fish can go where ever it wants but has nothing to tangle you up on or cut you off or hide around etc 

Yep....

I'll take open water fishing over anything else, whether it's a bass or one of my favorites, a permit.

Not frozen

For me that's soft water with ice being hard water

Space the final frontier, just means no objects except fish.

The top has been unscrewed off the bottle. Seriously, open water as I understand and define it is water void of any cover. Cover and structure are two different things. Weeds,pads, trees, stumps, piling, etc. are cover. Humps, drops, bluffs, creek channels, ledges are structure. Structure can be void of cover. That's the way Rick Clunn explained it in a VHS tape he did about 30 years ago. Find structure that draws fish such as a point or saddle and add come cover, brush piles and you have a great place for fish to live. Fish where they live and your catching should improve. Clear as mud ?

I actually like this summary.  It's in part what I was trying to get to in my quote.  The words did not quite come out as nicely as this one did.

Definition: Water that is unprotected, well exposed, and influenced by a variety of often dangerous environmental conditions. "Open Water" usually refers to being in the Ocean or in a large lake that is quite a distance from the shore.

Nomenclature is the haven of the incapable...

Title says it all

Context is important.

Tom