Edit: Pics below

Guys, 

I fished a small pond last night and it was deep coffee black but was clear as a bell. My normal routine is to dip a lure down and see how far I can see it and throw either naturals or darks depending but this one had me a little perplexed lol. Its dark black so lets throw black or blue/black but at the same time, I can see the bottom in 3 feet of water so lets throw a pumpkin lizard! So I tried both and caught fish on both but the ponds here in the southeast are either clear stained or mud stained. This one is also 18 feet deep in the center which is about 3 times the depth of the normal ponds here also, its only an  acre in size as well.

As a bonus, the fish were some of the prettiest, Ive ever caught. The bass had a blueish tint to them and were healthy as horses. Ill try to throw up a pic but just wondered what makeup was responsible for this coffee black water. 

 

Thanks guys! Tight lines!

Sounds like a pond with a lot of tannic acid in it. They often look like black coffee, but are actually very clear. 

Tannic acid is what makes tea tea instead of water.  So it sounds like you are fishing in watered down tea.

In SE Virginia many of our waters look like that (especially the rivers) and it is caused by the abundance of cypress trees.  Water looks dark, but it's actually clear.

Tannic water always has healthy bass from what I've experienced. I bet it has huge crappies too.

44 minutes ago, everythingthatswims said:

Tannic water always has healthy bass from what I've experienced. I bet it has huge crappies too.

Agreed. Some of the biggest crappie I've seen have come from ponds with heavy tannic stain. The bass are usually very dark and very healthy as well, probably from all the nutrients in the water from the decomposing plant matter. 

There is a lake in the poconos like that with tannic water. Had a good population of healthy fish. I used both dark and light colored baits. Both seemed to get bites. It does go against common knowledge but experimentation is needed in your case.

4 hours ago, Gundog said:

There is a lake in the poconos like that with tannic water. Had a good population of healthy fish. I used both dark and light colored baits. Both seemed to get bites. It does go against common knowledge but experimentation is needed in your case.

This is exactly the case! We only had 3 hours and we caught 4. 1 pound to 2.2 pounds and I have never seen such beautiful fish. So fat and their bellies were super bright white and the green lines were blue! their backs were a deep blueish green tint. Heres a pic

Nice catch. Love the coloration. 

Until the tilapia polluted our local waters, it was all tannic.  Our river, the Myakka, is indian for black water.  Gold has always been the top producing color.