9 hours ago, Hog Basser said:

My place on Beaver has never gotten near 30', that's only up by the dam you can get that.  The farther away you get, the less clarity.  I'm normally at 6' or so, of course with all the rain earlier this year it was at the chocolate milk stage of clarity for the first few months of the summer. 

I think that's pretty standard about anywhere. I've seen it pretty clear all the way to PC, but that was "only" about 8' visibility. We launched from Indian Creek last time and it was crazy how clear it was, makes for some tough fishing. 

I forget which pro gave the recommendation during his seminar but it's helped me tremendously:  in clear water, start fishing where the visibility ends.  If there is 6 ft of clarity don't waste ur time fishing 6ft or less.  Fish 6ft deeper.  Also specifically look for structure/cover just past the loss of visibility i.e. 6-8ft 

I like the water to be clear enough so that I can see the stumps before I hit them.

4 hours ago, ClackerBuzz said:

I forget which pro gave the recommendation during his seminar but it's helped me tremendously:  in clear water, start fishing where the visibility ends.  If there is 6 ft of clarity don't waste ur time fishing 6ft or less.  Fish 6ft deeper.  Also specifically look for structure/cover just past the loss of visibility i.e. 6-8ft 

This is probably excellent advice 90 something percent of the time but I love fishing gin clear water (10+ ft visibility) with a wake bait or spook. You better have your adult diapers on when a big smallmouth comes up from 20 ft to hit a topwater 

13 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I think that's pretty standard about anywhere. I've seen it pretty clear all the way to PC, but that was "only" about 8' visibility. We launched from Indian Creek last time and it was crazy how clear it was, makes for some tough fishing. 

Yeah, I'm down below the Hwy 12 bridge at Monte Ne, PC is where it starts clearing up, but I've been up to the dam and could see bottom at 20'.  We have some tributaries that muck things up a little more on our end. 

yup here in MA, i fish anything from super clear to tannic tea colored water! 

This is my standard:

 

2 feet or less is dirty

2 to 5 feet is stained

5 to 12 feet clear

12 feet or more is gin clear

5 to 6' visibility (to the human eye) would be clear water here. But nearby Lake Murray has water clarity more like 10 or 12'.

When I started fishing, I struggled with the definition of what was clear versus murky. Here in Central Florida, unless you are the the natural spring base, the water is stained to varying degrees. Wekiva, Alexander, Blue Springs, are all clear at the source, but travel down the river and they all get darker. 

 

The other day, I was reading Al Linder's The Secret Teachings of In-Fisherman Angling Wisdom & Knowledge. In the Total Angling - Putting Ot Together chapter, Mr. Linder has a section on water clarity. His definitions are based "...on how deep a white lure is visible: 0-2' dark, 2-6 stained', and 6' or greater is clear." 

 

I was looking to learn more about the F+L+P formula when I found this nugget. Simple and straightforward, no motor or secchi disk needed.

I didn't realize there was so much confusion in the definition of clear. If I can see 30ft down in 30ft of water, that's clear. If I can't...it aint

At my closest pond, there is no place where the bottom isn't visible, max depth is about 8-9 feet.  Even at an angle which increases the relative viewing depth, I can see the bottom.  For fishing purposes, that's pretty clear.  It's been like that all year.  Even a heavy thunderstorm doesn't change the clarity, because there is no feeder stream.  The pond is fed from a well, so the water coming in is always pure.  It grows a good crop of various weeds, but I've not yet seen anything like an algae bloom to reduce clarity.

 

Other local lakes have varying clarity through the summer, and that can change sharply at the thermocline.  As a former scuba diver, I've been in fresh water where it was a bit murky as I started down, then hit about 15-20 feet and go through into the colder water under the thermocline and it turns clear, like driving out of a fog bank.  

I generally evaluate the term per the body of water.  I was on Lake Ontario this weekend, and I would say it was somewhat clear.  I lost the bottom at around 18'.  In spring and late fall, you can sometimes see bottom in 30+.  Switch that to a lake like Oneida, and I might call clear 5-8'.

 This weekend I fished a body of water where I can see bass swimming on the bottom of 15 feet of water from land. I would say that is considered clear water.