i was just wondering what you guys prefer if ya had a choice. im asking because my buddies at my work always said they did not like fishinhg in clearer water because it spooks the fish.

i have lots of old sad quarrys near me where the water is crystal clear and there are tons of bass. i love fishing them its like imposible to get skunked.

they have since fished there now and one says he likes it the other still does not.like to hear your opinion.

Dingy water with 2 to 3 ft visibility

Roger

I prefer fishing dingy to muddy water, I've always had the most luck in these conditions.

Clearer the better on a prefishing day....slightly stained for a counter day!

Hmmm....I would like to see the fish and know that they are there....then tick the heck out of them so they cant resist the bait!

I prefer clear water. Since St. Clair cleared-up due to the Zebra Mussels, my smallmouth fishing has improved by leaps and bounds. Numbers and size.

Falcon

Clear- it's what I know.  90% of my time on water is on clear water.

Fishing , for me, is about the overall experience and seeing what's going on down there has always been a very cool part of the whole thing for me.  

Makes for good "releases" on video too,lol

The only water I don't like is cold and muddy. Clear water is pretty and usually productive, but stained water is much easier to fish. Rolo's comment on 2'-3' visibility fits me pretty well, too.

I'm wondering if there are any states that just don't have one or the other?  Is there a state that doesn't have clear water? (around the 'ol Mississippi maybe) or states with only clear water (cali maybe) or are both represented pretty much anywhere?

Stained

I like water that's clear but has color to it; not gin clear but not dark because of mud  

The only water I don't like is cold and muddy. Clear water is pretty and usually productive, but stained water is much easier to fish. Rolo's comment on 2'-3' visibility fits me pretty well, too.

Cold and muddy can make for some unproductive hours.  Almost all of the water where I live has 1 - 3 feet of visibility generally, except of course when it rains.  I do like fishing clear water, but the only times I get to fish it is when I travel to Table Rock Lake or visit my Dad who is 6 hours away.  Any water with bass in it is good water.  

So far I have most of my success in stained-muddy water. So I must say dark...

Prefer some stain but not opaque.

In michigan, all of the lakes i fish are clear (at least 6'), but i would like to try some stained  shorelines for a change. It seems to me that it would be hard to find cover & structure when you can't see 3' below the surface. I don't know how you southern folk can find bass, unless you fish shoreline cover  all the time.

Stained to slightly muddy.

I have to join the "stained" club here. I have fished many ponds with a wide variety of water clarity. Since I tend to fish shallow, clear water allows the fish to see me too easily and they get a bit skittish.

I can catch a few fish in really clear water, a few more in really muddy water, but one to two feet of visibility is where I do really well.

I like water that is off colored, stained to heavy.    Bass still need to feed no matter what the water color.    If I can't see them easy, then they can't see me easy.

Matt

We don't have incredibly clear water around here.  Mostly stained.  But Burke Lake, a couple ponds I fish, and the Occoquan River can be fairly clear with visibility from 2-3 and a half feet sometimes.  I like fishing this as I can anaylze the cover and see how far out it may go out.  Generally in this type of water I look for long laydowns that go out a ways in the water, and structure near deep water with quick drop offs and ledges.  I normally have to work deeper in these situations since the old saying goes, if you can see the fish, the fish can see you.

I like slightly stained water as I find it allows reaction baits to work a little better.  Especially in these warm months when you are tugging in spinners or cranks at a quick pace and the bass only get a split second to anaylze the bait.  The only thing I dislike about stained water and darker water is I find if your working a new area where you do not know the cover or the bottom structure it's much much easier to get hung up.  I recently had this happen to me in the Occoquan Rez.

Doesnt matter to me...

Clear water = Little baits and light line

Dirty= The jig

Stained for sure.  To answersome of LBH's question, I live about 10 minutes from the muddy Miss and many lakes around here are stained... some greenish and some brownish.  Yet we also have strip mine lakes and ponds that have 10+ feet of visibility as well as some fairly clear Ozark streams and rivers.

I've had my best catches in stained water with 2 to 3 ft visability.

I fell most at home when the visibility is between 6 and 12 feet. Sometimes I fish in 20+ feet of visibility it sucks....usually... .

I like warm muddy water best shallow 1 to 5 foot <Clear water is ok as long as u can get the fish you see to bite COLD muddy water = warm soft blankets ,Coffee ,and hot donuts and laying back

My favorites are clear and stained.  I've had luck in muddy water as long as its warm.

clear water because i seem to have more pacients.  I also like to see the fish then work on them from there