Turbidity in a fishermens terminology is often used to describe how clear or dirty water is.  For most freshwater sports fishermen, water clarity is extremely important because it directly influences decisions made on and off the water.  Many fishermen, those wading, compare water clarity to visual depth until your wader boot is no longer visible.  For example, a fisherman wading in a river would refer to water clarity in terms of feet or inches of "vis" or "visibility".  This basically means, the visual distance you can see an object until it disappears from sight.  This is important because most freshwater sports fish are visual feeds first. Similarly, fishermen in boats will also refer to feet of visibility.  FISHBUOY Software taps into over 17,000 water monitoring stations, many of which, record turbidity.  Looking at turbidity prior to heading out can drastically improve your chances of catching more fish.

Common fishing tactics related to water clarity/turbidity include:

1) Lure/bait color selection - Dirty water (>25NTU) often means brighter colors. Clear water oftens means smaller baits using more natural colors found in the environment.
2) Lure/bait scent - Dirty water makes fish rely more on their other senses, including scent. There are numerous fish scents on the market - try one out!
3) Lure sound/vibration - Dirty water often means attracting fish to your baits through the use of vibrating or sound producing lures. When in turbid waters, add a little extra sound to catch a fishes attention.

Paying attention to water conditions has helped me over the years when fishing for steelhead, salmon, pike, bass and even pan fish.  Turbidity affects all species and is worth taking a quick look at FISHBUOY Online to know before you go.  www.fishbuoy.com

Every spring and fall, steelheaders from the Great Lake Region prepare their gear in anticipation of the false-fall steelhead run, or post-spawn steelhead exodus back to the lake. This time of the year means paying attention to water conditions and matching bait size and color to water flow and turbidity. FISHBUOY not only helps fishermen to determine what the current water conditions are, FISHBUOY also provides steelheaders with this handy Spawn Tying Guideline that accounts for water turbidity, water velocity, number of eggs per sac, and spawn net color to use. Try it out and learn for yourself the importance of match your bait to water conditions.