water color??

[Sweg]

I'm heading to the Lake Kipawa region for the seccond time for walleye and pike. Last year I noticed that the water was very clear, in all the lakes in this region, but it had a dark copper stain to the water. Does anyone know what causes this and how does it effect the fish. What color crank baits and jigs wrok best in this color water??

[Jim/UT]

When I lived near the St. Croix with its clear water with root beer tint, the colors were very decisively yellow, orange, and crawdad in that order.

Good luck!

[Fin Addict]

Color is caused by tamarac roots. I have also done well w/ crawdad color in this situation. Pick your color acording to the amount of light on the given day - don't be stuck on one or two colors for the whole trip.

[RANGER]

Fin Addict,

You are correct but the tea color staining is the result of tannic acid which is in nearly all living plants in the northern regions of the country. It is a soluable astringent complex phenolic substance that trappers distilled from trees for hide tanning, dyeing and medicine.

I have found that the bright colors (white, yellow, pink) and crawdad (leaning towards the green "softshells") work the best in this type of water.

RANGER

"KEEP YOUR LINES WET, YOUR POWDER DRY and THE BEER COLD"!