FWIW our pond is very fertile. As soon as the water warms in the spring to when it cools in the fall, we have about 16 to 24 inches visibility. Seems easier to catch fish to me when the visibility is the 24 inches. Maybe it's because the game fish feed mostly by sight?
Between very visible and very murky/muddy I choose very visible.
Between very visible and somewhat visible (say 1.5' to 2' vis) I again choose very visible. It is so nice to see the fish swim by, or to spot a fish, tadpole, dragon or damsel fly larvae, etc. It is also easier to retrieve lures from snags. And the already mentioned filming underwater is great!
But I am convinced that this highly visible water makes it more difficult to fish, or at least for our LMB. If they spot me 9 out of 10 times they will not hit a lure or live bait.
The flipside is that it has become "fun", a bit of a game, to sneak up on them. Spot a bass from above along the ridge, come down around using tree cover, and then military crawl to a casting position, and make the cast without spooking the bass. And then BAM game on!
I've been assembling some dummies to stake out around the pond soon. Think scarecrow but with dummy heads, hats, and even a lame fishing rod to boot. I want to find out if having a half dozen props placed all the time around the water helps lessen the fish skittish factor.
