Having challenges at a private pond regarding continual brown water during the spring. Pond is north Texas but not east so has caliche base, hence good Calcium Carbonate contribution from soil. Pond has pH of 7, good alkalinity level, and we've attempted (but it's been a challenge), to reduce sediment laden runoff from cattle pastures around us. We've done the test to see if the water clears in a large Mason jar after one week and it definitely improves so believe it's a likely a mechanical cause rather than chemical. Livescope/graphs mark many fish (some really big),Secchi disk is about 14' - 18" so thinking that lack of fish being able to see the bait is contributing to poor fishing. Any input?

The fish live in that pond and eat on a regular basis, I would try live bait just to see what is there, and some smelly stuff to see how many mud cats you have.

The water could be chocolate milk…and it wouldn’t matter bass can see way better than you realize.

If you beleive it is mechanical, than something is stirring up the bottom. The usually suspects are:

*Wind- in shallow water
*Cattle
*Rough Fish/Catfish
*Run off water coming in from a muddy source

If it is chemical/biolgical. Gypsum and Allium are your best bet. If you were in east texas I would generally recommend lime. You need something to bind with the suspended clay particles to get them to sink. Ask your local feed store for Gypsum or Allium. Gypsum is a lot more common.

14"-18" is not bad. In fact ideally I like my water 15"-24" with a green to green brown tint. If it were less than 10" I would be concerened.

I know a lot of old timers "ranchers" would take straw round bales and dump in there tanks to clear them up. Not sue why it works but it seems to help a lot.

LOL well I've been using round bales that way for decades...guess that makes me an "old timer".

Round Bales with some Barley work best. Finding hay bales with some Barley can be difficult. Barley really helps when trying to clear a pond.