A. This could get long and technical, but I'll not bore you with a lot of chemical talk. Basically, pH is a number that reflects the relative acidity or alkalinity of water. pH ranges from 1 to about 12, but the extreme values are rarely found in nature; the lower the number, the more acid the water. Neutrality is around pH 7. Most natural waters not impacted by some outside source will generally range from pH 6 to a little over pH 8. Thus, if you find water having a pH near the extremes, it is likely a pollution situation or some very unique natural situation. Chances are that most of the waters you fish will be on the alkaline side of neutrality.

How pH affects fishing is a bit harder to answer. Different fish can tolerate different levels of pH, so rather than affecting the fishing, pH governs what fish species might be present.