fresh water effects

[drodgers]

How is all this rain run off going to affect the West Bay fishing?

[Herefishyfishy]

I'm hoping to find out the same thing Drogers

[TroutSupport]

This is an article I wrote last fall.. .it covers the basis of it.

TroutSupport.com wrote:
Historically a 3 day weekend tropical dumping has been enough to move fish around. We've been needing something to kick off the fall fishing and get the bigger fish out in the bays marauding shrimp.

Will this mess up fishing.. No.

Will this flush all the fish out of all upper bays like trinity, copano, lavaca etc.... AGAIN... probably not, but maybe. We'll just have to wait and see how the flows concentrate and flow into the bays.

The majority of the heaviest accumulations were in Houston and surrounding counties... but, that said, The entire state received substantial rainfall over a 3 day period, even if some areas only got a couple inches all that water is concentrating and flowing together right now. First it will fill lakes, and then in about a week those that are full will start releasing water through the dams. (Many are releasing water right now in record levels)

What to do. First, the fresh water that rained over the bays and the first flows from local areas will just float on top of the existing saltier water. So, this week continue to fish where you were unless you were fishing up the river or in one of the bayous. If you were in the bay, your fish should be very close by to where you were fishing. If you were fishing the bayous, the bayous leading from more industrial / residential areas will blow out first. The bayous from marsh areas may or may not depending on where they are and how big the marsh is and how close they are to saltwater inlets and passes. Capt Steve Soule shared that 10 inches of rain into a 10 inch deep marsh pond changes the salinity in the marsh but may actually concentrate fish into the marsh bayou in that area.

If you feel like the surface is too fresh, don't worry about it. If it's too dirty 'turbid' that is also ok. Continue to look for fish where you were and close by to that first. If they are not there, then look for deeper structure near where you were. You're going to have to think quick while on the water and adjust as needed. Hunt the sign and fish deeper.

There are some small areas that will continue to hold just enough salt to hold the fish in upper bay reaches through the winter.

Oysters... the Oyster managers had actually been hoping for a little saltier fall. The spring spawn was not very good, and they were hoping for a good fall spawn. I hope for their sake the areas where they dropped cultch (rock and oyster shell) will stay salty enough to get the spawn they need. If this event was substantial enough to totally freshen up the bay water column from top to bottom past the mid bay reefs... then that could spell trouble for the oyster crop again. That said, the oysters will rebound over time as long as there is good substrate, there may just be some delay to that.

Debris.. yes, there will be lots of debris in the form of more logs. I, and Brent Juarez, and others saw may floating and half submerged logs in Trinity bay all summer long... so be careful... and as Thomas Barlow would suggest.. might not be a good time to run at night. Be careful out there and watch out for logs and anything else that can flush into the rivers and get to the bay like alligators and BigWheels or playground sets.

Go fish, ignore the surface, be quick, and think on the water, and keep hunting the fish.

Tobin

[Kody_bud]

Thanks for the update, hope the rain will clear eventually and I can get out there. We have had some crazy lightning too.

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[Gulfcoast13]

Trout support is the man. Follow his advice. Better yet order his videos. You will be glad you did.

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[Termo]

They were hitting topwaters in my back yard this morning....

[Flounderpounder420]

LOL, I hear everything is being caught on topwater these days.

They were hitting topwaters in my back yard this morning....

[TroutSupport]

Thanks for the update, hope the rain will clear eventually and I can get out there. We have had some crazy lightning too.

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Any time Kody. West bay should hold up pretty good.. but overall, the surf and the passes are going to be great places this summer when the wind allows for fishing those areas. Rain hammered us and there's a ton of fresh coming in. But definitely some good catches coming in from the shell where there is a little salt on the bottom.