Thread: Salt levels in the water

I am planning on fishing on fishing the Mobile Bay this weekend is there a place I can find the salt level? That way I can decide where I might get a speck or flounder. Doing real well around I-10 area in holes. Wonder if the will still be there.
I am thinking the bay may be blown out with fresh water.

Scroll down on the left for salinity report (nowcast) and forecast. Also winds, tides, etc..

Now that I look more carefully at your question, that may be more general than you are looking for. If you click on the individual stations on the left, some of them have salinity graphs.

https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/of...fs_mobile.html

Are you seeing any sow specks in the upper bay or just males?

A few weeks ago we were doing well on some nice sows in the lower bay. According to what I have read if the salinity is below about 18 ppt the eggs sink and die.

I've not even tried in the upper bay, but the guy at Scott's said they were seeing some.

Deep holes wont be effected only the surface waters.

You can check the salinity levels at various stations around Mobile Bay @ Mobile Bay NEP - Environmental Monitoring
Mobile River salinity...


As far as what to expect in the future, watch the river levels @ Southeast RFC

Having spawned speckled trout for a paycheck I feel obliged to reply to Frednics comment on eggs and salinity. I'll try to keep it short.

Speckled Trout in Alabama spawn for the first time in early May just like that evil and elusive creature the red snapper. Water temps normally in mid to high 70's and females were collected in the lower bays with salinities usually mid 20's or higher. They continue to spawn with each lunar cycle into August. Also, small females reaching spawning potential for the first time often spawn in September and October. Salinity is certainly an integral part of egg and larval survival rates. Wild creatures being what they are....if they require certain parameters for their young to survive, they will seek out those places. It doesn't matter if it is in a dry year where they may spawn at Middle Bay Light or a flood year where they may have to seek the gulf beaches. Now, the real reason behind those numbers is that in a little over 3 days the yolk sac will have been absorbed and they will have to convert to external food. At those given salinities and temps mentioned is where the zooplankton that they need, namely rotifers, copepods and shellfish larvae to a smaller extent, will be located in populations high enough to sustain them until they migrate into the marshes and begin to feed on larval shrimp and fish. The main reason fish eggs of marine species sink is that they are not viable...either unfertilized or fertilized too late.

Thank you DR Hook great information for someone like me that knows nothing.