Thread: Water conditions

When y'all say "hope the water clears up" what do y'all mean by this? What makes it not clear? Is it sand getting stirred up? Does it affect fishing negatively?

We are referring to the water visibility.
It's more from suspended fine sediments than sand really, and it may take days for the water to improve after a big storm agitates the whole water column.

Less than 3 feet = poor visibility and usually poor fishing (at least for mackerel, trout and other sight feeders).
3'-6' = fair
6'-12' = good
better than 12' vis is good water for GSPPier. ANYthing can happen ;-)

When the wind is strong form the West or Southwest it moves stained water from Mobile Bay down the beach to the East. This stained water comes into the lagoon and Perdido Pass when the tide comes in and back out again at low tide. The dirty water hit the pier about 11:30 pm last Monday night and was still there when I left Sunday afternoon. I was told that the flooding on the Mississippi River in the Midwest has effected the water clarity as far East as Okaloosa Island. A couple of guys at the Canal Park ramp said the water was dingy 12 miles offshore as well. Like Pier#r said a lot of the fish we go after at the pier are sight feeders and it shuts the bite down.

We experienced stained water the third week of April. Main target specie was pompano, a sight feeder, I think. The pomps we caught were small and few in number. Did better with whiting, and a few slot reds, but the dingy colored watered certainly diminished our catch. We are already talking about when we can go back.

How long does it usually take for the water to clear? Last month, I was fishing (at least trying to fish) small mouth in yellvile, Arkansas. went through several detours due to the Black river flooding the interstate. needless to say i was skunked on that trip, so I'm bound and determined to make up for it next week in yalls waters (weather and water permiting).

Really depends, no golden rule on how soon it clears.
Depends on winds, currents and river discharge.
If we get a good southeast blow and an easterly current, it can clear up in a few hours.
A prolonged west wind & current and could be dingy for weeks.

The rivers flowing into Mobile Bay show no sign of clearing up anytime soon, so lets hope the summer winds (southeast dominated) kick in soon.

Central and North Alabama getting so much rain that Mobile Bay will continue to get dirty water for a good while.

I Realllyyyyy wish it would stop raining...