Making galvestons water clearer/ blue

Post Reply
Floundapounda122
Posts: 199
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2015 11:47 pm
Location: Cypress, Texas

Making galvestons water clearer/ blue

Post by Floundapounda122 »

I know this would be very hard to do but would this be possible? Could we actually make galvestons water clearer? Would the Mississippi River have to be shut off?
User avatar
Jigawatt
Posts: 793
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2010 8:55 pm

Re: Making galvestons water clearer/ blue

Post by Jigawatt »

Clear Creek and Clear Lake were once clear. If sea grass was allowed to grow, then I think yes. Galveston bay is shallow, and it has a muddy bottom. A little bit of wind is all it takes to kick-up the silt. Sea grass would keep that from happening. But with all the boat traffic, shrimping, oyster dredging - I don't see the grass coming back.
User avatar
TexasJim
Posts: 726
Joined: Sun Sep 22, 2013 11:56 am
Location: Crockport

Re: Making galvestons water clearer/ blue

Post by TexasJim »

Galveston Bay is muddy because the Trinity River dumps into it. Never gonna stop. The Gulf Coast is dirty because all the rivers from the Rio Grande to Tampa Bay dump silt nto the Gulf.

Galveston should do what Rockport did: Declare themselves a :"Bluewater Beach"! Done deal!

Texas Jim
User avatar
karstopo
TKF 5000 Club
TKF 5000 Club
Posts: 5612
Joined: Tue Feb 10, 2009 10:30 am
Location: 77566

Re: Making galvestons water clearer/ blue

Post by karstopo »

http://www.galvbaydata.org/www.galvbayd ... fault.html

Interesting article on sea grasses in the bay.
User avatar
Yaklash
TKF 10,000 Club
TKF 10,000 Club
Posts: 12028
Joined: Tue Mar 16, 2004 10:15 am
Location: Houston Heights

Re: Making galvestons water clearer/ blue

Post by Yaklash »

There are times when the water is gin clear (usually in winter) and yes, more abundant grass beds would help clear it up faster, but with the dozens of bayous, several rivers and many square miles of marshes that feed it, all of which flow through muddy coastal prairie, it is implausible to think it will ever look like Rockport. But, given that the mud provides nutrients to feed the lower end of the food chain, we should at least consider that the "dirty" water at least contributes to the fact that the Galveston Bay system is the most productive system on the Texas Coast (considering the number of anglers that pressure the system and still catch fish).

Back to grass. Yes, more and a wider variety of grasses would be better on several fronts. Better filtration and more area of protective habitat for shrimp and juvenile fin fish.

One thing we can all do to assist is take part in the grass planting efforts lead by the Galveston Bay Foundation
Doyle
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Jul 29, 2017 4:53 pm

Re: Making galvestons water clearer/ blue

Post by Doyle »

Yeppers, the Mississippi River is known as the toilet bowl of America and it dumps right into the Gulf of Mexico. Ugly stuff coming out of it
Floundapounda122 wrote:I know this would be very hard to do but would this be possible? Could we actually make galvestons water clearer? Would the Mississippi River have to be shut off?
User avatar
Yaklash
TKF 10,000 Club
TKF 10,000 Club
Posts: 12028
Joined: Tue Mar 16, 2004 10:15 am
Location: Houston Heights

Re: Making galvestons water clearer/ blue

Post by Yaklash »

Another natural filtering element in a bay besides grass is oysters. One oyster will filter some crazy amount of water per day, like a hundred gallons each oyster. More oysters and we will have clearer water, but again, Galveston Bay, most of the year, will never be as clear as someplace like Rockport (tons of oyster, very little mud) because of our local river and bayou mud
User avatar
TroutSupport.com
TKF 3000 Club
TKF 3000 Club
Posts: 3587
Joined: Mon Dec 05, 2011 9:29 am
Location: Gulf Coast Texas - Florida
Contact:

Re: Making galvestons water clearer/ blue

Post by TroutSupport.com »

All good above..

Did ya'll know that Matagorda Bay was at one time one large bay? What happened. Before the agricultural age there was minimal sedimentation from farming practices, construction, land manipulation etc etc. So there wasn't so much sediment that the riparian borders of rivers couldn't handle it. Well, we started plowing everything everywhere and disturbing it all at mush higher rates and now the area between Matagorda and the beach has filled in and made a marsh delta but its all from sediment that washed in up stream. It's the same for other bays like trinity as you all mention above. Now, I'm not anti anything and it's just what it is. We're not going to stop disturbing the land and the bays will adjust. deltas will form and marsh grass will form on that. Not sure if they'll ever clear up completely again like one of you mentioned because with all the sand and silt there is also clay particles and that's what causes the water to be 'turbid' or dirty or muddy what ever we want to call it. In the winter it settles out faster due to less algae in the water column and there may be some other soil science facts but I won't bore you with that. What has also adapted are the fish. I know it's way more beautiful and enjoyable to fish clean water but the fish go where the food is whether its' dirty or not. I actually prefer to fish where there is at least a little 'sandy' tone in the water (that's still caused by the clay in the water being suspended but that's what we call it.

For those that don't know here's a scale of water clarity in fishing terms
  • Crystal clear (also referred to as Gin Clear by bass fisherman and those that drink Gin) Visibility 4-8 ft
  • Clear (this is summer clear with a little algae in the water) visibility 3ft
  • Trout Green (good clear-ish water with algae green and a slight turbity) about 2 foot viz.
  • Sandy clear (good visibility to about 8 inches)
  • Sandy visibility to about 4 inches
  • Dirty 2-3 inches
  • F'n YouHoo.. 1 inch
  • Blown out - less than 1 inch visibility
  • Ugly - Zero visibility
I once caught trout on a color change in Baffin. The color change was from Blown Out to Ugly.. it was blowing 40 that day. I used a topwater and they found it.

I think we underestimate the fishes ability to find baits in turbid water.. they fell it with the lateral line and turn into it right at the right moment.

I agree with all the above about things that filter the bays.. oysters, sea grass, riparian borders along creeks rivers and bayous, and vegetative buffers close to creeks. We'll probably not see Galveston clear for a long time.. and yes some of that is from the Mississippi and even from the Brazos. The Brazos has to be the 'mini' toilet bowl.
User avatar
karstopo
TKF 5000 Club
TKF 5000 Club
Posts: 5612
Joined: Tue Feb 10, 2009 10:30 am
Location: 77566

Re: Making galvestons water clearer/ blue

Post by karstopo »

In my little circle, we all seem to agree that the "dirty" water of the greater Galveston area is often more productive than a typically clear water area like Pensacola or Panama City.

Like others have said, just because you couldn't locate a lure or whatever in cruddy water doesn't mean the fish are handicapped by the same 6th rate senses we humans have.
User avatar
Ultrastealth
TKF 1000 Club
TKF 1000 Club
Posts: 1040
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2003 5:07 pm
Location: Houston
Contact:

Re: Making galvestons water clearer/ blue

Post by Ultrastealth »

Historically, despite the Trinity River inflow, Galveston Bay was much clearer than today. I doubt that it was ever like Rockport or Southern Laguna Madre , but there is plenty of evidence that the main bay and it's offshoots had better clarity. Reports from market hunters give the impression that East Bay had a grass bottom, and it was a duck and goose haven because of this. They shot large numbers of Canvasbacks, widgeon, pintails, swans, and greater canadian geese; all of which prefer grass bottoms. From reading their accounts, it would be difficult for those of us who fish there to recognize Bolivar and the Smith Point area. One reason given for closing Rollover Pass is the possibility of reestablishing grass beds in East Bay. Whether or not that would have any impact is debatable. One thing is certain, if they were reestablished, the clarity of the water would be much better.
User avatar
TroutSupport.com
TKF 3000 Club
TKF 3000 Club
Posts: 3587
Joined: Mon Dec 05, 2011 9:29 am
Location: Gulf Coast Texas - Florida
Contact:

Re: Making galvestons water clearer/ blue

Post by TroutSupport.com »

So true.. there are documented accounts of the grass growing in East. And actually, Trinity was starting to see some turtle grass clumps form during the end of the Drought.. Steve Soule talked about those forming up.. so even in trinity it can happen. I'd love for east to have some grass... even if it's muddy or dirty or ugly.. grass would certainly be beneficial and would help it clear up faster.
User avatar
Finn Maccumhail
TKF 1000 Club
TKF 1000 Club
Posts: 1724
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2007 10:48 pm
Location: Houston- Upper East Side ;)

Re: Making galvestons water clearer/ blue

Post by Finn Maccumhail »

Look at the improvement in water clarity in West Bay post-Ike in particular. When I moved to Houston and started fishing West Bay around 2003 there was almost zero grass anywhere. You had to hit the south shoreline of Christmas to find much grass, and not coincidentally that area had the clearest water except for some bare, hard sand areas of West Bay during a dry spell in the winter.

Over the last 14 years I've seen tremendous improvements in the water clarity thanks due to the marsh restoration projects, the geotubes, grass planted, and then when Ike scoured the bottom grass took hold in a bunch of places so there's now outstanding water clarity for sight-fishing in a whole bunch of spots and it's clear like that the majority of the time now.
User avatar
Yaklash
TKF 10,000 Club
TKF 10,000 Club
Posts: 12028
Joined: Tue Mar 16, 2004 10:15 am
Location: Houston Heights

Re: Making galvestons water clearer/ blue

Post by Yaklash »

TroutSupport.com wrote:So true.. there are documented accounts of the grass growing in East.
Not exactly "documented," but my grandfather who resided in Houston full time starting in 1919, spent as much time as he could fishing in the Galveston area. Mostly, he was a shorebird or waded the surf with long rods. Mostly, he described trips in his 50s and 60s to the Texas City Dike. But he had a coworker/friend with a small boat and they would fish East Bay out of Smith's Point. The last few years before he passed were after I'd started fishing in the SLP area, West and East Bays and the jetties. I was talking to him once about wade-fishing SLP (which he thought was dangerous and ridiculous) and he lamented the loss of the grass in East Bay. He described East Bay in the 40s as being crazy with oyster reefs and grass beds that would damage or fouled the prop if you weren't really careful.

Whether it was Rollover or subsidence is for the experts to argue, I just want to wade that bay over a bed of grass and natural oyster beds, with a chew of tobacco in my mouth in honor of Grandpa, before I die.
User avatar
TroutSupport.com
TKF 3000 Club
TKF 3000 Club
Posts: 3587
Joined: Mon Dec 05, 2011 9:29 am
Location: Gulf Coast Texas - Florida
Contact:

Re: Making galvestons water clearer/ blue

Post by TroutSupport.com »

Cool story.. I did find a really really cool reef last year side scanning Galveston.. It was a restoration reef so technically the oyster boats weren't suppose to harvest from it, or they totally forgot about it.. It was super cool with some parts of the reef growing to 5 ft off the bottom in 10ft of water and huge holes in it.. It was more like a coral like growth with live oyster all over from top to bottom. It's the only one like it in Galveston bay, I can only imagine what it would be like if all of east and from SmithPoint to Eagle point was complete oyster reefs like that. There used to be a reef from Smith point to Eagle point just like that sometime back them.
User avatar
Yaklash
TKF 10,000 Club
TKF 10,000 Club
Posts: 12028
Joined: Tue Mar 16, 2004 10:15 am
Location: Houston Heights

Re: Making galvestons water clearer/ blue

Post by Yaklash »

TroutSupport.com wrote: There used to be a reef from Smith point to Eagle point just like that sometime back them.
Legend goes that before the Houston Ship Channel tore it out, that it was a near continuous reef that ranchers would drive cattle across during the winter low tides to get to the tracks along Old Galveston Road to send to market. Seems plausible...but I say "legend" cause I'm not too sure about the truth of it. Also a story of one pirate, Jean Lafitte, who had a settlement in Galveston and would evade Spanish ships by going through a small break in that reef to retreat and hide in Trinity Bay.
User avatar
TroutSupport.com
TKF 3000 Club
TKF 3000 Club
Posts: 3587
Joined: Mon Dec 05, 2011 9:29 am
Location: Gulf Coast Texas - Florida
Contact:

Re: Making galvestons water clearer/ blue

Post by TroutSupport.com »

Those are the same accounts I've heard as well.. I guess today that little break in the reef is the Houston Ship Channel.. LOL
User avatar
Crusader
Posts: 613
Joined: Fri Feb 07, 2014 7:28 pm

Re: Making galvestons water clearer/ blue

Post by Crusader »

karstopo wrote:In my little circle, we all seem to agree that the "dirty" water of the greater Galveston area is often more productive than a typically clear water area like Pensacola or Panama City.

Like others have said, just because you couldn't locate a lure or whatever in cruddy water doesn't mean the fish are handicapped by the same 6th rate senses we humans have.
Well, to be fair, you have to also mention that fish isn't going to chase your lure in dirty water either... So, if your retrieval is 1" further away than what fish feels comfortable distance for a strike -- you won't get bit. And that distance is considerably larger in clear water.
Post Reply