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I see this every now and then on google earth.

What are these structures?

They look like holes or something, around 4' wide.

They appear to persist year to year. Sometimes they get bigger or more of them appear.

Any idea what they are or what causes them? I suppose most importantly, do fish use these?

Pretty sure it is patches of turtle grass.

Shell

Yep, it has to be grass or shell getting a foot hold. High heavy weather can prevent them from getting bigger or wash them away altogether. The small "indentations" or pot holes are form fish like founder burying in the mud and leaving a "foot print". Also other fish sitting in ambush can use those lower spots to ambush bait close to that structure.

I’ve noticed those holes on Google Earth. I’ve seen them in abundance in spots without grass or shell. I really don’t believe the holes have anything to do with shell or grass. They are interesting. Something biological or some geological process makes them, I guessing? They seem to be in the most shallow spots prone to being high and dry during low water levels.

turtle grass... sinkholes? mud balls? prolly turtle grass as tobin explains in the shallow reds dvd haha

I'm about convinced its patches of turtle grass. I've never seen round oyster reefs before, but then again I'm just getting started with learning the bays since moving to the coast from central Texas.

karstopo wrote:I’ve noticed those holes on Google Earth. I’ve seen them in abundance in spots without grass or shell. I really don’t believe the holes have anything to do with shell or grass. They are interesting. Something biological or some geological process makes them, I guessing? They seem to be in the most shallow spots prone to being high and dry during low water levels.

Ya I remember going to the little lake in Essex bayou last time and specifically going to some holes I spotted on GE from 11/28/11 imagery.

I went over them and there was 0 grass and 0 oyster. My depth finder didn't show the depth changing there; but perhaps the depth finder wouldn;'t be accurate enough to show it?

The odd thing on the Essex lake one is the holes follow a line; almost like it was an old road or something? And if you watch the land you'll see there is a road of sorts following the line. It's the weirdest thing. Again these are about 4 - 5 feet wide.

I went in early march so maybe the grass was dead if it were grass?

I caught 0 fish there so if they were hiding in it they didn't see me haha.

Check it out... Maybe it's alligator wallows??

There’s never been any turtle grass, at least in the years I’ve been in there, in the round lake of Essex. There’s no oyster shell in the lake. The shell stops just past the fork of the bayou on the part that goes to the lake.

I think that line is related to oil field activity. Maybe some seismic study activity or an old pipeline. That whole slop bowl area was once a productive oil field and there may be a few wells still in there. Way back when, there was a duck hunting club/lease that covered that area.

I’m think the round holes in Essex have something to do with invertebrates or possibly bacteria but that’s just a WAG. That mud in the lake will have living angel wings, a type of clam, plus some others in it. Ever jump out of the kayak there and you will sink to your crotch into a rich, redolent organic mire. I don’t recommend jumping out into the lake unless you are looking for the best leg and core work out of your life.

I really don’t pay any attention to the holes, but I guess Fish could hunker down in them as an ambush point. Maybe some type of fish even makes them. Maybe redfish wallow out a spot to ride out low water, but I’ve never witnessed that going on.

The plot thickens!

An old abandoned (or maybe in service) buried pipeline would make a lot of sense actually - seeing as that particular example follows a line. Maybe some pinhole leaks going on under the mud. Or maybe an underground gas vein of sorts. I wonder if the water was warmer/ colder in those spots during winter - I'll have to check it out next time! That could potentially attract (or repel) fish.

My other spot I showed on the 1st post is a bit more random but also somewhat in a line and also in a marsh - possibly this is a swamp gas release point heh.

karstopo wrote: Ever jump out of the kayak there and you will sink to your crotch into a rich, redolent organic mire. I don’t recommend jumping out into the lake unless you are looking for the best leg and core work out of your life.

I can attest to this fact. I tried to hop out in part of that lake at the mouth of the bayou and sunk to my knees and almost lost my fishing slippers; guess I got lucky I didn't try that in the middle of the lake lol.

During WWII Christmas Bay and the surrounding area was used as a bombing range. Any of you who have read Rudy Grigar's book "Plugger" may remember that he talks about this. There used to be huge and deep holes all over that area, and it made Christmas Bay a fishing hot spot in the late 40's and 50's. Unfortunately, the holes filled in, leaving Christmas Bay a pretty featureless area. You can still see holes in the vegetation on Google Earth mostly on the North shore, but there is no depth to them. My guess is that what you are seeing is old bomb craters that have for the most part filled in and are just a different color.

The Little Churchill Bayous are is full of those holes. So is the Slop bowl system to the north east of Essex. Look at the same imagery from 2011 and they are there. The upper Jones Lakes (Brazoria County) have a few. They seem to be absent in other areas like Cedar Lakes, Bastrop Bayou, McNeil and Pelican, but I could have missed them.

They are not grass or oysters.
I think they are large dewatering structures.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft-se ... structures

I agree with crusher and thanks to the geologist (crusher) for solving this.

Ultrastealth wrote:During WWII Christmas Bay and the surrounding area was used as a bombing range. Any of you who have read Rudy Grigar's book "Plugger" may remember that he talks about this. There used to be huge and deep holes all over that area, and it made Christmas Bay a fishing hot spot in the late 40's and 50's. Unfortunately, the holes filled in, leaving Christmas Bay a pretty featureless area. You can still see holes in the vegetation on Google Earth mostly on the North shore, but there is no depth to them. My guess is that what you are seeing is old bomb craters that have for the most part filled in and are just a different color.

Indeed. Look what I found.

.

So, Google Earth collects their images during the lowest tides possible (usually winter) that coincide with clear skies. The area in your picture looks like a tidal flat that is usually under about a foot of water. I don't know what created the round holes potholes, but it looks like neither grass, nor shell, nor mud (all darker than surrounding sand). And I would be willing to bet that during high tides, when there is some water in there, that trout and flounder might hunker down in them to ambush bait.

Endo wrote:

Ultrastealth wrote:During WWII Christmas Bay and the surrounding area was used as a bombing range. Any of you who have read Rudy Grigar's book "Plugger" may remember that he talks about this. There used to be huge and deep holes all over that area, and it made Christmas Bay a fishing hot spot in the late 40's and 50's. Unfortunately, the holes filled in, leaving Christmas Bay a pretty featureless area. You can still see holes in the vegetation on Google Earth mostly on the North shore, but there is no depth to them. My guess is that what you are seeing is old bomb craters that have for the most part filled in and are just a different color.

Indeed. Look what I found.

.

you really found that? awesome

I've got crabs!!! Dang auto correct.. LOL.. it's crabs. But good intel by Karstopo he's spent a lot of time in those areas. The crabs burrow and make a hole, but around the lip of the hole they tend it and it comes out looking like a circle. If you notice there are other smaller circles as well.. which are smaller crabs. There is no turtle grass in that area, no widgeon, or shoal grass either, and very little oyster shell.

Good call on the pipe line as well. That's something that I used to make Reef Recon. I followed pipline scares into Trinity Bay and found a couple reefs along them. When you excavate to bury a pipeline, they leave clod and piles of clay and historic shell and that is enough to create a reef. Same for your shorelines where the pipes enter. There can be little reefs extending off the points sometimes where the pipe enters the water depending on how they left the area.

Nope. Them's chupacabra ambush sites. They're waiting for unsuspecting gators to wander out during mating season. Used to be thousands of them back before the chupacabra wars in the 60s. But I expect that was before y'alls time. Bloody business. Looks like they're coming back. Be afraid, be very afraid.