Water temps wierd!

snapperbait · Aug 1, 2003

Went fishing in the Intracostal waterway (ICW) in a few "bays" yesterday and talk about hot water, jee whiz.. The coldest spot I could I could find, the water temp was 91degrees.. Hottest was 94 degrees... It's like bath water warm... Did'nt catch a thing, not even a strike... Was talking to a diver last week and he said the water off the coast of Ft pierce at 70-100 foot depth was very cold (in the 40's and low 50's) and that it was killing some fish while leaving other fish very dis-oriented... He said that the gulf stream current was running much faster than normal and it was bringing up cold water from the depths off the continental shelf... Any South Fl. offshore fishermen or divers know anything about or can confirm these temps in the depths?

JJ57103 · Aug 2, 2003

Re: Water temps wierd!

Snapper, I can't speak for Coastal waters, but I fish some deep resevoirs here in SD and there is what's called a thermocline, or some such. Where the surface water is in the 80's (84 last week) and the water only 35 ft deep is in the low 50's. Problem is, is that the oxygen level is much lower below the thermocline, and there's very little to feed on. The fish that are residing below aren't actively feeding, so they're very dificult to catch. The State lifts the Walleye length limit here from June-September, because a fish brought up from the deep will not survive if released. Maybe this helps or maybe salt-water is totally diferent. Early morning, or late evening seems to be the "ticket" lately, as the fish stumble into the shallows to feed.

Fishbusters · Aug 5, 2003

Re: Water temps wierd!

I was wondering that myself. I went fishing Friday and found the creeks and such to be bath water warm or warmer which is unusual because usually they are not that warm although warmer than it is offshore. There was plenty of bait but no bigger fish. The beach water was cool when we took the kids on Sunday though and it made me want to check out the creeks and such. Funny thing was the beach had no baitfish which is also unusual for this time of year. I know we have a La Nina or something going on right now which may explain things but I can't speak for certain.

snapperbait · Aug 5, 2003

Re: Water temps wierd!

"There was plenty of bait but no bigger fish." Exactly... All I saw all that day were big ol' mullet doing that stupid belly flop act that they do... The mullet were so thick it was stupid... I usually don't see them that thick untill the first cool off after summer around about the middle of october... Wierd..

rwise · Aug 6, 2003

Re: Water temps wierd!

Went out a week or so ago, i almost always go to the same lake, the water was hot here to! And all the rain we have had all year, this time of year we normally have burn bans going on.

thackea · Aug 7, 2003

Re: Water temps wierd!

Funny to see this posting... At the Mayport jetties 2 weeks ago (last weekend in July) the water was freezing (no temp taken) and no fish caught or even bites all day. The mullet schools were running so thick it looked like we were floating on them. We cast for some and let them run around on our lines, but still no hits. The only entertainment of the day was provided by at least 20 dolphins feeding on those guys (and Budweiser). Last Sunday, we sat inside the Jetties where the water was maybe just a little warmer. Saw zero bait schools swimming anywhere, but caught nearly a dozen black sea bass in less than 1.5 hours on live shrimp at the bottom ( 20-30 ft ). Nothing over 12", though. They say the tarpon are all over the place right now, so I'll let you know what happens this Sunday.

thackea · Aug 7, 2003

Re: Water temps wierd!

Funny to see this posting... At the Mayport jetties 2 weeks ago (last weekend in July) the water was freezing (no temp taken) and no fish caught or even bites all day. The mullet schools were running so thick it looked like we were floating on them. We cast for some and let them run around on our lines, but still no hits. The only entertainment of the day was provided by at least 20 dolphins feeding on those guys (and Budweiser). Last Sunday, we sat inside the Jetties where the water was maybe just a little warmer. Saw zero bait schools swimming anywhere, but caught nearly a dozen black sea bass in less than 1.5 hours on live shrimp at the bottom ( 20-30 ft ). Nothing over 12", though. They say the tarpon are all over the place right now, so I'll let you know what happens this Sunday.

thackea · Aug 7, 2003

Re: Water temps wierd!

Funny to see this posting... At the Mayport jetties 2 weeks ago (last weekend in July) the water was freezing (no temp taken) and no fish caught or even bites all day. The mullet schools were running so thick it looked like we were floating on them. We cast for some and let them run around on our lines, but still no hits. The only entertainment of the day was provided by at least 20 dolphins feeding on those guys (and Budweiser). Last Sunday, we sat inside the Jetties where the water was maybe just a little warmer. Saw zero bait schools swimming anywhere, but caught nearly a dozen black sea bass in less than 1.5 hours on live shrimp at the bottom ( 20-30 ft ). Nothing over 12", though. They say the tarpon are all over the place right now, so I'll let you know what happens this Sunday.

thackea · Aug 7, 2003

Re: Water temps wierd!

Funny to see this posting... At the Mayport jetties 2 weeks ago (last weekend in July) the water was freezing (no temp taken) and no fish caught or even bites all day. The mullet schools were running so thick it looked like we were floating on them. We cast for some and let them run around on our lines, but still no hits. The only entertainment of the day was provided by at least 20 dolphins feeding on those guys (and Budweiser). Last Sunday, we sat inside the Jetties where the water was maybe just a little warmer. Saw zero bait schools swimming anywhere, but caught nearly a dozen black sea bass in less than 1.5 hours on live shrimp at the bottom ( 20-30 ft ). Nothing over 12", though. They say the tarpon are all over the place right now, so I'll let you know what happens this Sunday.

thackea · Aug 7, 2003

Re: Water temps wierd!

Funny to see this posting... At the Mayport jetties 2 weeks ago (last weekend in July) the water was freezing (no temp taken) and no fish caught or even bites all day. The mullet schools were running so thick it looked like we were floating on them. We cast for some and let them run around on our lines, but still no hits. The only entertainment of the day was provided by at least 20 dolphins feeding on those guys (and Budweiser). Last Sunday, we sat inside the Jetties where the water was maybe just a little warmer. Saw zero bait schools swimming anywhere, but caught nearly a dozen black sea bass in less than 1.5 hours on live shrimp at the bottom ( 20-30 ft ). Nothing over 12", though. They say the tarpon are all over the place right now, so I'll let you know what happens this Sunday.

thackea · Aug 7, 2003

Re: Water temps wierd!

Funny to see this posting... At the Mayport jetties 2 weeks ago (last weekend in July) the water was freezing (no temp taken) and no fish caught or even bites all day. The mullet schools were running so thick it looked like we were floating on them. We cast for some and let them run around on our lines, but still no hits. The only entertainment of the day was provided by at least 20 dolphins feeding on those guys (and Budweiser). Last Sunday, we sat inside the Jetties where the water was maybe just a little warmer. Saw zero bait schools swimming anywhere, but caught nearly a dozen black sea bass in less than 1.5 hours on live shrimp at the bottom ( 20-30 ft ). Nothing over 12", though. They say the tarpon are all over the place right now, so I'll let you know what happens this Sunday.

Fishbusters · Aug 7, 2003

Re: Water temps wierd!

Snapper I got a little more input on this the past couple of days catching up with the few fishermen I work with. All of them fish S/W and they too have reported that things are unusual. The water is warm bait everywhere but nothing after it not even ladyfish. It is kind of like everything over 6" except the mullet died off or something. Usually they are not in the creeks and such during the heat of the day but a couple of these fellows even tried gigging flounder at night and all they saw all night was bait. I think that this weekend I will brave the crowd and hit an inlet where I can always count on catching something. The water is usually cooler and just boils past a lot of rock groins/jetties dangerous currents even for boats but the fishing especially from shore is great. I am gonna try my most multi-purpose bait fresh peeled shrimp and see if anything hits. I would use live baits but they are hard to keep in this heat. I will let you know what I find when I get back.

miloman · Aug 7, 2003

Re: Water temps wierd!

yes almost every lake and there are over 60 so far this year is going through similiar things where the thermocline is flucuating daily. It messes up the fish and pushes them deeper some days and shallower on others. This makes fish more suceptable to barometric pressure and hence will easily put the bite off. My concern is in the fall if we get a real quick thermocline inversion and the water " flips" this will cause a lot of stress on the fish and but the fall bites off big time

snapperbait · Aug 7, 2003

Re: Water temps wierd!

Usually, this time of year there are plenty of small and medium size snook up in the shallows and catching them on artificials is the best way to go(for me)... Had many afternoons after work in the heat of the day when I could go catch 5 or 6 without really trying.. Tide did'nt really matter too much either... This year I could'nt find a snook if'n my life depended on it... The only snook I have seen this year was on one day at the boat yard when a school of at least 50 (a few that were well over 30lbs) decided to sit in a deep hole while the fuel boat was out for the day.. They sat there all day still as could be, next day gonzo, split, outta there, ka-putt, see ya... Have not done any snapper fishing in quite a while and i want some on my dinner plate..

I go for them at night but the weather ususally gets nasty when I start getting ready to go in the evening.. If all goes well, I'm gonna see if I can hit the night time snapper bite this weekend, weather permiting... Will definately report the happenings...

snapperbait · Aug 15, 2003

Re: Water temps wierd!

Last weekend was a wash out... Hit it tonite.. Did'nt do too bad for 2 hours fishing by myself and moving a couple times for big freighters to pass.. I managed to boat one decent mutton snapper and lost a couple more... The weird part this time was not the water temp (38 feet, surface temp 85 degrees, normal)... Mosquitoes on the ocean? Big suckers too... Never before.. I got ate up sitting in the mouth of the inlet... Had ta quit and go home.. Was afraid them skeeters might carry me off...

Probably got encefalitus (sp?) or west nile virus now..

Water temps wierd!

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