Concerned About Big O Level.

[gar-tracker]

I am. At almost 16 feet a tropical wave or god forbid worse would turn it into a mudpit right now.

 

And recovery isnt as quick as you think. We would loose all our vegetation from being stirred up to a point where sunlight couldn't penetrate the water. It tears down the hardline exposing the back to the current, not pretty.

 

Everyone belly aches about low water, I hope you dont get to see the effects of the opposite. I have and it sucks. The shoot between Kings Bar and the flats looked like coffee for years with no pads or hydrilla.

 

Rant over.

 

[South FLA]

Man I am with you, its ironic that 2-3 years ago we were at record lows and now we are almost too high, if we can keep it under 16 I think we will be good, I really like that 12-14' level for fishing and duck hunting!

[james 14]

From what I've heard (not sure of it's validity) they've got it opened up and flowing out as fast as they can. However, you also have all the lakes above it opened up and flowing as well. When it rains every single day somewhere on the peninsula a good portion of that ends up in the lake at some point. I was on Sanibel last week and there was so much water coming out of the Caloosahatchee it affected the color of the beach water and I could even taste the salinity in the water wasn't what it normally is.

I don't fish the lake but I hope for you guys that do that they can get the levels down. I'd hate to see all the gains it's made it the last few years lost.

[sunkboat on big o]

don't let anyone tell you that you can run anywhere with the high levels. Fished busters sat and hit something just south of bare beach and lower unit gone. probably 2 weeks or more between insurance and getting parts and blah blah blah.

[salmicropterus]

Couldn't agree more. It takes about 1 month to drain a foot of water out of the Lake. I spoke with a person at SFWMD last week and they believe that with normal summer rain and a soaker or two there is a high probability of the Lake going to 17.5. They don't control the Lake, the Corps does but there are a lot of competing constituencies that have to be satisfied. As mentioned, the coastal estuaries are under extreme pressure from the outflows. If you throw in a srong tropical event or two into this mix,  the results could be disasterous in every meaning of word.

[gar-tracker]

don't let anyone tell you that you can run anywhere with the high levels. Fished busters sat and hit something just south of bare beach and lower unit gone. probably 2 weeks or more between insurance and getting parts and blah blah blah.

Man I dont know what you hit Fred but it wasn't the bottom.

 

Could have been a big gator.

[SirSnookalot]

We are getting a constant fresh water flow out of the spillways due to Lake O as I understand it.  Every charter captain, commercial fisherman and recreational anglers I know have been saying this is the worst fishing they can remember, too much freshwater flowing into the ocean.

[South FLA]

Man I dont know what you hit Fred but it wasn't the bottom.

 

Could have been a big gator.

 

I second that, you hit an submerged object.  I am running over rock reefs around Pahokee, ask Mike, and not hitting anything. LOL

[salmicropterus]

This high water is bad for my lower unit business!!!

[sunkboat on big o]

Have you been catching over ther hawg tech? the guys that towed me in said they had been doing pretty well over there.

Yeah its crazy, just got estimate back, def. hit something, drive shaft was broke in half. Are there rocks over there? I was between the channel and west side of rita? thought i knew most of the dangerous areas. If your on the west side of rita heading toward east wall be careful coming outta there.

Only happen to me at 16' above sea level!

[salmicropterus]

Have you been catching over ther hawg tech? the guys that towed me in said they had been doing pretty well over there.

Yeah its crazy, just got estimate back, def. hit something, drive shaft was broke in half. Are there rocks over there? I was between the channel and west side of rita? thought i knew most of the dangerous areas. If your on the west side of rita heading toward east wall be careful coming outta there.

Only happen to me at 16' above sea level!

Wow, I'm in there all the time and see nothing but 4.8-5.5 ft on my sonar right now. Must have hit some random chunk rock

[gar-tracker]

There used to be an old boat hull over there but thats got to be mush by now.

[basshead1]

I was on the Caloosahatchee last week and you can barely see down 6 inches and the current is moving. Franklin Locks is wide open with tarpon and snook stacked up below it. I think I know where I am going this weekend.heh

[954R70]

I would put my money on it that you hit a log. I was in the bear beach area sunday fishing bassbusters. I waypointed one that was just under the surface, that had some size to it. It would beat up a prop for sure, but doubt it would take the lower off. And then when we got up on plane and were running basicaly through the grass to go back to the ditch through bear beach cut, we saw another good size log sticking out of the water slightly. South of bear beach, before you get to the bottom of ritta.

[gar-tracker]

Yes high water dislodges a bunch of stuff that was wedged in 2 months ago.

 

Probably did hit a log, whole dynamics of the lake changes what was a shallow bank up tight my be just under water, but that doesn't sound right for where you were, maybe coming through a cut like 92 or 100.