salt water moving further into the bay/river?

[ngt]

I'm pretty new to fishing...2 years in Nov. so if this is stupid, sorry.

talking about the san pablo/napa river area

Where I normally go fishing, there are fish that weren't there last year at this time, or any time. The Ray, crab, and shark are being caught further up river than last year. Damn crab eating my bait where it use to be all striper. Now there are shark, ray, and 12-18 inch smelt...striper too. I'm just wondering if this is normal. At one point last summer I got a cat fish not far from where I got a ray this year. Why such a huge change in the brackish area? more salt than fresh when the fresh was coming further down last year?

why?

thanks

 

[rolmops]

Re: salt water moving further into the bay/river?

It can be because of a weaker fresh water supply (not enough rain or fresh water pumped away for man's purposes) which will cause the salt to penetrate farther or just a very high tide

 

[Les Robb]

Re: salt water moving further into the bay/river?

While fishing out of Stuart we were constantly going from rags to riches with the corp of eng's trying to control water in Lake Okeechobee. At times the salt water would intrude all the way north of the bridge and then when the lake was dumped ( possible hurricane ) you could get a brown brackish stain up to 6 miles offshore on an out going tide. Unreal,but the whole problem dates back to manipulation of the natural everglades, and the influx of people into south florida.

 

[walt-oxie1]

Re: salt water moving further into the bay/river?

I deal with this all the time in the areas I commercial fish. There are many causes but the main one is the fresh water supply in the area. If there is no rain for a while the fresh water will keep getting mixed with the salt water every time the tide comes in. The higher lunar tides will also increase the amount of salt water in an area. After a good rain storm there will be more fresh water and the fish will move out. The salt water fish move to saltier water and the fresh water fish will move out as well.

Many years ago I was catching speckled trout 17 miles past the fresh water line. A buddy of mine and I went bass fishing and ended up tearing up the trout that day. The shrimp were still there too. We fished that area for about another week before it rained. The fresh water pushed the shrimp and trout back towards the ocean. It all happens in cycles.