Was hoping someone had an answer for this. Just seems to be much muddier/more stained than usual. Whats the deal

I chalked it up to the four straight weeks of 25 mph winds.

There is mud under the water. Sometimes, the water and the mud mix and the water looks alot muddier and less clear.



















I couldn't resist!

-Alton

Agreed..

I am working about 30 minutes from Choke, and the wind has been ripping for what seems like the last 3 months. It really cranked up last week.

He's Gonna get ya for that one.............

I'm working 10 miles north of Tilden and I agree, the wind constantly blows down here but really picked up last week. It was blowing hard out of the north for a day, the next day it was blowing just as hard out of the south.

I had thought it may be due to the hydrilla not being ultra thick yet. That Hydrilla does a good job filtering the particles from the water..... or so it seems. In the very back of Possum Creek where the hydrilla seems to be more abundant per acre, it is pretty clear. When the Jig hits the grass it knocks "dust" off, so I think it does something as far as holding on to the sediment and aiding in filtering the water. Just my 2 cents.

I think you have a valid theory there. And the other theory is a valid one too. Don't know how long the original poster has been fishing Choke but it's always had about 3 inches of visibility, well for the last 12 years anyways (s. shore is a little better).

When the carp spawn they get the back waters all muddy thrashing around in the shallows. That could be part of the problem.

Alton-

Thanks for the well thought-out solution. Must have been hard drawing that conclusion. Question, have you thought about publishing a book covering the topic of common sense? You'd go far, sir.

sorry, like you said..."I couldn't resist"

Now- viewing my question at an accelerated level of learning, I think the lack of thick hydrilla may also be an accurate assumption. Clearly the wind has been howling, but I know of other similar terrain bodies of water that seem to bode better than choke has been as of late. Ive fished the lake for several years, and recall stretches of wind similar to the ones that we've been experiencing, and yet the water was still rather clear, able to see beyond my trolling motor.

Was curious if the water had possibly had an adverse affect to some type of bloom, causing it to possibly not settle as fast as it normally would, or if perhaps the lake is extremely unstable for some unknown reason. And, typically, the river has areas that are usually fairly clear, which I could find none.

Thanks for reading....

Hydrilla has not come back as strong as it was 5 or so years ago for one reason or another. Some say it is due to the state spraying up the river (hyacinth). I am no expert but I do think the lake is not as clear as it used to be both in the river and in the main lake.

In my opinion both anwsers are correct.

You take the wind for the last several weeks blowing in both directions North 25+mph for a day then south 25+mph for a week and the lake gets stained.

And in my opinion when you comine that with the lack of Hydrilla growing this year (The cold snaps in the winter really knocked back the drilla) you get a more stained water. I think the drilla worked more as a barrier than a filter. In my opinion the thick mats would sort of procect the deeper water from the banks back wash of waves and stop some of the mud running back in. Combine that with bit a filter and you have both elements contributing to stained water.

These are just my opinions and what I have noticed. If you remember in years past you would have the bare area between the drilla and the shore line - well during extremely windy weather that area would look like chocolate milk and the water out in front of the drilla mats would be much clearer. With no mats the chocolate milk keeps creeping deeper and deeper.

Biggest problem I see here is it will take longer for the grass to grow in deeper water if the wind does not lay down. You need sunlight penetration for the deep drilla to grow.