Bad news at the Bridge
 

1. There's a brown algae bloom.

2. There's a ray invasion.

Both are early this year.

http://www.mountainsoul.net/bbrays

http://www.mountainsoul.net/bbrays3

They are in Eastern Bay in force....:mad:

Doesn't look like you can get a bait through that:eek:.........Gary

I think the price of retrieving snagged anchors just went up.

Man , I hate those winged demons :eek:

Great. Chumming is just getting good. The last thing we need is a couple of rods going down with those things.

Shawn,
We never seen one today but if they are bunched up like that we are in trouble:eek:

What would cause both of those? (The gnarly looking algae AND the nasty rays).....

The water was GREAT last week....pretty clear, no algae and the White Perch were biting well.

The Cownose ray population has been growing roughly 10% every year for the past 15 years or so.
The large inshore sharks that feed on rays were killed off by recs and comm. fishing. Big Bulls , Lemons , Hammerheads are scarce now.
Some estimate the shark population at about 5 %.
Hammerheads are about 2 %.
With no commercial value and very questionable table fare - rays just keep breeding.

The brown water is sorta tied into the rays. The devour oysters and clams that filter the water.

Each year - water quality gets worse and the dissolved oxygen levels are shallower each year. One reason we are seeing bigger Rock in 25 feet.
Years ago - they would hang out near 40 feet of water.

Maybe we need to thin the herd... Who wants to have a CBAngler trash fish tournament for the biggest ray.. :D

And blues are there too Shawn, had a clean bite off on Saturday.

Summer is here early.