West Flats PSA for Windy Days
Posted: May 20th, 2020, 9:38 am
I was able to get out last night about 645 from Shell Point, and with a stiff 20kt wind out of the south west, I thought I could duck behind Live Oak Island and get out of the wind. Low tide was at 745pm, and was shown as a +.4 tide. I went outside the sandbars in front of Shell Point, and then took the channel in towards the West Flats, and then crossed over the Goose Creek Channel to what I thought was going to be ~3' of water. As soon as I hit the edge of the channel, I came off throttle, killed the motor and about the time we slowed down to 5mph, I was about to grab a fishing rod when the motor gave a slight shudder and we halted. Depth finder read 1' and I could CLEARLY see the bottom.
The below chart shows my approximate track and location.
I trimmed the motor up, I had a several moments of panic, and then the boat floated, and the wind began pushing us east. I know there is a sandbar and shallow area south of there, and my Garmin chart showed 3' depths, while Navionics showed 2'. Plainly it was much less. I'm assuming that the wind was pushing the water off of that normally shallow area, but by nearly 1' in total depth? We drifted for at least 10 minutes before we started seeing 2' on the depthfinder, and began some fishing.
Is my theory correct? Are my charts wrong? Am I a bad captain?
Anyway, we were able to fish for about an hour, landed two trout, one flounder, and a ladyfish, and lost a really nice trout along the way. Had a finger mullet on a cork drifting, and something grabbed it without catching my hook.
On the way back to Shell Point, we took the channel west of the bar to the deep water, and pounded through the waves until we got back. There was a boat that appeared to be sitting on the sandbar waiting for high tide, but I couldn't tell from the distance. I think I underestimated the impact of wind on water depths...
The below chart shows my approximate track and location.
I trimmed the motor up, I had a several moments of panic, and then the boat floated, and the wind began pushing us east. I know there is a sandbar and shallow area south of there, and my Garmin chart showed 3' depths, while Navionics showed 2'. Plainly it was much less. I'm assuming that the wind was pushing the water off of that normally shallow area, but by nearly 1' in total depth? We drifted for at least 10 minutes before we started seeing 2' on the depthfinder, and began some fishing.
Is my theory correct? Are my charts wrong? Am I a bad captain?
Anyway, we were able to fish for about an hour, landed two trout, one flounder, and a ladyfish, and lost a really nice trout along the way. Had a finger mullet on a cork drifting, and something grabbed it without catching my hook.
On the way back to Shell Point, we took the channel west of the bar to the deep water, and pounded through the waves until we got back. There was a boat that appeared to be sitting on the sandbar waiting for high tide, but I couldn't tell from the distance. I think I underestimated the impact of wind on water depths...
