# Chocolate - West Bay 1-30



## aktxla (May 7, 2015)

Launched at 2004 at 9:00 am this morning. Concerns about water level was valid - it was low. Great day to map out reefs and obstructions but not so great at catching fish. Ran up to Carancua Reef and picked up a handful of dinks and a rat red before the wind picked up and I went back to Chocolate. Water was even lower and decided to get out. Water was so low in the ramp basin that almost couldn't get the boat back on the trailer and the prob chewed up all kinds of garbage on the bottom. Tide gauges at Eagle Point showed near normal tides. NOT the case in Chocolate. The photo shows how low the water was in the ramp basin.


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## Sponge (Jun 22, 2004)

I went out yesterday for a few hours in the afternoon and it was unreal how low it was where I launched. Barely had enough water to launch. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## J_Philla (Oct 22, 2009)

i was out trying to crab yesterday, that was the lowest ive ever seen drum bay. my traps are only 24in high and almost all of em were outta water. i had to run to the cg station to trailer boat as the ramp i launched at was looking like a mud pit with straight mud and no water.


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## aktxla (May 7, 2015)

What I want to know is how can the water be so low in the west end of the bay system when the tide gauges at Eagle Point are near normal? I am pretty new to the Galveston Bay system, but is that much difference "normal"? I would have thought with the strong tidal movement fishing would have been better - but that sure didn't happen.


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## J_Philla (Oct 22, 2009)

my guess would be the w wind


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## jpayne (Jan 11, 2017)

The tide happens earlier at Eagle Point. The tide was already rising there while still being low in Galveston.


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## Chuck06R1 (Apr 7, 2015)

I almost got stuck Sunday at Chocolate. I literally slid the belly of my boat across the mud at the launch. Glad the area directly behind the slab is washed out from prop wash otherwise I'd have had to find a different dock.


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## deano77511 (Feb 2, 2005)

Don't ever let your trailer tires go off the end of the cement either. been there before !!


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## aktxla (May 7, 2015)

I suspect the water was lower Sunday than yesterday - I would not have wanted to try to get my boat on the trailer with any lower water. And, I don't know of any alternate ramps that would have been any better. The ones up the Bayou I think would have been worse. I was glad to have a tandem axle because I had to hang the back axle off the end of the concrete and let the front axle carry the boat. Closer than I care for.


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## Zeitgeist (Nov 10, 2011)

aktxla said:


> What I want to know is how can the water be so low in the west end of the bay system when the tide gauges at Eagle Point are near normal? I am pretty new to the Galveston Bay system, but is that much difference "normal"? I would have thought with the strong tidal movement fishing would have been better - but that sure didn't happen.


The majority of the tide tables are predictive based on the gravitational pull of the moon. These tables do not account for water that has been blown out by wind. For example, you can look at the tide chart a year from today, February 1, 2018. The chart will tell you the tide height, but it is impossible to predict wind and temperature that far out.

So when you say Eagle Point was normal, the tide height on the chart may have looked normal, but it was far from normal as the water has yet to completely come back in after being blown out. For example, reference Sharkchum's report, water still low.

This partially explains what you witnessed. The second part is to choose the tide station closest to where you will be fishing. Why you looking at Eagle Point? The closest station to the 2004 ramp is Alligator Point.

Tight lines!


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## aktxla (May 7, 2015)

Zeitgeist: I referenced Eagle Point for precisely the reasons you listed: it provides actual water level measurements not just predictions, which as you point out can be way off due to wind. Alligator Point, as far as I can determine, does not provide actual water level measurements. I would love to find a tide gauge in the west end of West Bay.


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## Zeitgeist (Nov 10, 2011)

aktxla said:


> Zeitgeist: I referenced Eagle Point for precisely the reasons you listed: it provides actual water level measurements not just predictions, which as you point out can be way off due to wind. Alligator Point, as far as I can determine, does not provide actual water level measurements. I would love to find a tide gauge in the west end of West Bay.


Good info, what site are you using for actual tides?


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## troutsupport (May 22, 2006)

The Eagle point station was the only one that showed a 'normal' low tide condition. All the other stations showed a foot or more low Sunday. And yes, it's mostly based on the wind direction, frontal timing, and barometer for our area. All of those can offset tide height.


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## aktxla (May 7, 2015)

For the Galveston area I use the PORTS website where they show actual tide levels as well as water temp, salinity, etc. There is a station at SLP but the water level gauge must be broke as I've never seen an actual water level from that station. TCOON data is what I use in the Port O area.

https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/ports/index.html?port=hg


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