This is the current situation re: my honey hole for prespawn fishing at entrance of inlet channel. 1 year ago was 2-4’ deep in the area. While fishing started noticing at times a couple foot diameter circle on bottom would suddenly be a swirl of muddy water. A lot of turtles including large snappers and I chalked it up to a big snapper on bottom burrowing in. Seemed out of norm but couldn’t come up with any other idea. 3/4 of this channel has been “filling in “ much faster than norm last couple years but remained “normal” at the inlet. A couple months later began to notice as I walked by or rode by on mower the area appeared to have a couple “islands” forming. By late summer/early fall this end of channel was about “full” with an island plainly visible from road driving by. During leaf pickup late fall the island had sort of disappeared. Last time I rode by picking up leaves the island was gone and there appeared to be a hole about the size of a barrel or large trash container in the channel bottom where the island had been. I walked back to the spot a week later, no hole…just flat bottom but water shallow. Over winter the island has reappeared to its current size and the entire channel is only a few inches deep.
This is an area where soil transitions between sand/gravel, marl, muck. I am aware how muck areas will “equalize”...muck will rise in low areas ( drainage ditch bottoms, etc ) to equalize pressure and push up from bottom. However I have never observed such an area rise, fall, rise, fall, etc. The only thing I can figure out is the is a “shaft” ( for lack of a better term ) from subsurface to surface and some how the muck transitions back and forth. I would have never believed it possible before. Anyone smarter than me have an explanation ?
