Dauphin Island Pier article and shoaling history

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Pier#r
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Location: Born, bred and someday dead in Mobile, AL
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Dauphin Island Pier article and shoaling history

Post by Pier#r »

Kudos to Mike Thompson for calling me to contribute to the article.
Sure wish there would have been room to put more of what he wrote about it.
I REALLY bent his ear about it :oops: :lol:

Maybe something will get done to improve the situation for the stranded pier and the pier anglers :x

Anyway here's the link to the Mobile Register article:
http://www.al.com/sports/press-register ... xml&coll=3
David Thornton of Mobile is one of the pier regulars who has been forced to watch one of his favorite places to fish become basically unfishable.

"Fishing is still possible in the remnant of open water, but (it) will only accommodate a few anglers without overcrowding or spooking the fish out of the shallow water," he said. "We can only hope for a miracle of intervention -- divine or governmental -- to re-enfranchise the thousands of shore-bound fishermen like me who've fished this pier for years but have been forced to find options elsewhere to cast their lines."
and the pics that were published with the article...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/ ... icle1r.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/ ... icle2r.jpg

Here's the entirety of what I wrote up for Mike:
Since the original wooden pier was built in Pelican Passage back in the mid 1960s it has been destroyed by several hurricanes:
1969 (Camille), 1979 (Frederick), 1985 (Elena) and suffered moderate damage from Georges in 1997.
It was rebuilt each time at the same location and to the same specifications,
but this latest version has withstood the worst "Mother Nature" could throw at it for over 20 years.
The latest attacks were an infestation of Formosan Termites (in 2003) and two MAJOR hurricanes (Ivan in 2004 and Katrina 2005).
In each case the pier miraculously survived, suffering only nominal damage in the hurricanes.
Well I've seen a LOT of changes at that pier since I first fished it in May 1972,
but NOTHING (even my college training in Geography and Geology) could prepare me for what's happened there in the past year or so.

This aerial photo (taken by Bill Starling for the Mobile Register Oct 2007) dramatically shows the movements of the northern tip of Pelican Island over the past 5 years. Image

After Hurricane Ivan (September 2004) Pelican Island was still several hundred yards south east of the end of the pier
allowing easy boat passage around the pier.
The water was sounded (by the Alabama Marine Police) to be 22 feet deep off the east side of the “T”.
Hurricane Katrina (August 2005) left several sandbars farther westward which shoaled under the end of the pier to the “T”.
This cut off ALL boat traffic through Pelican Passage.
Throughout 2006 and into 2007 the cumulative effect of winter storms and strong outgoing tides had helped shape the north end of Pelican Island
and bend it westward, parallel to the Public Beach on Dauphin Island.

Here are the highlights chronicled though 2007 into 2008 of the shoaling of Dauphin Island Pier.
(NOTE: the pictures are low resolution for web posting. I have the high res originals IF requested.)
When these pics were taken in January/February/March 2007 (respectively) the water under the "T" was only a foot or two deep,
but the rest of the pier had plenty of water (about 200 yards wide), and up to 14 feet deep in spots.
The tidal current near peak flow, would reach several miles per hour and the sound was like that of a rushing river.
Date of photo: January 6, 2007 (the water is 8'-10' deep in this spot)
Image

Date of photo: February 4, 2007 (the water is 12'-14' deep in the spot behind me 100' from the beach)
Image

Date of photo: March 3, 2007 (edge of shoaling on west side)
Image

At this point (March 2007) the US Army CoE placed more rip-rap under the pier, from the beach out about 100 feet.


The east side of the pier still had over 150 yards of open water. Most of it 6 - 15 feet deep at the date of this photo (April 7, 2007).
Image

The spring storms and stronger incoming tides moved a lot of sand inexorably northwestward along the outer beach of Pelican Island
and the sandbar grew and widened southwest of the pier.

By April 21, 2007 the beach on the west side of the pier began to build southward
while the bar southwest of the "T" on the pier built northwestward.
Image

Throughout May the sandbar under the "T" built up and widened...
Image
Image

Still there was 150-200 feet of deep water on either side of the pier and good catches of speckled trout, redfish, flounder, sheepshead,
drum, white trout, ground mullet and even fair numbers of spanish mackerel and pompano were reported (and documented).

By Memorial Day weekend (May 26, 2007) the shoaling west of the pier had progressed to the point
there was less than 50 yards of water over 6 feet deep in the Passage.
Image
Image

In early June deep swells from tropical storm Berry coupled with strong incoming tides moved tons of sand northwestward
along the Pelican Island bar into Pelican Passage west of the pier.
Image
The bar configuration remained about the same east of the pier...
Image

But west of the pier, the bar had filled in much of Pelican Passage so only about 20-25 yards of 6 foot deep water remained.
Image

Still there was sufficient water for good catches (especially at night under the pier lights) of speckled trout, redfish, flounder, white trout and ground mullet.
One odd side story at this time was a forty pound king mackerel that beached itself after 'skyrocketing' through a school of baitfish just west of the pier.
Image

By the end of July, predominant southwest winds and strong incoming tides 'curved' the northwest tip of Pelican Island back towards the pier.
Image

At the same time shoaling began to accelerate along the beach east of the pier
and this sandbar appeared in what had been 12 feet deep water (in April/May) just east of the pier house.
Image

In late August (Aug 26) the tip of the sandbar west of the pier had built up above normal sea level and continued ‘curving’ back toward the middle of the pier.
NOTE: I added the approximate depths observed in this photo.
Image

By September 16, 2007 the sandbar had migrated completely under the pier from the west
Image

and even east of the pier, essentially cutting the remaining ‘fishable’ area in half.
Image

On October 12, 2007 the tip of the sandbar under the pier had widened and emerged above sea level in places where just 8 months earlier
the water was at least 14 feet deep. (see February 2007 pic)
Image

Pelican Passage (miles wide for decades) was now just a few yards across and only 3 to 5 feet deep in October 2007.
Image

On November 4, 2007 the bar west of the pier was again building northwestward toward the Public Beach on Dauphin Island.
The water in Pelican Passage was now only 3 feet deep west of the pier for more than 100 yards.
Image
And about the same east of the pier:
Image

In early December 2007, the only ‘fishable’ water remaining around the pier was a trough to 7 or 8 feet deep about 30-40 yards wide about halfway out on the east side.
Image
The west side was essentially landlocked and rendered ‘unfishishable’.
Image
Image

On January 27, 2008 the winter low tides and north winds were showing how extensive the shoaling around the pier was to the west:
Image
and to the east of the pier. (which was closed for several weeks)
Image

Several times (during extreme low tides) in January and February 2008 Pelican Island has joined to Dauphin Island closing off Pelican Passage.
February 9, 2008
Image

For now the pier remains open 7 am to 7pm, 7 days a week.
They plan on expanding their concessions to sell sandwiches and float toys to the beach goers,
but for the most part their attendance is way down from past years.
Fishing is still possible in the remnant of open water, but will only accommodate a few anglers without overcrowding
or spooking the fish out of the shallow water.
We can only hope for a miracle of intervention (divine or governmental) to reenfranchise the thousands of shore bound fishers (like me)
who’ve fished this pier for years but have been forced to find elsewhere to cast their lines.

David Thornton “the Pierpounder” March 2008
In memory of my departed pier fishing buddies Tom Allenbach and Bill “Banditt” Brady

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GO4EM
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Post by GO4EM »

Image
THAT SUCKS!!!!!!! GOOD LUCK TO YOU GUYS UP THERE, I HOPE SOMETHING HAPPENS.
I dream of a better tomorrow... where chickens can cross roads and not have their motives questioned

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Swordslayer71
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Location: Summerland Key, Fl

Post by Swordslayer71 »

That's crazy, and so is that 42 lb king that beached itself
Hold Fast

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Frogfish101
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Post by Frogfish101 »

Hopefully it all gets better...
"Our lives are defined by the sum of our ventures into the unknown."
-Juro Mukai

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firebeforice
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Re: Dauphin Island Pier article and shoaling history

Post by firebeforice »

its kind of interesting to see the sands change but it must suck to have that as your honey hole. Sorry dude! thanks for documenting the progression

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