Did everyone make it through the absolutely brutal storms from this week? I am not sure I have ever seen a forecast for 10ft+ waves in the Gulf of Mexico except during a hurricane. This week’s synopsis is lighter due to not much happening in the Gulf right now and we are waiting for the jumbo tuna bite to turn on off of Louisiana.
SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE
The sea surface temperature for this week gives us a rough overview of what we can expect throughout the Northern GoM. There is 69-70 degree water just about everywhere, with it being slightly warmer in the MS Canyon. There is nothing of note other than we would strongly advise against going to the FADs or trying to fish natural structure near OB/Pensacola/Destin/PCB. We would point you towards going to the floaters, or running and gunning for jumbo YFT in the open water closer to Louisiana.
ALTIMETRY
The altimetry this week gives you a great look at three different upwelling events. The first is southwest of the MS river mouth, which is prime winter wahoo territory, the second is the one that we have tracked for the last few months that slightly pushed into the MS Canyon floaters. The third is one extremely far out, but it is cool to see three upwellings happening in one shot. We would spend our time working the MS Canyon where the center upwelling pushes into that area.
CURRENTS
The currents this week are showing slack currents in much of the fishing areas of the Northern Gulf. There is a slight bit of current running to the northwest out of the middle upwelling and it is skirting a few of the MS Canyon rigs.
CHLOROPHYLL
There is not a great report on the Chlorophyll chart right now and it has remained this way for the past 6 weeks. We will start monitoring the changes in Chlorophyll when we have our first meaningful change this year. Below is the most recent satellite shot.
