TOPIC:

This sounds pretty stupid coming from a person who has probably made 6491 trolling passes past the northwest corner of the Port of Indiana (aka the #4 marker), but did they (they being whomever is the reef builder) add to the reef on the west end near that corner?

I thought I had the mental image of where the reef ran and how far it was off the port wall pretty well committed to memory. However, the last two trips I managed to have close encounters of the "reef" kind once each trip and both times I'd have sworn I was plenty well off of where I thought I was in danger.

So again, was the reef beefed up or extended over the winter? I can't imagine such a thing, but I'd rather that than thinking my "remember-ator" went that bad since last year.

Makes me wonder what else I'm remembering incorrectly, ya know.....?

Yes Captain your not kidding. Not sure what has happened there but it has changed. Alot of sand and rock now were we had clear trolling room across the corner. Fish seemed to notice it also.

Also watch out for that hump that's north of the ditch lighthouse in the 35-43ft range. Lost a rigger ball there last fall. It comes up about 15ft and looks like a volcano on finder. Think those boats dumping a long the beach decided to dump a couple loads there. Mike

That hump straight out from the ditch has been there forever. I think it's the water inlet crib for Midwest Steel. There are often dive teams working it, I always assumed they were cleaning mussels off the pipes.

The hump in front of the ditch is where they were placing fish traps. It's been few years since I spoke to one of the divers and asked him what they were doing. My ever fading memory recalls it being for Lake Trout). I know it sounds strange. But I have it marked on my gps and have for several years. I remember several boats hanging their gear up on it and losing a lot. They use to have a bouy, why they took it down, I don't know.
As far as the #4 Mike, you ain't losing your mind. I just went over that area as well and noticed an increase of that area right off the point. From what I heard, there was a boat that caught fire and sunk there. They didn't retrieve it and over time, the sand or silt just kept building. But, wow, it seemed like it doubled in size since I last went over it. I stayed on the outside of it after that so didn't check on the main reef. Next time out I will explore it. I had pretty good idea of where it started as well.

You know what...maybe that is an intake and they were setting fish traps by it. Having trouble recalling but I do remember pulling along side them when they were anchored there and they said they were there having to do with fish traps. Now you got me really curious....

Shipwreck! Holy cow. Next thing you know they'll be declaring it some sort of Historic Site and banning fishing around it for a half mile. Hope no one heard I banged a couple downrigger weights off the sunken hull!

Gerry right there use to be a bouy there use to catch a lot of kings trolling past it think the dive team
Use to clean the intake there from our favorite invasive the zebra mussels and mike I think
You are right about #4last time out I slid past it and it came up pretty quick

I asked the Division of Water's Lake Michigan Specialist about it and he said he was not aware of any work done to the reef in recent years. And he sees all the permits for that sort of thing.

I wonder if the drastic increase in water levels does a couple things - first, throw off the perception of where you are in relation to the breakwall, it seems like a 4 foot increase in water level over a couple years has the potential to do that

the other thing I wonder about is that there have been some pretty massive storms in the last year, with big waves. And due to the high water levels, the reef would dissipate less of that incoming wave energy, so more force would be exerted on the breakwall - perhaps it's been tumbling rock off the reef and the breakwall and depositing it on the bottom that used to be clear

But that's just speculation

It's more than just a few rocks misplaced. You can see that along the west wall if you motor along 10 or 20 yards off the rocks. Individual rocks, probably moved there by ice litter the bottom. This deal at the west end of the reef is huge! The rest of the reef along the north wall is still right where it's always been. It's like the far west end has been extended a bit to the west and a lot to the north and it's tall, not just a few displaced rocks.

As far as the intake buoy just off the ditch, the only time I remember a buoy on it was when the divers were working it. It wasn't a permanent marker.