Less ambient light in Lake Michigan this year

[WaterWolf]

Has anyone else noticed there seems to be a lot less ambient light in Lake Michigan this year. Check out these photos of the Northerner out of Port Washington. This wreck is 125 ffw to the deck and 136 to to the bottom.

This is from this year in August:



This is from last year Sept:



Both of these sets of pics were taken on a sunny day with the same camera, strobe, and settings. This year, I could barely get focused to take any pics unless I shot where my buddy was shining his light.

Why is it so much darker down there this year? It wasn't just this one day either. I was on this wreck a few times throughout the season and it always seemed to be darker than last year. It seems the water column on the way down had more particles. Is this still from all the rain and could it be filtering out the light that much? The vis on the shallower wrecks also seemed worse this year despite all the zebra mussels. Any ideas on what's going on down there?  ???

Thanks,
Fred