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Fishing Deep in the Biloxi Marsh

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Fishing Deep in the Biloxi Marsh I by Al Rogers Fishing Deep in the Biloxi Marsh nexplored, difficult to reach trout and redfish. The pristine waterways and even harder to navigate, ran through countless passes and into the interior of the Biloxi interior bays before eventually spilling Marsh is believed to be a into even larger nearby bodies of open major factor in the success of fisheries water. from the lower Mississippi River Delta, Spring was in the air. The chill I to Lake Pontchartrain, to the Chandeleur recalled a week earlier was gone. Longer Islands. days warmed the water, driving the Capt. Brian Gagnon looked out over speckled trout and redfish to the surface. the pristine wilderness and inhaleddeeply . In a nearby bay off Bayou Biloxi several It was nearly March, a clear afternoon screeching seagulls hovered over a and this was a long awaited breath of disturbance on the water. In the middle fresh spring air. Seated at the stern of a 14- bays, specks fed aggressively while foot sluff, Gagnon could not have been redfish plowed through the shallows and happier. This was just exactly where the along grass lines. Bay St.Louis,Mississippi native wanted to Gagnon -reached for his chrome be. As far from civilization as he could get. MirrOlure She Dog. Although well worn, "It's hard to believe we haven't seen withdeep slashes from recent battles with or heard another boat or motor in three toothy predators, it was a choice of days," he said. "Three days. When was confidence. Gagnon hit the kill switch, "What'd I tell you?" he asked. the last time you could say that?" silencing the 15-hp yamahaand we glided "Paradise, isn't it? Just don't tell I silently pondered the question but toward a point just ahead. He took aim anybody ." couldn't respond. I couldn't remember. and launched the walking plug just off of "Hold on, I'm an outdoors writer," I This was unlike anything I'd ever seen. the ambush point. reminded him. "This is my job." This was a paradise, as isolated and I watched and listened to the rhythmic Okay. I assured him I'd tell no one. backcountry as anything on earth. Many snaps of the shiny plug. The lure bobbed The Biloxi Marsh an adventurous angler has harbored dreams back and forth as he worked his rod tip. Here we were in the Biloxi Marsh, of finding such an area. But finding such a After a few snaps and pops the She Dog certainly not anexclusive or secret fishery. region in today's world is a rare thing. disappeared in a frothy boil of white Due south of Pass Christian, MS and Vast schools of fish moved through water and Gagnon held on tightly. He some 45 miles east of New Orleans, the a twisted maze of wetlands, gorging on a attempted to turn the handle of his Biloxi Marsh has been regarded by buffet of shrimp, crab and baitfish. The baitcaster but to no avail. The bronze generations of anglers as a productive bayous meandered aimlessly, with each monster continued to take 14-pound test, fishery. A fair number of anglers from twist and turn creating ambush points for nearly emptying his spool. (Continued on page I: Fishing deep in the Biloxi Marsh - Upper: Capts. Brian Gagnon and Drew Dekle of Southern Way Photos by autho Charters with a pair of marsh reds. Lower: Capt. Gagnon with the Southern Way in the background. The Biloxi Marsh (Continued from page 6.) Introduction to Mississippi and Louisiana do fish the perimeter of the Biloxi Marsh. But not Wells Daily Fishing Forecast many make it into the heart of the region Tidal Currents are the horizontal move- feeding on their moving and exposed food. that includes some 120,000 acres. ment of tide waters. This horizontal move- Because the best fishing usually oc- "Not many people get up into it this ment is the most vital factor in marine life. curs each day following the time shown in far," heexplained."There're good reasons Because currents control the movement of this starting column, the variations in- why they don't." fish food, they are the only advance predict- volved are worth studying. Gagnon glided a fantastic 30-inch able factor in the movement of our gamefish. First, a study of flooding or incoming redfish into his landing net. As he removed All the other minor factors which effect the currents shows that the IN movement of the hooks he explained just why such a movement of fish can only be determined on fish will be slower and more gradual than productive region has escaped pressure a day-to-day basis. It can be determined the OUT movement on an ebbing current. from thousands of anglers from Louisiana when and where themost fish movement will Fishing will be slower with fairly long occur on any given day. You can decide intervals between schools of fish feeding and Mississippi. Perhaps the biggest whether to fish the deeper reefs, the close to their way into the shallow water areas. reason, he said, is that getting here often shore feeding areas or the passes from the However, the continuing action should means a rough trudge across open waters. Gulf. hold you at your fishing spot until this So most people remain on the outside. The "why" it works is known to thou- movement has ended. "And the fishing is so good that sands of fishermen who have depended on On the other hand, when a strong cur- there's really no reason to venture in any the Fishing Forecast for 50 years. This rent begins to ebb or go OUT, it will move further," Gagnon said as he released the explanation is mostly for new (to the everything in a short period of time. Ex- redfish. Forecast) fishermen but regular users can cept when a tide is rated Weak or Very He took a push pole and nudged the benefit by reviewing information. Weak, all the gamefish will be out of skiff forward. Eyeballing another It is essential to understand that fish shallow water well before the time shown and their food start moving IN and OUT when movement is predicted to end. disturbance in the water he threw the as soon as a tidal current has gained The column of Current Speed Ratings MirrOlure with the accuracy of a pro enough horizontal speed to force them in designates each current by its strongest quarterback. As it hit thesurface he twitched the direction of its flow. speed. Each of these ratings represents a it again and let the plug come to rest. The time required for a tidal current definite speed range. These speed ranges "Look at that fish right behind it," he to build up to a horizontal speed of at least are Very Weak; Weak; Moderate; Good; said. "Check this out." three tenths of a knot (forcing speed) can Strong; Very Strong; and, Extra Strong. A On his next twitch a large fish slapped be from minutes to several hours. For this current rated Good, for instance, will al- the silver lure nearly two feet in the air. reason times given in the column, ways have the same strength and speed "That was a trout,'' he said. "A big one." "Starts", can never be correlated to the range regardless of when it occurs, either The trout didn't come back for time of High Tide or Low Tide as given in ebbing or flooding. sections of this book. It is very important to adjust the another look but we managed to catch The Forecast, therefore, starts with times as shown in the Fishing Forecasts five reds, keeping two in the 20-inch the time when a tidal current has reached to the area where you are fishing. The range and releasing three others, two that necessary speed or Forcing Power to start times given are for approximately the were pushing 30 inches. a movement in the direction indicated, center of the various bays. Areas An Enigmatic Estuary either IN or OUT. The second time figure nearer the Gulf passes have movements The interior of the Biloxi marsh is a represents the end of the Forcing Power as starting earlier so subtract time from unique area. At some point during our the current slows down to slack water that shown. Fishing areas further into extended stay I realized differences in the time. the Bays will have movements starting hundreds, perhaps thousands of fish that Analyzing the two time figures, we later than the times given. start with the first column, the time when I saw moving through. The demeanor of CURRENT MOVEMENT the fish within this area was bold,curious, movement starts. This time figure com- pared with the last time on the previous DAY DIR STARTS ENDS STRENGTH or perhaps naive. line tells you the length of time since the (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) It didn't occur to me until later that current moved the fish. If the previous TUE 1 05:30am 09:50am Good few of the fish here have ever encountered current moved IN. then the fish will still 10 01:15pm 02:35pm Very Weak 0 10:20pm 04:20am* V Strong another boat or human before. And they be IN until after starting time on this line. TO MID-MORNING (6 probably havenevereven seen an artificial If they were moved OUT on the previous WED I 06:35am 11: 15am) Strong lure like the topwaters, spoons and soft current.
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