http://www.MS-Sportsman.com April 2015 | Mississippi Sportsman 45
Marquez of Biloxi, executive director for the Mississippi Coastal
Conservation Association. “If you can find a good food source
holding in an area, you’ve put yourself in a position to catch a
box full of fish.
“This early in the year, finding trout consistently can be prob-
lematic. You can almost always find redfish feeding and holding
somewhere in the marsh, but trout are in a period of transition
from inshore to the beaches and outer marshes. When they’re
transitioning, finding them concentrated is impossible unless
you find a hotspot holding a food source.”
In conversations with the other captains in nearby boats, we
learned that a week of continuous south winds had created this
perfect scenario. Those southerly winds had pushed
Gulf waters in, and when they hit the bank on the
north side of the small bank it created a food chain
that began with microscopic plankton and ended
with reds and specks.
“All we need are days when that south wind is light
enough that we can jump across the west end of the
Mississippi Sound to get to the Biloxi Marsh,” one
said.
That, too, said Marquez, is a factor in April action
on the Gulf.
“The weather can be unpredictable, to say the
least,” the CCA head said. “It’s a hit-and-miss deal.
For every good day, it seems you get two that you
simply just can’t deal with the wind in small craft.
That’s part of it.”
But, he said, even on poor days there can be oppor-
tunities.
“One of the great things about April fishing is that
a lot of the species, including the trout, are in that
transition from the bays and estuaries to the front
beaches and reefs,” Marquez said. “We start to see
them on the front beaches, where the state has
done a great job building the man-made reefs that
hold fish. Some of them you can wade to from the
s h o r e .”
Alan Thomas of Gulfport has another answer.
“I like to fish the outside of the barrier islands,
walking in the surf,” Thomas said. “I don’t always catch a lot of
trout, but I catch my biggest specks I get every year in April on
those beaches. Usually by the second week of the month I find
big specks in the surf at Ship or Cat Island to the west, or even
Horn and Petit Bois to the east.
One of Thomas’ friends, Biloxi’s Rob
Thomas (no relation to the former Thomas)
is another near-shore fanatic who will wade
fish but usually stays in his 18-foot skiff or
his 12-foot kayak.
“I’m the odd ball,” Rob Thomas said. “I like
trout and reds and don’t complain when
I get one, but I prefer ground mullet and
flounder. Let me catch those and I’m a
happy fisherman.
“One of the things I like in April, especially
the last two weeks, is fishing the east end of
the Biloxi beach between the mainland and
Deer Island. The ground mullet will be in the
open water on clean sandy bottoms, and I
find the biggest concentrations on edges
where sand turns to mud.”
And they’re great table fare, despite their
name — which is actually a misnomer.
“They call them
mullet, but I think
they are closer to a
drum and they may
be the best-eating
white-fleshed fish
in the Gulf,” Rob
Thomas said. “The
only thing that chal-
lenges it in flavor, to
me, is the flounder
— and I catch them
at the same time
fishing in the rocks
either behind the
casinos or other
buildings.
“There’s a couple
of places I’ve
pinpointed where
there are cuts in
man-made riprap
areas where the
breaks allow current
to flow through.
Flounder love them.”
Thomas uses cut
bait — usually
shrimp — to catch ground mullet and
flounder.
“They have to have the taste and scent
of real bait,” he said. “Can you blame them?
Who doesn’t love real fish from the Gulf?” ■Ground mullet,
flounder
should be on the menu
FACING PAGE It isn’t rocket science catching trout in April
because they are hungry and seek big schools of food before
moving up to spawn. BElow: Breaks in riprap jetties behind
the hotels and casinos along the coast lure big flounder to
the front beaches in April, making them easy reach.continued on page 50Bobby Cleveland