Red Fish for those that know.

[Percho]

Tell me a little about Red Fish fishing on Mississippi Coast. Guides and things like that. My son would like to get up a trip. Include best times of year.

[FlabLoser]

Beastman is your man for that info.

[BeastMan]

Never really a bad time (besides dead of winter), the fish just move to different habitat. I would probably hold off until the spring at this point. My favorite place for fishing for redfish in MS is easily Cat Island. It has so much habitat they love. Any charter guide out of Pass Christian or Long Beach will focus on Cat Island. One of the top charters on the Coast is Shore Thing Charters out of Bay St Louis. They have multiple boats and really know their stuff. They know Cat as good as anybody.

One consideration you should really make is the MS limit vs the LA limit. In MS you can box 3 redfish per person and they all must be at least 18 inches (1 over 30 inches allowed). In LA it's 5 per person and they must be 16 inches (1 over 30 inches). Most redfish trips you can catch speckled trout too and LA limits are better as well. In MS you get 15 per person and they must be 13 inches. In LA its 25 and 12inches.

Back to Shore Thing Charters. LA waters is only a few miles due south of Bay St Louis and they fish it extensively. You can go with this outfit and fish LA and their limits. They add a $50 fuel surcharge for trips to either Cat or LA and it's $600 for 4 anglers. Covers everything including fish cleaning and bagging. All in all a solid deal.

Another consideration is weather. It's completely unpredictable. If you booked a trip in MS where you went 8-12 miles offshore, you would end up staying closer to shore and fishing the bridge in BSL IF the weather was bad (windy). Plenty of fun not near as good as going out farther.

Another thing I'd look at is charters in Shell Beach, LA if you just have to be close to MS but not necessarily in MS. It's close to MS and they fish the marshes so it's "protected water" meaning if weather got windy, it wouldn't effect you like it would in MS. If you want to drive just a little bit further, I'd highly suggest Big Dog Charters in Laffite, LA. It's the same type of fishing as Shell Beach. Laffite is due south of New Orleans. When we book them we leave the coast at like 4:30 am to meet them at the launch at 6 but it's worth the drive. I know Big Dog Charters is $600 for 4 anglers.

Another option if you want to go economical is Team Brodie Charters out of Biloxi. He fishes close to the marina at the reefs and in the Biloxi Bay. He's well known for boxing a ton of fish albeit white trout and ground mullet but those are great for fish fries. He can put you on some redfish too. He is only like $475 for 4 anglers.

One thing I always suggest is to clearly communicate to the captain when you book what you want to do. You said you want to get some redfish with your son so thats what I'd tell the captain so he can game-plan. I've booked trips where I tell them my #1 goal is boxing fish for meat and we aren't concerned with chasing trophies.Most good captains base his plan on your request.

http://www.shorethingcharters.com/

http://www.bigdogfishingcharters.com/

http://teambrodiecharters.com/

[BeastMan]

Just to elaborate on the MS vs LA limit for redfish. If it's just you and your son (+ the captain counts) you can box 15 redfish in LA vs 9 in MS. On speckled trout those numbers would be 75 in LA and 45 in MS.

Just something to consider.

[BeastMan]

Here is another guy that is worth calling that isn't expensive http://shallowdraftcharters.com/Home.php


By mid march, things should start getting solid. When it first starts heating up the fish move from the river systems and back into the bays and near MS sound.

State82 is very knowledgable about this topic. I hope he catches this topic.

[FISHDAWG]

Just to elaborate on the MS vs LA limit for redfish. If it's just you and your son (+ the captain counts) you can box 15 redfish in LA vs 9 in MS. On speckled trout those numbers would be 75 in LA and 45 in MS.

Just something to consider.

but remember - the limits apply to where you return to ... ie, you can fish LA waters but when you return to the boat launch in Ms. you have to observe MS. catch limits or vice-versa

[BeastMan]

but remember - the limits apply to where you return to ... ie, you can fish LA waters but when you return to the boat launch in Ms. you have to observe MS. catch limits or vice-versa

It only applies if you wet a line in MS. We keep our boat at the same place that Shore Thing leaves out of a lot of the time (Bay Marina). If we go fish the LA Marsh or Isle au Pitre we have to come straight back to the launch. We can't stop and fish the BSL bridge. If we do we are now under the MS limits. My cousin lives on the Bay and never fishes MS. He got stopped by Ms coast guard in the bay on his way in from LA waters with a LA speck limit. Authority asked him where he was coming from. Answered Cabbage Reef, Isle au Pitre, etc... and showed LA fishing licenses. No problem.

ETA-you can fish LA from MS and use LA limits as long as you come straight in and don't fish MS on your way out or in. That's my understanding at least and what all the MS charters that fish LA do.

[BeastMan]

281377_2212278265034_2741960_n.jpg

That's over a MS limit taken from Isle au Pitre LA at Bay Marina MS on July 4th a cpl years ago. The authorities were at the marina checking folks hard (mostly for alcohol) and never said a word to us.

[Barking 13]

is that you in the middle?

[BeastMan]

is that you in the middle?

LOL no. That's my marine biologist brother. If you've seen deadliest catch, he works up there (Dutch Harbor) on fishing boats

[Barking 13]

LOL no. That's my marine biologist brother. If you've seen deadliest catch, he works up there (Dutch Harbor) on fishing boats

cool

[Percho]

Thanks Beast and others. I will put this info in a doc. and hold for my son. We live in N Miss so we could go to either MS or LA and it would not make much difference.

Again thanks.

[FISHDAWG]

It only applies if you wet a line in MS. We keep our boat at the same place that Shore Thing leaves out of a lot of the time (Bay Marina). If we go fish the LA Marsh or Isle au Pitre we have to come straight back to the launch. We can't stop and fish the BSL bridge. If we do we are now under the MS limits. My cousin lives on the Bay and never fishes MS. He got stopped by Ms coast guard in the bay on his way in from LA waters with a LA speck limit. Authority asked him where he was coming from. Answered Cabbage Reef, Isle au Pitre, etc... and showed LA fishing licenses. No problem.

ETA-you can fish LA from MS and use LA limits as long as you come straight in and don't fish MS on your way out or in. That's my understanding at least and what all the MS charters that fish LA do.

Beast - I wouldn't be comfortable about that without confirmation - a MS game warden @ our marina told us what I just said before - also required is a valid fishing license from the state where you return to from the water ..... I don't know about coast guard interpretation of state game laws but I'm going with what the state game warden told me ... there's absolutely no way for enforcement to know where those fish were caught or if you stopped and fished Ms waters on the way in or not ...... redfish are protected in federal water so if you get caught in fed waters with one they really wont buy some story about catching them in state waters and just happened to be in the cooler when you ran out to fed waters

[BeastMan]

@FishDawg

I'm not trying to be argumentative b/c you know your stuff and there is a TON of confusion over that interpretation. The redfish in federal waters thing isn't a concern for us b/c we never get that far out. The thing I hang my hat is what charter guys do b/c I put faith in them knowing their stuff so they won't lose their livelihood. If you book a Chandelier trip out of Biloxi, your going to box LA limits. If you book one the the guys in BSL that fish the LA marsh, you box LA limits.

[FISHDAWG]

@FishDawg

I'm not trying to be argumentative b/c you know your stuff and there is a TON of confusion over that interpretation. The redfish in federal waters thing isn't a concern for us b/c we never get that far out. The thing I hang my hat is what charter guys do b/c I put faith in them knowing their stuff so they won't lose their livelihood. If you book a Chandelier trip out of Biloxi, your going to box LA limits. If you book one the the guys in BSL that fish the LA marsh, you box LA limits.

maybe - I don't use charter captains and I know sometime the regs for them are different because of the special license they have to carry but this would seem like one of those things that would be the same for everyone ... I only used the redfish in federal waters thing as an example .... now I'm gonna have to research this because I hate not knowing for sure ... I'll post what I can find

[BeastMan]

I was thinking the same. Was going to find a coast MS wildlife guy to email.

I looked up some Shore Thing reports and this one is from Oct 28th and it looks like LA limits to me. http://www.ms-sportsman.com/lpca/ind...7#.UoJnpo2kCy0

[Percho]

Being 70 would I need a Miss Lic.?

[BeastMan]

Being 70 would I need a Miss Lic.?

You know, I could be wrong but I think in MS, if you're on a charter you are good. That's not the case in LA.

[FISHDAWG]

You know, I could be wrong but I think in MS, if you're on a charter you are good. That's not the case in LA.

this is correct ... the charter capt's have to purchase a commercial license that covers everyone on board their vessel .... if not on a charter, then residents over the age of 65 will have to buy a one time license for a grand total of 5 bucks ..... Steve, I just e-mailed that question to the law enforcement div of the Marine Resources division ... called the question in and nobody there knew for sure and the website didn't address this issue

[BeastMan]

I emailed Captain Mike. I don't know if he has the time to respond but if he does, I'll report back.