Red Fish for those that know.

[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/