By Capt. Robert L. Brodie
April is the month that truly kicks off our fishing season here in beautiful south Mississippi, and TEAM BRODIE CHARTERS will be taking advantage of the warming weather and multitudes of fish. one of the first species that comes to mind is the cobia aka “ling” or “lemonfish.” As these big brown-hued fish migrate from east to west, as well as a population that winters south of Mississippi in deeper waters and swims along the Magnolia State’s barrier islands, well, many anglers will be anchoring up and chumming these hard fight and delicious game fish up to their baits. Plenty of big fish are caught each spring, as well as some specimens in the 60 to 100-pound class. Cobia will eat a variety of baits with live offerings generally the best bet. Croakers, catfish aka “hardheads”, eels, white trout, ground mullet, mullet, soft shell crabs, and pinfish are all good choices.
If the cobia aren’t enough to get your adrenaline flowing then just think about the arrival of the mysterious tripletail aka “blackfish.” tripletail are structure oriented fish, make the Mississippi Sound their summer home, and most fish are caught off crab trap corks, pilings, buoys, and practically anything floating on the surface. These fish will eat plenty of live and dead offerings, but seldom will they resist a spry live shrimp drifted past their nose. Back inshore look for the sand sea trout aka “white trout” and southern kingfish aka “ground mullet” to be swarming our man-made fish havens and oyster reefs. Small in size, but big in numbers, these delicious fish are our inshore “bread and butter” species. Bottom fishing is the main tactic to take both of these species, but a popping cork rig fished over shallow reefs works well on the trout too. Cut bait like croaker or squid is deadly on both species, and a live shrimp or small menhaden fished under a popping cork can be quite effective on the trout. Small hooks are the key like a 1/0 Gamakatsu octopus hook, and even a size smaller is better for targeting the small mouth ground mullet. As I write this article in mid-March the white trout and ground mullet have already filled up our fish boxes aboard TEAM BRODIE CHARTERS on a number of occasions, nice fish, a very good sign that April should be a banner month for these two species. Speckled trout and redfish will begin to get more active near shore on the beaches, lower bays, as well as the barrier islands. top-water baits like Heddon Spook Jrs, soft-plastics such as Cocahoes and Matrix Shad, and jerk baits like the 52M model Mirrolures will all catch their share of hungry specks and Freds. Flounders will begin to stack up inshore too, and jetties, bulkheads, old pilings, and various flats and bars will hold these delicious bottom hugging predators.
Flounders will hit a wide variety of soft-baits threaded on jigs, and especially those “sweetened” with a piece of cut croaker, mullet, or bonito belly. of course you can’t go wrong fishing a live bull minnow or small finger mullet bumped slowly along the bottom on a Carolina-rig. And as for table fare, well, there is no wrong way to cook up a flounder. Back out at the barrier islands look for an early season appearance of Florida pompano and gulf kingfish aka “whiting” in the isle’s clear Gulf kissed beaches. Scaled down bottom rigs with small hooks and a colorful bead fished just above the hook are ideal for pursuing both of these species. For pompano and whiting a small live shrimp or piece of fresh dead shrimp will draw nibbles, and whiting are especially fond of a small piece of cut croaker or mullet. whiting especially like to prowl close to the surf in gullies, and pompano may be found on the beaches near flats, or in deeper gullies just off the beaches. Small sharks, ladyfish, bluefish, and Spanish mackerel will start to show up around the barrier islands (Petit Bois, Horn, east Ship and west Ship, and Cat) too, thus it’s a good chance you’ll find some sort of fishing in April no matter where you wet a hook. with that thought in mind, may good fishing and calm seas be in your future.