Man oh man, it has been quite an adventure the last week or so. Finally got a day off to play catch up on the “landwork.” This is gonna be a long fishing report, but we have a lot of stuff to recap. Buckle up buckaroos, its gonna be a wild ride, here we go!
First and foremost, we hope our friends, family and fellow fishermen are doing ok over in Texas. A lot of these folks helped us out after Katrina. Goes without saying, if anyone needs anything, please let us know. It is a tough thing to go through, and 
you will have to call on your friends/family for help.
We put some miles on the boats this past week. Heck, Captain Alex has been going long to pick fights with the red snapper, king mackerel, and cobia. For those of y’all that don’t know, Captain Alex spent several years down south in Venice, LA guiding offshore trips (tuna, dolphin, amberjack, grouper, wahoo, etc). Looks like he is going into serious withdrawals from the “big water”. He has just been picking his days with the weather, and making the run. When conditions allow, he has been knocking the snot out of some tasty big ole red snappers. Looking at the smiles in the pictures he has been sending, I’d say his customers have enjoyed it too?…
We have been spending a lot of time with the good folks at The University of Southern Mississippi’s Gulf Coast Research Lab (GCRL). This past week or so, we have been going on collection runs for triple tails. They are collecting lucky fish to put in their aquaculture facility. The fish will be used to spawn other triple tails for research, repopulation, etc. The 26 Avenger has been our collection chariot. The three big livewells have worked beautifully for hauling fish and plenty of bait. GCRL’s Bradley Deleon and I have been scouring the gulf for triple tails. Its been work, but very fun. We have had to work for the triple tails, but we have also run into some other critters too. Not wanting to catch them, but we have caught trout, sheepshead, juvenile mangrove snappers. We have also been able to tag a few small redfish and cobia. We have put some miles on the new Avenger, but that’s been the name of the game. Some of the fish have come off of weedlines, some have come off bouys. We even got one off of an old bloated, floating dead black drum. One of the triple tails we got last week was already tagged!!! Brad has been hauling the fish from 
Bayou Caddy to the Lab out in Ocean Springs with a custom built tank/trailer/hauler built by Kevin Desselle and his team up at Sport Trail in Waveland, MS. These are the same trailers ALL SEVEN of our boats use and depend on everyday.
Myself and Capt. Darren actually went up to the lab, in Ocean Springs Thursday evening to speak at the “Catch More Fish With Science” seminar. Our guides have been speaking at these events for years now, and they are an absolute blast! I have more fun listening to the biologist and seeing the pictures they have than just about anything. It is always fun to chat with other fisherman though. We got to treated to a delicious meal of fresh red fish after the seminar ended. If you have not been to one of these things, you gotta check it out. The Lab has them on trout, reds, flounder, cobia, triple tail, and sharks.
We have spent most of the last couple days out at Cat Island, but we did sneak in a couple of near shore trips. The winds made things a little bumpy out front, so we opted to stay in close and hide behind the reefs. Even in choppy/muddy water, we were still able to put some nice boxes together with trout, reds, sheapshead, and black drum. Got to spend one morning with my old buddy Dr Malcom Nelson and his son, from Birmingham, AL. Many years ago, I used to run Dr Malcoms 33 Blackfin Express offshore out of Venice, LA. I doubt I have ever met a more lucky fisherman than Dr Malcom. If he was on the boat in Venice, you could almost guarantee you were catching a big marlin. The last time we fished together, outta MS, we caught the 
biggest triple tail I have ever put on the boat (24.5 POUNDS). True to form, Dr Malcom brought his luck. We looked at the forecast, and thought it was gonna smooth for a trip to the LA Marsh. Well, the wind blew and it was little to sporty to make the run across the MS Sound to the LA Marsh. We stayed in close and worked the reefs with live bait(shrimp, mullet, croakers). We cashed in on Dr. Malcoms good luck for a great box of big trout, and a bonus slot red.
We snuck in 2 trips to the Cat Island House in the last week. Both were very very good, but very different. The first crew was set up by John Harvey. The weather and late arrivals only let us fish about half of the time we were out there. No matter, the trout cooperated very well when were able to get out. When we were “stuck” at the house, we just ate ourselves silly on fresh shrimp, crabs, trout, and desserts. If the storms opened up a little bit, a few of the guys and gals hopped into the kayaks and paddled around the bayous. Two of the mornings, the weather was great, and we were able to trout fish. It was all about the Boat Monkey Corks and live baits. At one stop, we caught trout 2 feet under the corks using live: shrimp, mullet, pinfish, croakers, spot and cocahoes. We tend to throw the cast nets a lot out at the island, and sometimes you get a lot of variety in the live wells. We did find a few small slot reds, but the trout were so hungry we didn’t spent much time working the banks for reds.
The next trip to the island, was for the Hollingshead Bachelor Party. For the most part, it was just a good old fashioned RED FISH BONANZA! We caught a variety of critters, but the red fishing was awesome! The Bachelor party was set up by Mr Jeff for his future son-in-law, Selby(pronounced Sell-Be). The boys really wanted to tangle with reds, so we did our best to make that happen. We had 3 boats on this trip, and it was nice having my good 
buddies Capt. Kenny, and Capt. Matt out there. Of course Chris Walters our cool dude in kitchen and “The Mayor of Cat Island” Mr Walter Gaudin, just added to the awesome time.
Once again the Boat Monkey Corks were our go to rigs, but we had a few other “tricks” up our sleeves. While were drifting banks and grass beds in 2-3 feet of water, Capt Kenny saw a huge school of bull red crushing mullet in open water. It honestly looked like a pack of yellowfin tuna offshore. Some of those bulls were hurling those poor mullet 3 to 4 feet up in the air! He called us into the melee and it was game freakin on. The fish were so charged up, they were inhaling the Boat Monkey Corks. Those Boat Monkey Floats are soo loud and throw soo much water, they work too good sometimes… We threw the big poles out (Okuma Azores) with big lady fish on them, and they crushed those also.
This is where it got reel fun. I still had one of my Savage Gear Suicide Ducks on the boat. Capt. D and I accidentally brought it from the talk at the GCRL. While all three of my guys were fighting bull reds, I tied on the baby mallard duck and threw it into the boiling school. The guys on my boat were screaming their heads off when two bull reds were chasing that swimming duck, trying to crush it. Out of nowhere a big jack crevalle cross checked the two bulls and swallowed the duck whole!!! Everyone on the boat was hooked up, including yours truly. Somehow we landed all the fish, but the little swimming duck was the star of the weekend.
We were able to fish the entire weekend, for the bachelor party. We got to see plenty of variety with these boys. We got a mess of speckled trout and white trout. Some of the boats got visited by some decent sized sharks, mackerel, bull croakers, but the red fish and big jacks stole the show. All the boats got to contribute a mess of slot red fish. The bull reds were want these boys wanted most. Luckily that is what our man Corbin at the GCRL wanted too. After we cleaned all the fish, we were able to meet with him and get him all the red fish carcasses. He is in dire need of specimens to examine for his research of these amazing fish. Never thought I’d ever see anyone so happy to receive a huge cooler slap full of red fish carcasses. Just glad all the meat and bodies all went to a worthy cause.
The coolest thing ever was being able to get the Mayweather vs McGregor fight on pay per view out at the island house!!! The “Mayor of Cat Island” set it all up through Direct TV. Chef Chris was the big money winner on the betting pool Mr Jeff had going. Everyone but yours truly stayed up late to watch it. I was falling a sleep during dinner. After all day on the water and a mountain of fresh seafood dinner, I just couldn’t make it. Honestly though, how freakin cool is that?!?! These boys were able to feast on boiled crabs, fresh shrimp, fresh caught trout and watch the fight, 7 MILES OFFSHORE! Mr Jeff set the bar very high for this bachelor party. He truly got his future son-in-law the ultimate “CAT ISLAND EXPERIENCE!”
ESTABLISHED IN 2003. The Largest inshore fishing company on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Specializing in speckled trout, redfish, flounder, tripletail, black drum and more! We fish the Louisiana Marsh, the Mississippi Barrier Islands and many other areas. Our full-time fishing guides are extremely knowledgeable, courteous, and professional. We have many boats available – small and large groups are welcome. Anglers under the age of 13 fish for FREE! All of our boats and guides are licensed to fish in Mississippi and Louisiana. We supply rods, reels, tackle, snacks, drinks, ice, fuel, bait, and fun. No charge for fish cleaning and bagging. Be sure and ask about our all inclusive overnight fishing packages to the Cat Island House. www.shorethingcharters.com or 228-342-2206.