Three times a week, I visit different piers and bridges across the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. As we in Mississippi are amply blessed with an abundance of good piers and bridges, forecasting fishing will be difficult at best.
What l can do is relate to the readers what I saw and what I think. Almost any of our piers or bridges will produce fish at sometime or another and eventually I want to review all of them. So when you see me walking the piers, please say hello and tell me what you caught. Talking about fishing is always a pleasure.
Over all, the largest concentrations of fish (reds, trout and drums) came from the bridge between Biloxi and Ocean Springs. The bridge here is new, clean, well lighted and a delight to fish from. Weekends on the Biloxi bridge are some what crowed. If you intend to fish here on a weekend, I would suggest arriving early.
Most of the fishermen I talked with had the best success with shrimp and cut bait. Bring an umbrella for some shade if you have one, the sunshine on this bridge can get warm.
Night time fishing at the Ocean Springs pier has been producing some heavy redfish but these are not in large numbers. White trout and flounder seem to be hit and miss there, with some fishermen getting a good many on cut bait and dead shrimp. In general, I like this pier. The pier is pretty, clean and has rod holders built in throughout the pier. I would not advise taking small children to this pier as the guard rails are kind of high and it could be a hazard.
Fisherman working the seawalls and piers over by the old Treasure Island Casino are taking good numbers of speckled trout on live shrimp. In fact, if I was feeling like fishing aggressively this would be my first choice. Locating trout along the sea wall might require you to move your position several times, though.
Hopefully, the month of August will bring us some dryer weather. Daily rains during July have put a damper on many a fishing trip. As I am an eternal optimist, I say, “the rain will stop in August”.
I will have to say, “it’s going to be a good month for fishing.”
You have to look at it this way: sitting on a pier with my fishing rod in one hand and a cool beverage in the other beats cutting grass any day. So grab your tackle, load your cooler, bring your chair and enjoy a day of fishing. Peace of mind can’t be bought but it can be found.
I’m Ron and I’m all about fishing,
Ron the Pirate