OT: Cat Island Fishing update

[BigDawg@HillsofMS14]

Coast Dawgs, the word is the spec bite is getting good around cat island and the water is clearing up. We have been having some real good Snapper trips but it is closed now recreationally so it’s time to focus back on the specs and reds especially since it’s getting better. Anyone had any luck on the south end of cat?

 

[Uncle Ruckus]

I’m not sure about the bite, but I assure you the water ain’t clearing up. It will be months before we get signs of improvement.
I have no idea if it applies to the islands, but all MS beaches are closed right now

 

[BassinDawg.sixpack]

As of this weekend the islands have have not been affected by the HAB. The water is looking better but still only about 2-3 ft visibility. Don’t know about cat but at ship it has been hit and miss. Went last Tuesday and caught 6 nice trout. Another guy we talked to had 10 but said the day before he and two of his buddies had a 3 man limit and was back at the ramp by 9 am.

 

[Goat Holding Inc]

I’m not sure about the bite, but I assure you the water ain’t clearing up. It will be months before we get signs of improvement.
I have no idea if it applies to the islands, but all MS beaches are closed right now

I think I'm going to trust the guys who are down there, rather than the guys who only watch the news.

Memories of the gulf oil spill ring true.

#fakenews

 

[Lowdog]

My buddy on Facebook posted that he was at Car Island last weekend, he had a few trout and couple of reds. I asked him if he was in Smugglers cove and said he was on the south side. The picture he posted was him standing in the water next to his boat. The water, as someone else said, appeared to be 2-3ft clarity as is normal this time of year. Grew up fishing Cat Island.

 

[Uncle Ruckus]

I am down there you 17ing halfwit. The water in St Louis Bay well out front past Henderson Point taste like pond water. There are no mullet jumping, no shrimp popping and no seagulls anywhere. There’s been alligators on the beaches. I went to ship two weekends ago. It can be as clear as Orange Beach and there is only a few feet of visibility. So, yeah, I know what I’m talking about.
Go 17 yourself.

 

[FreeDawg]

The Bonne Carre is open so the water isn’t clearing up and won’t be anytime soon. I’ve gone as far south as Comfort Island and it’s been greatly effected. For reference, if you launch from Long Beach Cat is roughly 8 miles and Comfort is 36 miles south. You cannot get away from the spillway water. Anybody telling you different doesn’t know what they’re talking about. That said, trout have been being caught at Cat and other islands of late. If you look at the Merrill buoy (MS sound west) you’ll see a daily salinity go from 4ppm to 15ish ppm. For reference, Bass can live in 4 ppm. The large daily fluctuation is indicative of the tides. At low tide there is basically no salinity and at high tide enough salinity is brought in from the gulf to make it “summer trout fishable”. My theory, and I’m not a biologist, as to why the current uptick in trout is they’ve spawned out and are returning to their normal homes despite salinity being low. And by “uptick in trout” I mean from nothing to a few decent reports. Nothing to write home about. My home water is the east Biloxi Marsh and despite all the adversity in conditions, the reds have been fine. They are much more freshwater tolerant. Also, the further east you go the better water conditions. I almost want to go try Petis Bouis and I’ve never fish it.

 

[rem101]

We ran out of Pascagoula Friday to FH13. No luck on the snapper as the current was running to hard to get bait to the bottom (talked to others and no one was catching anything that day), but water was fine that way. There were several boats fishing around Petit Bois - only problem is it can get rough in that pass.

We didn't stick around to see if they caught anything though. We saw a school of fish popping not far off so went to throw a line at it, and quickly pulled it back in when we saw what was causing all the commotion - solid 8 ft shark. Was neat to watch but didn't want any part of accidentally hooking it.

Horn Island is fine to go visit - haven't been much and haven't fished this summer. Tough to say how much the freshwater is effecting it, I've seen it cloudy this time of year without that issue. Usually clears up later in the summer, so we'll see then.