Fishing

Underwater eyes

Underwater video cameras have been around for decades without gaining the popularity they deserve. They have always delivered decent picture detail, but the older cathode ray tube (CRT) screens used by earlier models suffered visibility problems from glare and grayed out in bright sunlight. […]

Deer Hunting

Trail camera scouting

This is my inaugural column in Mississippi Sportsman based around the general topic of trail-camera scouting. Each month I will share advice, tips, tactics, strategies and techniques regarding the use of digital scouting cameras that have proven useful to me over time in the successful pursuit of whitetail deer on my farm in west-central Mississippi. […]

Bass Fishing

Lake Bogue Homa bass

Bogue Homa, a fairly-shallow lake located in Jones County on Highway 84 near Laurel, has about 1,000 acres and several small creek channels running through it. During the winter months, the bass hold close to or in the creek channels. […]

Bass Fishing

Long-distance feeling

Fish have the same five senses people do — sight, touch, taste, smell and hearing — but their ability to detect water movement is like a sixth sense. The ability to detect water movement helps fish avoid collisions, find prey and avoid predators. […]

As Big As they Grow

Ross Barnett crappie

As I write this column, I’m listening to Elvis’ Christmas album. My favorite Elvis classic (and I sing along) is “Blue Christmas.” My “Blue Christmas” rendition varies in entertainment value based on the audience (my family has long endured my caroling, and they actually request “Blue Christmas”) and the amount of scotch missing from the Oban bottle. […]

Inshore Fishing

The secrets of Cat Island

Cat Island, only 7 miles from Long Beach Harbor, may have the best and most-dependable fishing year-round off the Mississippi Coast. One of the advantages that anglers have who go to Cat Island to fish during January is that they always can find protected waters there with speckled trout and redfish. […]

Waterfowl & Duck Hunting

The shotgun evolution

Duck guns used to be a big deal ­­— really. In the old days, it was not all that uncommon to run into a salty waterfowler toting a 12-pound 10-gauge double slung over one shoulder along with a huge bag of real wood decoys over the other. Back in the way back day, it was still possible to catch a goose hunter carrying an 8-gauge, but by the 1950s, those were mostly long gone with modern duck guns taking over the scene. […]

General

Midnight at the marina

It is midnight at the marina where your boat is moored, and water is slowly rising in its bilge. The float switch turns on your automatic bilge pump, but it can’t stay ahead of the leak and the water level creeps upward. By the time you return to the slip, your boat will be hanging by its mooring lines — if you’re lucky! […]

As Big As they Grow

Chotard better than ever

The fall 2011 fishing season has provided some surprises and some wonderful crappie fishing for lots of us Mississippians. First of all, the weather changes have been more abrupt, with cold weather fronts coming more often and with greater intensity than recent years. […]

Inshore Fishing

A new winter tradition

During December, most of us are thinking about Santa Claus, children getting out of school and upcoming bowl games. However, on Christmas Day, when the presents are all unwrapped, and the toys are put away, these memories still aren’t nearly as long-lasting as fishing trips with mom and dad. […]

Bass Fishing

Winter bass

If you like to catch big bass, appreciate solitude on the lake, and know how to dress for cold weather, good bass fishing awaits you in Mississippi’s waters. December signals the end of fall fishing and the start of winter fishing throughout the northern two-thirds of the Magnolia State. And there are bass to be caught. […]