Columns Archives - Page 70 of 130 - Mississippi Sportsman

July 23, 2026

Joey Davis sealed the deal on these two beauties with a green hornet Matrix Shad fishing a shallow sandbar adjacent to a deep bend in a bayou.

Two surefire tactics for specks

November 13, 2014 Sam Davis

Sometimes you just have to see it to believe it.

There’s no way I would’ve believed a speckled trout could be caught in another boat’s prop wash until I saw it with my own two eyes. […]

The author loads his Abu Garcia Silver Max reels with a system of presets so when he breaks off he is still in the game with a quick tie-on of another crankbait.

A lesson on loading line

November 9, 2014 Paul Johnson

Hot dog! It’s late October and the crappie are absolutely burning it up, friend.

Now is the time to load up on some of the year’s biggest, most-aggressive white perch. I’m not kidding, friend. November is one of the top two or three months of the entire year to catch quantity and quality crappie. […]

Seeing deer is always a good thing, but great days in a stand don't always involve the wildlife outside its walls.

Best day in deer stand? No doubt about it

November 8, 2014 Bobby Cleveland

It was our last day in a deer stand together one hunting season.

My wife Pam had the left side of the shooting house, and I had the right. We sat on the bench with our backs together, giving us the 360-degree view of the huge field. […]

You have to count lateral line scales to tell this Choctaw bass from a spotted bass.

Choctaw bass or not?

November 6, 2014 Hal Schramm

In 2007, fishery researchers Brandon Barthel, John Knight and Mike Tringali at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute were conducting genetic analysis of black bass in Florida Panhandle rivers when they found a DNA profile from a Chipola River specimen that didn’t match any other known black bass. […]

Repeatedly hunting the same stands year after year can lead to deer learning hunters’ patterns.

Patterned deer hunters

November 1, 2014 John J. Woods

One of the big debates in deer hunting is if deer hunters pattern deer or do deer pattern hunters? […]

According to creator Clyde Folse, the scent will remain on the little soft plastic strips for two or three years.

The Crappie Psychic

October 30, 2014 Don Shoopman

There were days as recently as this summer that a 51-year-old Raceland outdoorsman returned from a sac-a-lait (crappie) fishing trip and removed a secret weapon on his tube jig about a mile from the boat ramp. He did this so no one would get so much as a glimpse of the artificial add-on responsible for putting so many slabs in the ice chest. […]

Anthony Denny caught the state record bass on New Year's Eve of 1992 at Natchez State Park. Did his 18.15-pounder raise the bar too far?

Winter is lunker time

October 29, 2014 Bobby Cleveland

It was a warm winter’s day, the last one of 1992 in fact, when Anthony Denny saw the telltale sign of a big bass making a feeding run on some shad in a cove on the lake at Natchez State Park. […]

Lethal Lace

October 27, 2014 Gordon Hutchinson

Buying a good quality handgun to carry for self-defense is only part of the equation. You simply have to buy and practice with a suitable holster that will comfortably and securely carry your handgun so you can get at it easily and quickly. […]

To discover how much deeper your engine’s skeg runs than your transducer, park your boat on a level surface and measure the distances.

How to keep your electronics from hurting you

October 23, 2014 Allan Tarvid

“Garbage in, garbage out” was a watchword with computers long before they were integrated into marine electronics. We rarely enter full-blown garbage into our stuff out on the water but expensive problems can stem from not giving some “minor” details the attention they deserve. […]

Photos like this one are proof that the extra effort in preparing mineral licks, licking branches and mock scrapes is time well spent.

Early-season camera sites

October 20, 2014 Bill Garbo

As we move into the transition period between late summer and fall here in the deep-south, let’s examine some of the criteria that can be used to select the best sites for trail camera surveillance. […]

When you’re fishing pockets at Calling Panther, you’ll often need 40-pound braided line to muscle big bass out of the grass.

Call up big October bass at Calling Panther Lake

October 16, 2014 Paul Elias

Calling Panther, one of the newer lakes in Mississippi, produces good numbers of 10-12 pound bass. The lake has some vegetation, ideal structure and topography for great fall fishing and a good population of bait fish. There’s not a more exciting way to catch a bass than watching the bass blow up on topwater lures. […]

River Schmidt directs his dad, Richard, toward a redfish in skinny water. Poling is the preferred method to eliminate noise and not stir up the bottom.

Slow down and sight-fish

October 13, 2014 Sam Davis

“I didn’t realize it was October until I saw the Chicago Cubs choking.” – Jay Leno

If you’re a fisherman along the Gulf Coast, you’re completely and utterly aware of when October is; you’ve been counting the days to October — cooler temperatures, less boats on the water, but most importantly, the fall bite. […]