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Combining Crappie
Old-timers may not like it, but progress is part of life. Heck, if my dad still had his way, he’d have me out in the fields harvesting and threshing grain stalks by hand.
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Freshwater Fishing
Featured
Vicksburg fisherman lands 327-pound alligator gar
When Kenny Williams of Vicksburg set out on Valentine’s Day to run his nets on Chotard Lake in Issaquena County, he had no idea he would be landing one sweetheart of an alligator gar. In fact, an alligator gar was the last fish Williams wanted to find in his gill nets; not only can these ancient giants destroy expensive commercial nets, but they also wreak havoc on the buffalo Williams makes his living catching. […]
Freshwater Fishing
Long-term effects of sedimentation
With an average annual rainfall of almost 60 inches, Mississippi is the third wettest state in the U.S. Much of that rain falls in late winter and early spring. While filling the rivers, streams and reservoirs that provide bountiful fisheries, the rains negatively affect fisheries by transporting erodible soils from the watershed into fishable waters. […]
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Early Bird Gets the Crappie
Anglers are notorious for jumping the gun. Just as soon as Jack Frost quits nipping at their noses, they hook up their boats and hit the lakes. For too many, though, they find that the fishing doesn’t match the forecast. […]
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Big Blues on the Big Muddy
Fishing for catfish in the winter on the Mississippi River? OK, nobody in their right minds would go after trophy-class record-book blue catfish on the Mississippi River, especially in the winter. […]
Featured Story
Spillway Spectacular
“The colder the weather, the better the fishing gets” is the way professional angler Kent Driscoll describes the crappie fishing behind the dam at Ross Barnett Reservoir.
The spillway that turns the Pearl River impoundment back into the Pearl River is a well-known hotspot for crappie anglers throughout the year. One reason for the magnetism of the area is the moving water spilling through the dam draws baitfish from the far reaches of the Pearl and also from the Ross Barnett impoundment itself. […]
As Big As they Grow
It’s time for winter’s hubcaps
Winter is here, and, from where I sit, cold-weather crappie fishing keeps growing in popularity. There are ever-growing numbers of serious, hardcore crappie anglers who know that winter in the Deep South, especially here in Mississippi, can produce the largest lunkers of the year. […]
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Fish in a Barrel
Every angler who has ever wet a hook has an idea of the perfect place to catch fish. For some, it might be a private farm pond, for others it may be a secret set of coordinates out in the Gulf. The one thing these perfect places have in common is that when you go there, you catch fish. […]
Catfish
Fish-eating machine: Flathead catfish biology
Call them Appaloosa, goujon, yellow cat, shovelhead, mud cat or any other names — the flathead catfish is the king of the aquatic jungle. […]
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Game Changers
Bernard Williams and Don Terry finished second in the 2009-10 Magnolia Crappie Club championship. And to hear them tell it, they felt a little bit like they used to feel when their mommas made them go get their own switches for their butt whippings. […]
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Shaddy Chotard
As Ed Aycock launched his boat recently at Chotard Landing, we were quickly enveloped by thick fog that blanketed the lake and cut the visibility to near zero and white-out conditions. Distant memories came flooding back from fantastic fishing and hunting trips to this same lake 25 years ago. […]
Freshwater Fishing
Hydrilla is the perfect aquatic weed
Hydrilla is a significant component of the habitat in several world-class bass fisheries — places like Fork, Guntersville, Seminole and Toledo Bend. […]