August 2016 Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Mississippi Sportsman

Every bend in the river has a deep bank and a shallow bar, which is where this big blue cat ate a big chunk of cut shad and wound up at the cleaning table.

Expert catfishing advice

August 15, 2016 David Hawkins

Andy Smith of Greene County has fished the Pascagoula for more than 30 years and has some advice for those fishing the river for the first time […]

A longnose gar swims past the boat after surviving the first whack on its head with an aluminum bat (see red spot). The tough fish are fun to catch on rope lures, which entangle in the fish’s gnarly teeth.

For terminal tackle, I used my favorite redfish gear — a 7-foot medium-heavy graphite spinning rod, 10-pound braid on a spinning reel and about 2 feet of 15-pound fluorocarbon leader tied to the braid with a micro swivel. […]

The needle-like teeth of a longnose gar are its greatest weapon, but also one of its worst vulnerabilities. When it bites frayed rope, the teeth get snagged and tangled in the strands; the more it fights the worse the tangle.

All teeth — Gar-fishing warning

August 15, 2016 Bobby Cleveland

Gar fishing comes with a warning: The snouts of these prehistoric-looking fish are lined — inside and on the edges — with hypodermic needle-like teeth. So care must be exercised at all times to keep space between human body parts and gar mouths.

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There are two companies in Mississippi that will take gar that are in good condition.

Trash, but not garbage

August 15, 2016 Bobby Cleveland

Serious gar fishermen will find a source for the excess fish they kill during a day’s time — and not just dump them in a trash bin at the launch ramp. […]

Pitching presentations allow anglers to precisely deliver a jig or Texas-rigged bait from a distance.

Delivery methods for bass-fishing laydowns

August 15, 2016 David A. Brown

One of the most-common angling misnomers is the general lumping of flipping and pitching into one homogenous image. […]

The Blakemore Road Runner series of small spinnerbaits with grubs are a long-standing favorite of creek fishermen.

Road Runner guy

August 15, 2016 Michael O. Giles

T.J. Stallings is an avid angler who mixes his fishing passion with his job as P.R. Director/lure designer at TTI Blakemore, which, more than coincidentally, makes the Road Runner lures that Stallings loves for creek trips. […]

Preseason strategies: 5 tips for scouting

August 15, 2016 Dan Kibler

Deer season is just around the corner and hunters are preparing for opening day by trying to figure out where they’re going to hunt. […]

Capt. Terry Snow caught this nice griller redfish fishing a jig and soft plastic on a shallow grass line.

Fish don’t like the heat either

August 10, 2016 Sam Davis

“Boy it’s hot. This is hot. It never got this hot in Brooklyn. This is like Africa hot. Tarzan couldn’t take this kind of hot.” Eugene Morris Jerome, the character played by Matthew Broderick in the movie Biloxi Blues […]

The heaviest fish ever weighed at an MCC event was put on the scales a couple of seasons ago by 11-year-old Layne Carpenter of Flora. That Grenada Lake slab weighed 3.92 pounds.

Come for the fishing, stay for the camaraderie

August 8, 2016 Paul Johnson

The Magnolia Crappie Club just completed our 2015-16 tournament season, and, brother, let me tell you, we had a BIG year. […]

After seed bed prep, fresh seed and fertilizer plus bed grading can be done in one pass with the right rig.

Preseason wildlife plot prep

August 1, 2016 John J. Woods

It’s a given that August is hot, humid and nasty. Who in the world is thinking now about fall hunting?

Well, any deer hunter worth his trail camera, grunt call, bow and arrows or a favorite deer rifle is already dreaming about sitting over a well-groomed food plot in a well-positioned tree stand or shooting house. […]

When the big stripers are schooling and busting shad on the surface at Barnett Reservoir, casting a buck-tail jig is an easy way to catch them.

Earning your stripes — Best bets for Ross Barnett stripers

August 1, 2016 Phillip Gentry

If you were to go out looking for someone to sit down and talk with about striper fishing on Barnett Reservoir, you’d have a hard time. Most of those who catch them, typically by accident, hate them or at the least don’t care for them. Those who do fish for them regularly run when they see you coming. […]

Deanna Simkins of Madison boats a flathead that took a live bream. Flatheads, highly favored for good taste favor a live meal.

Catfish caliphate — Tips for catfishing on the Pascagoula River

August 1, 2016 David Hawkins

The Pascagoula is far from the longest river in Mississippi, running only 80 miles from the convergence of the Chickasawhay and Leaf rivers to where it empties into the Gulf of Mexico without great fanfare. […]