Ship Island - Mississippi

[Finfeatherfur]

My wife and little sister have come up with this great idea for a cheap family vacation. We are hauling two boats to Biloxi, Ms for a trip in early August before the kids go back to school. We will be going to Ship Island by boat to spend the day. Both are 22' bay boats, mine is a Blazer Bay, bro-n-laws is a Pathfinder. The kids fish for free, adult license is only $17/3 days so that's not bad. Have any of you guys done any fishing out there before? I understand that the area around the island is fairly deep compared to our islands, and I have GPS on several reefs (artificial) that are less than a 20 mile run from there in 70' of water. I have never been, and I have never fished east of Venice, so I'll be a rookie on this trip.


Any info will be appreciated so we can at least stretch a line!

[eman]

Yes we have fished the gulf side of ship island, Many days w/in sight of the beach , the water turns this beautiful copper color,
massive schools of bull reds roam the area. And if your bait happens to pass thru the bulls w/o a taker ,Guess what is underneath the reds? massive schools of Jack crevalle. Also lots of sharks to be caught.
You may not catch alot to eat but you will holler uncle after a few of those fish.
Bring a good set of binoculars and watch for the birds and / or watch for the boats trolling . ( alot of the locals troll for the reds). We anchored outside their trolling line and in 3 hrs caught and released 7 bulls 5 jacks and 2 sharks all on avo/red flake beetles .(bait i had tied on from previous trip.)

[Finfeatherfur]

Thanks eman, we have plenty in the freezer so meat haul this is not, besides I don't want to clean fish! I do however, plan on getting a rod in the hands of the kids so I can get of the beach. I tend to get drunk looking at bikinis on white sand beaches, so I will have to behave, and the best way is to get me on the boat and out of the sand castle environment!

[Chris Havoc]

hey hey, a post about my neck of the woods!! I'm out that way almost every weekend fin. Ship island is nice to visit the fort etc.....but there is a ferry that runs out to island 3 times a day full of beachgoers. granted there will be boats anchored up everywhere, but if you dont feel like dealing with the crowds....i suggest you run out to horn island instead. either the east tip or west tip is where people like to anchor up and do just what your talking about. also if your staying in biloxi, a run out to ship will be 12-20 miles depending on where you are staying, where as a run out to horn will only be 7-10. the water looked great as of yesterday on the surf side of islands, almost like being in florida. if you get tired of checking out the bikinis and drinking beer, there is a very large brackish pond close to the middle of horn that i caught a limit of redfish sunday midday in about 20 minutes....just watch out for the alligators...theres some big ones in there. if your going to be there for several days, i would check out all of the barrier islands......horn and cat are my favorite for fishing....or for just beach bummin it. if you need anymore information about the area in general etc, just let me know.....i'll be glad to help ya out

[Chris Havoc]

about the depths around the islands.....on average 40 yards off the beach on the sound side of ship, water is 6-8 and gets shallow quick the closer in you get.....there are many many many bars just off the beach...most of them you can see in plenty of time. its relatively the same on the sound side of horn as well.

[Finfeatherfur]

Thanks Chris, very good intel, we and we will be staying 4 days, so we should get our fill of running all the islands if the weather is good! We are skipping the ferry ride to Ship Island in an attempt to have a do-it-yourself day out there!

[Chris Havoc]

Originally Posted by Finfeatherfur

Thanks Chris, very good intel, we and we will be staying 4 days, so we should get our fill of running all the islands if the weather is good! We are skipping the ferry ride to Ship Island in an attempt to have a do-it-yourself day out there!

oh, i wasnt suggesting you go on the ferry ride......i was just letting you know that there was one that brings 60-100 people every trip out.....gets kinda crowded around the ferry docks and fort, but its not hard to find a parkin spot!!

[Finfeatherfur]

Got it! no problem and thanks again!

[Dink]

Hey Fin.......clear water like that means live bait........just a heads up!