January 2013 - Page 2 of 6 - Mississippi Sportsman

It’s crazy, but it’s politics

January 23, 2013 Bobby Cleveland

For several years, the Mississippi Bowhunters Association has been looking for help from the state legislature in confirming the right to hunt with bows during open gun seasons.

So don’t expect them to be happy after Monday’s deadline passed for introducing new bills in the state’s House of Representatives and Senate. No such “pro archery” legislation is on the table.

For the third straight year, no bills were introduced that would extend the only true archery season set in statute — the one that opens Oct. 1 and ends on the day before the first gun season begins. […]

A big-bore revolver hog hunt

January 23, 2013 Gordon Hutchinson

I was sitting on an East Texas pipeline, cradling my 7 1/2-inch Ruger Super Redhawk in my lap, watching a pile of corn that had been scattered about the area and trampled with hundreds of hog tracks.

My hand cannon was stuffed with 335-grain hard-cast bullets in .454 Casull, a potent enough load in itself, but this went the extra step. These rounds were manufactured by Cor-Bon — a company that found its niche in the ammunition market by producing ammo that pushed the envelope. […]

Changes proposed for Sardis crappie size and creel limits

January 22, 2013 Bobby Cleveland

Crappie fishermen at one of Mississippi’s best perch-jerking holes would be able to take home a higher percentage of the crappie they catch, but they won’t be able to take home as many each day under a regulation change proposed last week by state wildlife officials.

The size limit at Sardis Reservoir will drop from a 12-inch minimum to a 10-inch minimum, but the daily limit will be reduced from 20 per person per day to 15 per person. The boat limit, with three or more anglers, will fall from 50 per day to 40 per day. […]

Try a light-goose close-out hunt

January 21, 2013 John J. Woods

It’s February. You’re sick of deer hunting. Your rabbit dogs are dead tired. The woods are too wet to squirrel hunt. Turkey hunting is more than a month away. It is way too cold to fish — besides the bass boat is still in storage. […]

Cold crappie won’t hit crankbaits?

January 21, 2013 Paul Johnson

Let me tell you from first-hand experience the winter crappie pattern is on over at Chotard. Seems that every winter season on this beautiful, hidden-away crappie paradise located north of Vicksburg on the Mississippi River, there is a day or two where the fishing is so outstanding that it is hard to describe.

New Year’s Eve was a day with a couple of things dead-set against it — namely a very high and rapidly rising river stage. Plus, to beat all, it was the day of the dreaded full moon! And, if you’ve ever read any of my stuff, you know my personal feelings about the full moon phase and how I think (make that thought) it detrimentally influences the crappie bite.

Now, I’ve said many times here that I personally don’t think the rising river keeps Chotard white perch from biting. Just because the river is rising doesn’t mean they stop eating. Well, brother, they ate on this magical day. […]

Rain doesn’t deter Bean from getting 153-inch late-season 10-point

January 21, 2013 Bobby Cleveland

You won’t hear Billy Bean of Una cursing the rainy weather that plagued deer hunters over the final week of the gun season throughout Mississippi. […]

Semiautomatic fish finder operation

January 21, 2013 Allan Tarvid

In the early days of automatic fish finder operation, I advised serious anglers to switch to manual mode where they could tune in a much better look at the underwater world. I think that has changed, and I now suggest that fishermen run their units in auto mode and just tweak the settings where they see problems. […]

Long-term effects of sedimentation

January 19, 2013 Hal Schramm

With an average annual rainfall of almost 60 inches, Mississippi is the third wettest state in the U.S. […]

DeSoto County buck is new state record for typical archery

January 19, 2013 Bobby Cleveland

Kevin Medlin didn’t have time to think about such things as rewriting Mississippi’s archery record book when a monster buck walked out of a thicket 50 yards from his stand on Nov. 11 in DeSoto County.

“I didn’t even have time to get nervous,” Medlin said. “It all happened so fast. I guess from the time I saw him to the time I watched him crash down in a thicket wasn’t much more than a minute, if it was that long. It all happened that quick.”

A green score that day produced over 190 inches gross, beginning a long wait for the 60-day drying period to pass. Friday, the wait ended when the 13-point — a mainframe 10 with three sticker points — was proclaimed the new state record for typical deer by bow. […]

Roll the dice for speckled trout in February

January 18, 2013 John E. Phillips

Capt. Robert Brodie with Team Brodie Charters, who has his boat based at Biloxi’s D’Iberville Marina, says you can find the big speckled trout in the coastal rivers and other species around the rivers during February.

If you’re hunting large trout, go up the Biloxi or the Tchoutacabouffa rivers, and look for the trout in deep holes and bends in the rivers. They’ll be holding near the Jack Watson Power Plant, Bernard Bayou and Gulfport Lake.

But remember, if you go up the coastal rivers looking for speckled trout, you’ll either be a hero or a zero. You may limit-out and have one of those glory days catching 3- to 7-pounders, or you may catch only five to seven trout.
[…]

Woman’s first buck is a 145-inch Yazoo 10-point

January 18, 2013 Bobby Cleveland

When Jennifer Mayfield of Madison was preparing to shoot her first buck, which happened to be a Yazoo County whopper, she didn’t have to calm her nerves so much as, well, those of her hunting partner. […]

Mixed bag awaits out of Biloxi

January 17, 2013 John E. Phillips

Capt. Rimmer Covington of the Mexican Gulf Fishing Company, one of the new breed of offshore fishermen, runs a sleek, fast and powerful striker boat. […]