Features from April 2019
Mississippi’s bass fishing is on fire in April; learn how the experts target big fish.
Veteran hunter Brenda Valentine, one of the nation’s leading female hunters, shares her passion and tactics for turkey hunting.
When the big river rises this spring, dragging across a good, submerged sandbar could land you some trophy catfish.
Why do bigger bass bite best at sunrise and how angler can make the most of it.
Trout are the No. 1 target for fishermen along Mississippi’s Gulf Coast this month, but redfish and flounder are also options.
Pickwick Lake is Mississippi’s top fishery for smallmouth bass. Here’s how to catch them.
Columns - April 2019
- The bass will be very shallow at 9-mile long Bay Springs Lake in April and now is the perfect time to catch them.
- Understanding the effects of environmental conditions on young crappie is especially important because abundance of crappie year-classes varies widely over time.
- The Skip Shad is the latest in ultra-natural, lifelike products from LiveTarget Lures.
- Below the surface twitch baits provide the perfect hybrid capability for those finicky spring topwater trout.
- “When the wind doesn’t blow, we’ve gotta go,” Tom Marzoni of Gotta Geaux Charters said.
- Put that wild gobbler’s breast to work in a big, delicious way with this turkey recipe.
Outdoor Updates - April 2019
- The MDWFP said it had a total of 16 confirmed cases of Chronic Wasting Disease in Mississippi, with a concentration developing in north Mississippi along the Tennessee border.
- A lot of Mississippi crappie fishermen could have some anxious moments this spring due to flooding in the Delta from the Mississippi River and its backwaters caused by heavy rainfall north of the state.
- Anglers will soon have four new prime areas to target speckled trout and redfish — if a permit filed by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries in January is ultimately approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
- Pelahatchie Bay on Ross Barnett Reservoir remains off-limits as the lake’s oversight agency, the Pearl River Valley Water Supply District, battles a 2018 outbreak of the invasive plant giant salvinia.
- Crappie fishing at Barnett Reservoir is likely to be less affected by flooding this spring as are other bodies of water across the Magnolia State.
- Mississippi’s Department of Marine Resources has announced that the 2019 red snapper season will open for private recreational anglers and state for-hire vessels on Friday, May 24.
Field Notes - April 2019
- Designed to imitate a range of forage, tubes are among the most versatile and productive baits in a bass angler’s arsenal.
- The artificial version of this popular coastal crustacean, shrimp, offers a wider array of performance than the real deal.
- Eating dinner at a friend’s house almost 20 years ago, I mentioned how good fresh fish tastes compared to fish that was frozen. He told me with a grin that the fish we were eating had been cooling in his freezer for two years.