For eons, the mighty Mississippi River carried uncountable tons of silt and dumped it into the Gulf of Mexico, turning the bottom off the Mississippi coast into a massive mud flat with little structure to hold fish.
As early as the 1960s, people dropped old cars and other objects off the coast to attract fish. In 1999, the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources officially started its Artificial Reef Program to create habitat for multiple species. Algae grows on hard structures, which attracts small creatures that eat algae. Larger creatures feed upon smaller ones.
“Each reef is a fish oasis,” said guide Sonny Schindler of Shore Thing Fishing Charters (228-342-2206) in Bay St. Louis. “Reefs changed the way we fish. When the bottom was mostly just sand and mud, we might pluck a few trout off the beaches or spot some diving birds. Now, even on windy, rough days, we can load the boat with all kinds of fish by the reefs. I wish the state would line the entire coast with artificial reefs, because they are such good places to fish.”
Today, numerous reefs dot the coast from inside the bays to far offshore. They range from a few pieces of limestones to sunken ships. Many exist where anglers in small boats, even kayaks, can reach them. In some places, anglers can wade and fish the reefs.
“We have a very extensive artificial reef program,” said Matt Hill, finfish bureau director for the MDMR. “By putting hard structure out, we created a lot of habitat for the entire food chain. We have several reefs scattered throughout our bay systems for easy access by smaller vessels.”
Nobody living along the coast wants to see another hurricane, but some good came from natural disasters. Powerful storms leave tremendous debris fields in their wake, but the state recycles that wreckage to build fish habitat, bringing life from destruction.
“Most of the material that we deploy is material of opportunity,” Hill said. “When we have a natural disaster, we try to make something positive out of it. We’re working with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to possibly enhance and extend Katrina Key. We also want to continue refurbishing our existing smaller sites inside the bays.”
After Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, the state built Katrina Key mostly from storm rubble, including the old US 90 bridge spans that once connected Biloxi to Ocean Springs. One of the most-popular and easily accessible reefs, Katrina Key sits outside Back Bay, just south of Deer Island. The reef stretches about a mile, so many anglers can fish it simultaneously for varied species.
“We catch fish off Katrina Reef all-year long, but the species vary according to the season,” said Robert Brodie of Team Brodie Charters (228-697-7707) in Biloxi. “Baitfish is the key. The reefs give cover to baitfish. Once baitfish get around the reefs, everything else follows. When we catch the conditions just right on a calm day, we fish the reef with topwater baits and catch a lot of huge speckled trout.”
Katrina Key sits in about 9 feet of water, but much of it breaks the surface. Anglers can work topwaters along its edges like fishing a shoreline for redfish or trout. Topwater baits imitate wounded baitfish and typically attract attention from bigger fish.
“When looking at a topwater bait, fish see a profile that resembles a larger prey fish, like a mullet,” said Ronnie Daniels of Fisher-Man Guide Services (228-323-1115) in Pass Christian. “I experiment with different retrieves and colors. Sometimes, fish want almost non-stop movement. Sometimes, they want it slow. Sometimes I pause to let a topwater bait sit still for a second or two. My all-time favorite color for trout is bone with a slight silver pattern to it.”
For redfish and trout, anglers commonly use jigheads tipped with soft-plastic trailers. These frequently snag when fished around such structures as reefs. Instead, use smooth, cylindrical, banana-shaped sinkers on Carolina rigs. Tie the sinker to the end of the line. Above it, attach a soft-plastic shrimp or minnow imitation. Insert the hook into the plastic to make it snagless. The curved shape and smooth exterior of the banana sinker allows it to slip over rocks and blocks more easily without snagging.
Katrina Key and other reefs provide great cover for many species to hide or hunt. Besides redfish and trout, anglers might also catch black drum, flounder, croaker, white trout and ground mullet, aka whiting or channel mullet, and several other species. However, sheepshead particularly like hard structures. They nibble the barnacles growing on the objects. Sheepshead rarely hit lures, but they’ll grab a shrimp, even a plastic one.
For sheepshead, specks, reds and other species, use a popping-cork rig to keep baits above the structure. Position the boat near the downstream tip of the reef. Toss the rig baited with a live shrimp or a plastic imitation upstream. Make it land close to the reef, but not close enough to snag. Let the tide carry the cork parallel to the structure with the bait suspended off the bottom. Periodically, jerk the rod so the cork makes a surface commotion like a fish striking.
“Sheepshead are not always on the bottom, especially in deeper water,” Brodie said. “They move up and down the water column and suspend. When fishing a reef, we use a popping cork baited with a live shrimp so we don’t snag the reef. Drift it right above the bottom structure.”
In Mississippi Sound near Waveland, the state established Jailhouse Reef with debris from a jail demolished by Katrina. Other good reefs in this area include Bayou Caddy Reef, Pass Christian Key just east of Pass Christian Harbor and the Square Handkerchief, also called Gene Taylor Key. These reefs stick about 3 to 5 feet above the water.
Around these reefs, anglers can catch any fish that swims along the coast. Depending upon the location and water conditions, anglers might entice some Spanish mackerel or bluefish, possibly tripletail. For toothy blues and mackerel, throw shiny spoons or other metal lures that mimic baitfish. Use a cork and a live shrimp to entice tripletail.
Giant redfish spend most of their lives in deep Gulf waters offshore. In late summer and fall, bulls come closer to shore and often travel in huge schools, terrorizing mullets and other baitfish. When the bulls make a run, the powerful, vicious fish offer anglers outstanding opportunities for intensely exciting topwater action. Cast lures that mimic mullet or dangle a live baitfish under a cork. Anglers could also fish live bait on a drift line without a weight.
“On the Mississippi coast, we’ll see the ‘running of the bulls’ from about mid-July through the first cool snap in late October,” said Mark Wright with Legends of the Lower Marsh Charters (228-324-7612) in Pass Christian. “When those big bulls come inshore, they are feeding up for the spawn. They will eat anything they can swallow.”
The state also established offshore reefs. Most consist of concrete rubble, culverts, old barges, sunken boats or ships and other materials. Some offshore reefs stretch over 10,000 acres of bottom. In addition, the remains of numerous decommissioned petroleum platforms still create fish habitat under the “Rigs-to-Reefs” program, providing homes for snapper and other bottomfish.
“Most of the more popular reefs are 30 to 40 miles offshore, but some are roughly 70 miles out,” Hill said. “We also work with the oil and gas companies when they want to decommission a rig. We have certain permitted zones where companies can place the jackets and legs of those rigs without incurring the expense of hauling them ashore and disassembling them. Some rigs-to-reefs sites are more than 90 miles offshore.”
Recently, the state added a massive new offshore reef. Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula needed to replace an aging concrete and steel drydock and donated it to the state for an offshore reef.
“We secured funding through NFWF to place the material at Fish Haven 13, which is one of our more popular red snapper reefs,” Hill said. “It’s approximately 35 miles off Pascagoula. It was such a large amount of material that we were able to create multiple reefs with it at no cost to the state of Mississippi.”
The new reef sits in about 75 to 90 feet of water and should attract good concentrations of red snapper and other reef fish. When targeting bottomfish, bait a drift line or two with live fish or other succulent temptations and place the rods on holders. The bait might attract roving king mackerel, cobia and other big fish.
“Anglers fishing the reefs are usually more successful than people fishing elsewhere,” Hill said. “The artificial reef program has been a great success with the help of our partners. It costs the state very little money to keep the program going.”
For more information about the artificial reefs or to donate materials, call 228-523-4110. For reef locations, see dmr.ms.gov/artificial-reef.
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