Ground mullet, flounder should be on the menu

Breaks in riprap jetties behind the hotels and casinos lure big flounder to the front beaches in April, in easy reach of fishermen.

Biloxi’s Rob Thomas is a near-shore fanatic who will wade fish but usually stays in his 18-foot skiff or his 12-foot kayak.

“I’m the odd ball,” Rob Thomas said. “I like trout and reds and don’t complain when I get one, but I prefer ground mullet and flounder. Let me catch those and I’m a happy fisherman.

“One of the things I like in April, especially the last two weeks, is fishing the east end of the Biloxi beach between the mainland and Deer Island. The ground mullet will be in the open water on clean sandy bottoms, and I find the biggest concentrations on edges where sand turns to mud.”

And they’re great table fare, despite their name — which is actually a misnomer.

“They call them mullet, but I think they are closer to a drum and they may be the best-eating white-fleshed fish in the Gulf,” Rob Thomas said. “The only thing that challenges it in flavor, to me, is the flounder — and I catch them at the same time fishing in the rocks either behind the casinos or other buildings.

“There’s a couple of places I’ve pinpointed where there are cuts in man-made riprap areas where the breaks allow current to flow through. Flounder love them.”

Thomas uses cut bait — usually shrimp — to catch ground mullet and flounder.

“They have to have the taste and scent of real bait,” he said. “Can you blame them? Who doesn’t love real fish from the Gulf?”

About Bobby Cleveland 1343 Articles
Bobby Cleveland has covered sports in Mississippi for over 40 years. A native of Hattiesburg and graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi, Cleveland lives on Ross Barnett Reservoir near Jackson with his wife Pam.

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