Page 46 - South Mississippi Living - July, 2025

GREAT OUTDOORS
The Mississippi Gulf Coast provides red drum, more commonly called redfish, abundant and varied habitats including marshes, reefs and off beaches and barrier islands.
The predators with spotted tails prowl the marshy shorelines of the Pearl River delta eastward to Bayou Caddy near Waveland, the tributaries feeding into Bay St. Louis
or Back Bay, also called Biloxi Bay, and the Pascagoula River delta looking for anything to eat. They love small fish, shrimp, crabs, mussels and other morsels.
Many anglers use live or dead shrimp, small fish or fish chunks to catch redfish. Others prefer artificials, such as jigheads tipped with soft-plastic trailers, spinnerbaits, spoons or other temptations.
The spot-tailed marauders love marshes, but only juveniles spend their early years in inshore waters. When redfish reach about five years old, most leave the marshes and estuaries to
head for deeper water in the Gulf where they might live another 50 years. Redfish can grow huge. Antonio Rubio holds the state record at 52 pounds, 2.4 ounces.
Most people use the term “bull” reds to describe any large redfish. However, that refers more to size than sex. A “bull” red could be either male or female. From late summer into fall, bulls come closer inshore to gather in enormous schools and spawn. These powerful fish can give anglers intensely exciting action.
“On the Mississippi Coast, we’ll see the ‘running of the bulls’ from about mid-July through the first cool snap in late October,” says Mark Wright with Legends of the Lower Marsh Charters in Pass Christian. “After redfish spawn, they follow the bait up into the marshes and estuaries.”
Schools of rampaging reds aggressively devour anything including menhaden, also called pogies, and other fish, but they especially love mullets. For the most fun, few experiences in
46 | July 2025
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