Thread: April fishing on the Bon Secour River

Looking for information on fishing the Bon Secour River and Bay in early April.
Best fish to go after?
Best rigs and bait?
Best areas to fish?

God bless,

Depending on water temps, salinity, and clarity, the specks should be moving out to the Shellbank, Fish River, and Bayou Cour reefs. Always best to fish as early as you can safely get there. Go where the water looks best*.

We've had best luck at Shellbank that time of year IF the water is fairly clear, not if it's muddy. If it's muddy the water is usually clearer back to the east, maybe even in the lower part of the river. We have caught the occasional sheepshead in the river around piles, but not a lot. Reds are random, but not unusual. White trout are always the most dependable.

If you are near shore in the lower river on a falling tide try for flounder where you see water coming off the bank or out a creek.

We mostly fish live shrimp, either freelined or under a cork. A gulp shrimp on a jig is good. Inside the reef a Carolina rig will get snagged pretty quick. Don't run your big motor close to the reef.

* To get an idea about water clarity you can go to the satellite, freeze frame and zoom in. Right now it is muddy except way to the east. You might want to look at it to understand what I mean.

https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES/index.php

Wow frednic, that's a cool looking set of maps for someone (myself) who is clueless of what I'm looking at. Which one of those do I need to "freeze" and "zoom in" on?

Originally Posted by Rich1

Wow frednic, that's a cool looking set of maps for someone (myself) who is clueless of what I'm looking at. Which one of those do I need to "freeze" and "zoom in" on?

This does not work for Microsoft Edge (I think)

Mouse over "NORTH AMERICA" in the menu which opens a pop list; go down to "SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI VALLEY" which will open another list; on that list go to go to "GEO Color - True Color Day/IR night" (near the top and click on it). This brings up a satellite image with a box saying you have LOOP 12 (12 frames animation = 1 hour) you can change this to get up to 96 frames (8 hours) to go back to earlier in the day.

Click on the player control to the right of the "LOOP" box to get the frame you want, the click on the image to get a popup enlargement, mouse over the frame that opens and it enlarges a still image you can just look at, OR click at the bottom of the still image to download it so that you can put it in an image viewer or whatever to enlarge, print, etc..

WARNING! : first version of instructions was flawed, be sure to read this all.

Very cool, learn something new everyday, I use topographical maps and satellite images for planning hunting, hiking and float trip and did not know about this site.

At what water temperature do the specks start moving out to the Shellbank, Fish River, and Bayou Cour reefs?

Originally Posted by readneckyankeehunter

Very cool, learn something new everyday, I use topographical maps and satellite images for planning hunting, hiking and float trip and did not know about this site.

At what water temperature do the specks start moving out to the Shellbank, Fish River, and Bayou Cour reefs?

As far as I know they start as soon as the water starts warming. I think they're looking for the warmest inshore water they can find all winter.

That's probably a question for the Pier#r.

They start aggregating for spawning at about 70-72 later. That's the only critical temp I know.

Water temps are supposed to be here, but several are down. Not really warming yet. If an inshore temp is not shown in the mid 50s, low 60s at warmest right now it's probably bad data.

https://arcos.disl.org/stations/

Here's the link to the regional satellite views:
https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOE...G16&sector=smv

When our weather is clear I use this link I customized that is even closer in @
https://wvs.earthdata.nasa.gov/?LAYE...ESOLUTION=250m

Just click the orange "Preview" button, then the blue "Today" button.
IF the image does not appear use the orange "Prev" button to view previous days.
The most current 'clear day' image is from Feb 22nd...


It's one of the best quality images I have seen in a while.
Bon Secour Bay has 'dark green' water and looks fairly clear.
Most of the dingy, fresher water has been shunt westward by the strong NE winds.

BTW, the lower Mobile River Delta is currently nearing 'moderate' flood stage.
The individual stations are color coded according to their stage...
https://water.weather.gov/ahps2/index.php?wfo=mob

They can be viewed in a pop-up box when you hover the mouse over them (click to see it)...


Hope this helps!