Page 174 - South Mississippi Living - June, 2017

SPORTS & OUTDOORS full of sea life OFFSHORE
Mississippi blue water offers abundant fish
story by
Frank Wilem
photos courtesy of
David Gross
Most folks on the Coast are quite aware of the great inshore fishing to be found in Mississippi
waters. But many may not be as aware that our offshore fishing is every bit as good, though it does require a bit of a boat ride.
Bobby Carter has been involved with the Mississippi Gulf
Coast Billfish Classic for the past 20 years. On a recent episode
of our television show, Gulf South Outdoors., he said, “A main objective of this tournament is to bring awareness for fishing in the northern Gulf. Not only do we have casinos and golf courses but an incredible fishery with blue marlin, tuna, wahoo, cobia, red snapper — you name it. The oil rigs out there are abundant and full of sea life.”
While I have fished from Panama and Costa Rica to the Turks and Caicos, I’ve found it hard to beat fishing in the northern Gulf. We’ve even seen whales!
My first offshore fishing trip in the northern gulf was with
Capt. Jim Lunsford aboard Guy Billups, Jr.’s boat, Nancy B. These Mississippi legends pioneered blue water fishing in our area. Kevin Ramage, who crewed with Capt. Jim, remembers him fondly. “Often when asked by guest fishermen about the small size of
the ballyhoo while fishing for blue marlin, he loved to remark, ‘Elephants eat peanuts.’”
One of my favorite trips was to Green Canyon where my daughter, Brittany, and I released two blue marlin and filled a box with mahi-mahi and nearly a half ton of tuna!
Blue water is either in your blood or not. For me, trolling down a current rip is as close to heaven as I ever expect to get in this life. I particularly love spending the night offshore where the boat’s lights attract marine life ranging from squid, dolphins, flying fish, toothy ribbon fish, and even huge sunfish. Each offshore blue water trip is special in its own way. I can’t wait for the next one.
Frank Wilem is the Executive Producer/Co-Host of Gulf South Outdoors which airs Sundays at 9:30 a.m. on WXXV Fox 25 and 10:00 p.m. on WXXV NBC. Visit www.GulfSouthOutdoors.com for more information.
174 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • June 2017 FOR MORE REFLECTIONS OF THE GULF COAST >> www.smliving.net
BLUE MARLIN
fishing
FRANK WILEM with fresh caught mahi-mahi