Page 97 - South Mississippi Living - April, 2025

Shaped somewhat like a lopsided hammerhead shark preparing to devour Ship Island, its neighbor to the east, Cat Island covers about 2,200 acres of extreme southern Harrison County. Other than Deer Island, Cat Island sits closest to
the Mississippi mainland about eight miles southeast of Pass Christian and seven miles south of Long Beach. Some of Cat Island belongs to the Gulf Islands National Seashore and some to state of Mississippi Cat Island Coastal Preserve. The rest of the island remains private.
“For being so close to the mainland, Cat Island is a whole different world,” says Sonny Schindler with Shore Thing Fishing Charters who operates the only service with overnight accommodations on Cat Island. “It has pretty, white sand beaches with an oak and pine maritime forest in the middle of the island. Plus, there are swamps, marshy bayous and sloughs. It’s diverse and complex. It has everything and we love it out here.”
Anyone with a boat can fish around the island or wade on the public beaches. Visitors can camp or picnic in the public sections. In the spring and summer, wading can produce great action for several fish species including speckled trout, redfish, flounder and others, but boaters need to pay attention.
“The waters around Cat Island are very tricky to fish,” Schindler advises. “Someone not familiar with the area or not paying attention to the tides can get in trouble quickly. A boat several hundred yards from shore could easily get in two feet of
water or less. We regularly see boats stranded out here. Bigger boats can’t get anywhere near the island unless they go around to the south side at Smuggler’s Cove.”
Numerous sandbars and patches of seagrass provide excellent cover for many fish species. The grass beds attract a variety of marine life and provide one of the best places in Mississippi waters to catch a very large speckled trout.
“Part of what makes fishing around Cat Island so good is the amount of grass beds it has on the north and south sides,” reports Ronnie Daniels with Fisher-Man Guide Services
who runs out of Pass Christian. “Those grass beds hold bait, especially during the summer months. On the north and south side, there are sandbars. Between the sandbars are troughs. That’s what holds the larger speckled trout there.”
Besides large trout hunting in the grass beds surrounding the island, anglers can catch redfish on the same baits anywhere they find trout. For redfish and flounder, head to the bayous on the island, one on the north side and one on the south side. In the summer, big bull redfish, frequently mixed with jack crevalle or sharks, cruise around the island looking for baitfish. People might also catch Spanish mackerel, bluefish and other species.
When returning to the mainland from a day of fishing,
I recommend taking the catch to Shaggy’s Pass Harbor restaurant in Pass Christian Harbor. The staff at the restaurant will cook your catch for you.
SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living | www.smliving.net
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