Gulf Coast
Fly fishing in Mississippi
Short answer
Mississippi has no trout. Its fly fishing is largemouth and spotted bass in reservoirs and oxbows, bream on poppers through the summer, and redfish and speckled trout on the Gulf coast. A licence is required from age 16, and the cheapest annual option is a combination small-game and fishing licence.
What makes Mississippi different
Mississippi is a warmwater state from the Tennessee line to the Gulf, and the honest advice is to leave the trout rod at home and bring a six-weight and a box of poppers. The distinctive water here is the oxbow: the Mississippi River has been cutting itself new channels for centuries and leaving old bends behind as crescent-shaped lakes, and those oxbows — Eagle Lake, Chotard, Albemarle — hold largemouth, crappie and bream in cypress and buttonbush cover that is made for a fly. In the north-east the Tennessee-Tombigbee waterway and the clear Bear Creek country offer spotted bass in moving water. And on the coast, the Mississippi Sound and the barrier islands hold redfish and speckled trout with a fraction of the boat traffic Louisiana gets an hour west.
What fish are in Mississippi?
- Largemouth bass
- Everywhere, and the backbone of fly fishing in the state.
- Spotted bass
- The clearer northern rivers and the Tennessee-Tombigbee. Good in current.
- Bluegill and redear
- On a popper in May, and as much fun as fly fishing gets.
- Redfish
- The Mississippi Sound and the barrier islands, and much quieter than Louisiana.
- Speckled trout
- A drum rather than a trout. Coastal, abundant and willing.
Where to fly fish in Mississippi
- Eagle Lake
- A Mississippi River oxbow near Vicksburg. Cypress, bass and bream.
- Lake Chotard
- Another oxbow, connected to the river in high water and full of fish.
- Bear Creek
- North-east Mississippi. Clear, rocky and holding spotted bass.
- Ross Barnett Reservoir
- Near Jackson. Big, accessible, and good in the shallows at dawn.
- Mississippi Sound
- Redfish and speckled trout along the mainland shore and the marsh edges.
- Barrier islands
- Horn, Ship and Petit Bois. Sight fishing on sand flats, and a boat ride to get there.
When to fly fish in Mississippi
| When | What is happening |
|---|---|
| March – April | Bass move shallow to spawn. The best bass fly fishing of the year. |
| May – June | Bream bedding. Poppers at dusk on the oxbows, and the easiest good fishing anywhere. |
| July – August | Hot and humid. First light and last light only, or head to the coast for redfish. |
| September – October | Cooling water, bass feeding hard, and the Sound at its best. |
| November – February | Quiet inland. Redfish on the coast through the winter, and crappie for the patient. |
Do you need a license to fly fish in Mississippi?
Yes. Licenses are issued by Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.
| License | Price |
|---|---|
| Resident, annual | $13.49 |
| Non-resident, annual | $75.42 |
Mississippi sells no stand-alone resident freshwater fishing licence. The resident total is the $10 Small Game Hunting and Freshwater Fishing licence plus a $1 agent fee and a $2.49 processing fee. The non-resident total is the $68 freshwater licence plus $3 and $4.42 in fees. Saltwater is separate again — $10 resident, $30 non-resident. Prices change — check with the agency before you buy.
Rules worth knowing before you go
- A fishing licence is required from age 16.
- There is no stand-alone annual resident freshwater fishing licence: the cheapest annual option that covers it is the Small Game Hunting and Freshwater Fishing licence.
- Saltwater fishing needs a separate licence, and the Gulf coast is saltwater.
- Annual licences run one calendar year from the date of purchase.
- Agent and processing fees are added to every licence and are not trivial relative to the price.
Regulations change every year and vary water by water. The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks rule book is the only authority — this page is a starting point, not a legal reference.
Flies that matter in Mississippi
Each of these is a card in the deck, and each has a full page in Our Fly-brary.
Keep reading
- Do I need a fishing license? — how licensing works across states
- How to read water — where trout hold, anywhere
- Best time of day to fly fish — the seasonal logic behind the table above
- Our Fly-brary — every fly in the deck, explained
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The deck
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