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8/5 cadet pier report

2232 Views 20 Replies 10 Participants Last post by  fishingdonk, 
Mudpuppy
The wife and I drove down on a whim to check out this pier for the first time. First stop was D'Iberville wallyworld to get frozen bait. Bait freezer was broken, so we subbed in some deveined and peeled frozen shrimp, in addition to all my artificials. Finally got to the pier around 10pm.

So we drove all the way out to the end of the pier, cause I was hoping for a big drum or two. Man, let me tell you, the bait was blowing up all over the place. Never actually saw what was rounding up the massive bait balls. But I was thinking specs were going crazy about two feet under the surface. I was pretty excited, to say the least. Wife gets the usual drop rig to suspend fish with some glass minnows/shrimp while I start rigging up a popping cork with a doa behind it. As I'm about to make the first cast, I'm already thinking of blackened filets jumping into tortillas for dinner tomorrow.

And then nothing happened. No hits on the DOA. Or the heddon bomber, or the skitter walk, or the mardi gras/chartreuse matrix shad with 1/4 jig head, or the new penny gulp shrimp under a cork, or the silver spoon.
I was at a loss, completely dumbfounded that all this action was going on and I couldn't pay to get a bite. That lasted an hour, until the minnow slaughter ceased.

After that I resigned myself to fishing off the bottom with my newly thawed shrimp. Apparently I saw hardheads in my future, as that is all we caught for the next two hours. Oh, and one stingray.

Can't keep making trips to the coast like this and only catching the trash, for the sake of my sanity. Anyone like to share some advice?
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hoyt
Happens to us all. Sometimes the fish just don't want what you have especially if there is a ton of live bait around and you aren't mimicking it perfectly. Also a lot of times it is a deception. Lady fish will make quite a racket and sound a lot like specs going crazy. However, lady fish can be pretty particular on what they eat too. Something flashy and moving fast will often get them to bite.

Gotta go to know and often fail to learn. That's why it's such an addiction.
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wild bill
Really hard to get mature fish to leave live bait balls and hit an artificial. With all the bait that is available right now I really think our fall fishing will be outstanding, if we don't have a named storm...
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sj
Not saying you did but some folks mistake the mammoth Pogey schools flipping around as feeding preditors tearing up bait.
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Mudpuppy
Yeah, never thought I would be happy to see the bait leave. On the bright side, bought a new truck. I can finally get my kayak in the water again. Ill be seeing yall out out by the railroad bridge soon.
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W
The phenomenon of too much bait in the water has plagued me this summer.
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T
invest in a cast net and catch some of that bait... replace the dead shrimp with live swimmers and I think your trash fish #'s will decrease.

Artificial stuff will be more productive (in general...) as we get into fall.
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fishingdonk
Yeah the bait has been around in abundance lately off that pier...if your wanting to target trout i suggest starting up close to the casino and parking garage and you just have to throw everything at em till you find what they want....also up close here you can pick up a flounder or two jigging a carolina rigged bull minnow along the bottom...if you targeting black or red rum then the end of the pier is the place to be....next time you stop at wal-mart pick up a few of the lil cheap $3 crab nets to catch some crab for bait then half or quater em up depending on size and if there is a drum around,black or red they usually got to have a bite of this.....also,here lately its been much better at night off this pier...if your in the biloxi area fishing piers then be sure and try the d'iberville pier right under 110 north side of the bridge....again,crab is the best bait for drum off the end of the pier in the deep water, and you can catch the bait running here at night as well and if you can figure out what they want then you can usually catch some trout although they have been being small...and the carolina rigged minnow will produce a flounder or two up close to the the boat ramps here.

But if your targeting black and red drum your best bet in the Biloxi area is going to be at broadwater and crab is my go to here as well...it just gets real crowded here at night and on the weekends but there is alot of seawall here to jig for flounder....i just walk along the top of the seawall jigging a minnow about 10 to 12 foot behind me.....hope this helps.
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C
fishingdonk said:
Yeah the bait has been around in abundance lately off that pier...if your wanting to target trout i suggest starting up close to the casino and parking garage and you just have to throw everything at em till you find what they want....also up close here you can pick up a flounder or two jigging a carolina rigged bull minnow along the bottom...if you targeting black or red rum then the end of the pier is the place to be....next time you stop at wal-mart pick up a few of the lil cheap $3 crab nets to catch some crab for bait then half or quater em up depending on size and if there is a drum around,black or red they usually got to have a bite of this.....also,here lately its been much better at night off this pier...if your in the biloxi area fishing piers then be sure and try the d'iberville pier right under 110 north side of the bridge....again,crab is the best bait for drum off the end of the pier in the deep water, and you can catch the bait running here at night as well and if you can figure out what they want then you can usually catch some trout although they have been being small...and the carolina rigged minnow will produce a flounder or two up close to the the boat ramps here.

But if your targeting black and red drum your best bet in the Biloxi area is going to be at broadwater and crab is my go to here as well...it just gets real crowded here at night and on the weekends but there is alot of seawall here to jig for flounder....i just walk along the top of the seawall jigging a minnow about 10 to 12 foot behind me.....hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Real good advice and tips..[thumbup]
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W
I would also have reason to believe that the Spanish mackerel have been around the bridge too, I have been catching baby ones in my cast net every time I go for bait and my spot for bait is way past the bridge. I always try to fish all parts of the water and when I figure out where they are I stay on it.
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Mudpuppy
Thanks for the good word y'all. I have the cast net already (see profile pic) and caught a ton of live bait with it this last time out. Almost couldn't pull the net up it was so heavy. Tried to catch a few blue crabs I saw swimming around. Little suckers kept letting go of the bait the second they were topside. Next time I'm gonna try a can of cat food with some massive holes in it to try to draw some more in before I hit them with the cast net.

So closer in for the specs? Should've started closer to land and landed some flounder before hitting up the big boys.
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fishingdonk
Mudpuppy said:
Thanks for the good word y'all. I have the cast net already (see profile pic) and caught a ton of live bait with it this last time out. Almost couldn't pull the net up it was so heavy. Tried to catch a few blue crabs I saw swimming around. Little suckers kept letting go of the bait the second they were topside. Next time I'm gonna try a can of cat food with some massive holes in it to try to draw some more in before I hit them with the cast net.

So closer in for the specs? Should've started closer to land and landed some flounder before hitting up the big boys.
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Yeah those crabs are swift....lol...i couldnt even get one in the cast net when he was in about 2ft of water....this opened me up for ridicule from mr petehalsted....you just cant get much cheaper or better than the lil $3 ring nets from wal-mart for catching bait crabs.

Also on these piers i have been noticing and from other folks posting looks like the later and quieter it is the better the fishing is from these high pressure fishing holes.
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W
I wonder with the drive on if vibration from vehicles traveling on it affect the fish. They just drove pilions in the water unlike with the bridges where they are put on slabs.
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fishingdonk
It does'nt seem as if traffic is as big a factor at the drive on pier as it is over at the D'iberville marina pier....not sure why but that's been my observation.
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M
Get some live pogey, finger mullet or shrimp and free-line them. They will stay 3 to 6 inches under the surface in the strike zone.
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R
Where is Cadet Pier and the casinos yall are talking about? We talking about Gulfport, Biloxi, etc?
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fishingdonk
RJFGUMP said:
Where is Cadet Pier and the casinos yall are talking about? We talking about Gulfport, Biloxi, etc?
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Biloxi....right beside the palace casino...
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Mudpuppy
Yeah, it's kinda strange. No signs or anything and the pier starts literally behind the casino. You have to enter casino property to reach the pier, by driving between it and the parking garage. Once you do though, plenty of room to stretch your legs.
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T
Mudpuppy, that isn't casino property... It's a public street. Actually the original highway 90 bridge
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Mudpuppy
Huh, weird. Did the public pay for all that?
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