~ Captain Paul's response to: ~ Dennys ~

Most anglers wade fish the Chandeleur Islands. They use one larger vessel to get there, then a smaller boat, dingy or inflatable to actually get around the fishing spots. The run from Pass Christian is about 30 miles just to the northern point of the islands by the Chandeleur Light. The southern point is about another 28 miles. There are numerous Honey Holes along the entire length of the chain. Many anglers guard their “Spots” with their lives. They would sooner give up their season Saints Football tickets than to divulge their favorite fishing spot on the Isles.

Generally speaking, most anglers do better around the central part of the chain of broken islands. They check the areas around Freemason Islands, now just an under water reef and the remnants of North Islands, New Harbor, Palos and Stake island reef to the south.

Chandeleur is usually fished on the lee wind side, in the calmer water. That is the reason for the two boats. If you start on the Gulf side, you are generally stuck on that side for the entire trip. Of course the opposite is true if you choose the “Sound” side of the chain of islands.

A friend of mine recently made a trip there and said that wade fishing was out as the area was full of hungry sharks. They did fairly well, catching large trout on the west side, the Sound side, of the islands and fishing the cuts that linked the west side with the east side of the chain. Although not deep enough for their boat, the water flow was pushing small fish from one side to another.

Go with plenty of fuel, fluids to keep hydrated and be sure that you have all of your safety equipment including a Marine VHF radio as a normal cellular phone is of no use that far from a cell tower.

Watching the weather in a very important part of planning your trip as a thunder head can make it almost impossible to navigate the open water between the chain and a safe harbor.

My CAPTAIN PAUL’S FISHING EDGE OF GPS WAYPOINTS, for the HOPEDALE ~ MRGO to the MISSISSIPPI SOUND has over 300 waypoints. It has over 12 around the Chandeleur Isles and many more around the Louisiana March to the west of the isles. The Edge files are designed to be electronically download the waypoints into a GPS unit.

~ Captain Paul ~