Shore Thing Fishing Report,9/17/2025

September 17, 2025

Summer fishing was great, but fall will be even better, with cooler temps settling in and lots of big fish chasing big schools of bait just about everywhere.

​- by Sonny Schindler, Shore Thing Fishing Charters

Alan Darty from Starkville, MS, with a big bull red he tagged and released near Cat Island.

I’m not gonna lie, these cooler mornings have been very refreshing. We have been focusing more on redfish the past several days, but we will likely get back to targeting trout this week. For now, we are doing the same thing in Lake Borgne, Bay St. Louis, the Barrier Islands, and throughout the Louisiana marsh.
 

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Brant Ratcliffe with healthy black-tipped shark he caught and released south of the barrier islands.

 
Finger mullet have been the big indicator for where we fish. If you can find even a small school of finger mullet on a shoreline, there are likely to be slot-sized redfish with them. Of course, when you find a huge school, it is a good bet that your redfish will be in and around that area.
 
We have seen a few nice flounder the past couple of days as well. No doormats yet, but we have our fingers crossed for a big flounder run in the coming weeks.
 

Big sheepshead from a nearshore reef south of Bay St. Louis.

 
A few tripletail have been landed in the past couple of days during the still midday hours. No one has landed a giant, but it could happen any day under any buoy, pole, or piling. Invest some time and fuel, add a little luck, and maybe you’ll get one of those really big ones.
 

Local boys Beau Benvenutti and Jake Kuhner doubling up on trout and reds south of Pass Christian.

 
Big fish have been found in all the usual spots in the Mississippi Sound. We are seeing bull reds to the west, around the barrier islands, and throughout the Louisiana marsh. The key seems to be finding schools of pogies. It doesn’t matter if you are fishing off the beach in Pass Christian or far south in the Louisiana marsh, if the pelicans are diving on big schools of pogies, chances are there are bull reds under them. We have also seen big black drum schooling around the barrier islands. When the water is clean and they are tailing, it is some of the most fun you can have sight-fishing for these big sea monsters.
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