The northern tip of the Chandeleur Islands lies 20 miles south of Biloxi, MS. They stretch from their northern most point to the south-southwest for roughly 18 miles. I had not fished this area since May 2005, pre-Hurricane Katrina. Needless to say the islands are vastly different and fewer than they were then.
I only had a short two day window of time to make the trip. The weather was forecasted to be excellent. Light winds, calm seas, and the first cold front of the fall was projected to come through right after our planned return to the dock. After loading up on live shrimp and ice from Roscoe’s Live Bait Works, myself, two friends, and my Dad pulled away from the dock at 7:30 in the morning.
Getting There
From Encore’s homeport in Pass Christian Harbor, it is 34 miles to the anchorage just north of Redfish Point. The route took us past the western tip of Cat Island and then east through the Cat Island Channel. Upon exiting Cat Island Channel, a slight course change to the southeast is required followed by a 20 mile straight run.
Anchorage
Getting into the anchorage can be tricky if it is your first time. Once the North Islands are abeam to starboard, a sharp course change to the north is required to stay in the natural channel. After the turn to the north is completed, a 3/4 mile run is needed to reach the anchorage.
Do not rely on the depth soundings on the charts or the anchorage symbol adjacent to Redfish Point on Garmin Active Captain. The soundings on the charts are not accurate, especially those west and south of Redfish Point. Water depths in that area are much less than what the chart states. Passing hurricanes during the last 15 years have dramatically changed the islands, and the charts have not kept up with all of the changes.
There is adequate water in the anchorage, with depths ranging from 8-12’. Outside of the anchorage though can be very shallow. If the weather picks up and your anchor drags, you may quickly find yourself on the bottom. Inspect your ground tackle and make sure it is in good working order prior to any trip.
We have been using a CQR anchor on Encore, and it has performed flawlessly on mud and sand bottoms. The bottom at Chandeleur however is grassy, and the CQR has not held well for us on grassy bottoms. Due to that, before leaving the dock, our CQR was swapped out for our spare Danforth anchor. Having used that style of anchor on grassy bottoms in the past, I was confident in its ability to hold us in place.
Check out Anchor with Confidence – Tips for Setting the Hook for some helpful things to consider prior to and while at anchor.
Fishing
We got the anchor set just before 10am, had a quick early lunch, and then got ready to fish. Fishing at Chandeleur is primarily done in one of two ways. From a skiff, drifting the grass flats, shoreline, and bayous of the west side of the island. Or, it can be done wading on both the east and west sides. We towed a 16’ skiff with us and did most of our fishing from the skiff.
The majority of people fishing Chandeleur are using only artificial bait. A few of the top choices are silver/gold spoons, DOA/Vudu shrimp, and Matrix Shad. Roscoe’s at Pass Christian Harbor had live shrimp so we made the decision to put 150 of them in Encore’s live-well. We had all of top artificial baits in our tackle boxes, but when live bait is available, I am not one to pass it up.
Day One
We transferred about half of the shrimp from Encore’s live well to the live well on the skiff, loaded up all of our gear, and then made the short run to a cove just north of Redfish Point. The water was crystal clear, and schools of baitfish and mullet were everywhere you looked. About every 30 seconds you would see baitfish grey-hounding across the surface being chased by jack crevalle and sharks. We drifted through the cove tossing live and artificial bait but only caught ladyfish and catfish.
Since nothing was happening for us in the cove, we made a short move and started drifting the shoreline, letting the south wind push us north. Quickly, we caught a nice slot redfish on a live shrimp and then another on a Vudu Shrimp. The following hour only produced several more ladyfish, a large stingray, and a nice flounder that did not make the attempted flip into the skiff.
Our drift brought us along the shoreline to a cut that went into the island all the way to the beach on the gulf side. We decided to slowly and quietly motor the skiff to the end of the cut and then drift, with the wind pushing us out. As soon as we got to the end of the cut, we spotted a couple of redfish. One of my friends tossed a Matrix Shad in a perfect spot right in front of one of them. After a short fight, that fish was in the ice chest. During the next 30 minutes, we drifted out picking up another redfish on a live shrimp.
The cut, with Encore in the background 
Once we were out of the cut, we continued drifting and bouncing around the shoreline on the west side of the island for the next few hours. Eventually, we worked our way to the Schooner Harbor area, which is about 5 miles north of where we started. Other than more ladyfish and catfish we had nothing to show for it. At that point it was about 5:00 in the afternoon, so we decided to head back to Encore and start working on dinner.
A few pictures below from that evening:
Chandeleur Charter Fleet 
More of the charter fleet in the distance at New Harbor Islands
Day Two
Following a few cups of coffee and some Jimmy Dean sausage biscuits, we jumped in the skiff and headed south to Redfish Point. Unfortunately, the second day of fishing was more of the same from the previous afternoon. We started with a drift across the grass flats and then moved nearer to the shoreline. Neither spot produced any ice chest worthy fish.
After that, we ran a little farther south and anchored the skiff just off the beach on the west side of the island. We made the short walk across to the gulf side and began wading. The wind was out of the west at about five knots, making the gulf side of the island very calm. We threw just about every plastic we had in every color we had along with live shrimp. Whether it was the full moon from the previous night, the minimal tidal range (0.3’), or just being in the wrong place, we could not get the fish to bite.
At 10:00am we’d had enough and made the short run back to Encore. After getting the skiff rigged and ready to tow, we pulled the anchor, worked our way out of the anchorage, and made the run back to Pass Christian Harbor. Even though the keeper fish were few, everyone had a great time. The weather was perfect, and it’s just hard to beat the experience of spending a few days on the water at a place like Chandeleur.
That was a fantastic read! Thank you
Very good!! Old memories of Bill’s ditch!!!
Nicely written.
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