On Saturday my good friend Eddie Jones and my brother-in-law Tony Martin made an open water hunt in the Mississippi Sound. On a shallow bar a mile offshore, we managed to bag 3 nice redheads and 3 greater scaups a.k.a. “bluebills”.

Tony Martin and Eddie Jones pose  with a take of 3 redheads and 3 bluebills aboard TEAM BRODIE CHARTERS.

The bluebills were extremely thick, but with the new limits we could only take one a piece. They decoyed well all day long, and made for great bird watching. While I went back to the boat 25 or so redheads flew over the decoys with Tony “free-style” hunting upwind of the set up. 

A flock of bluebills sitting in the decoys from the previous hunt.

A drake landed in the decoys, but he wasn’t sure of what they were so he didn’t shoot at the flying birds.  Sorry to say, the big drake that landed eluded Tony’s spray of pellets.

A beautiful drake bluebills makes an excellent trophy mount.

Hey, that’s hunting! We hunted till 11:30, and the birds were still flying in the brisk north wind. Have plenty of open days until the season’s closure on January 25, 2009, so let’s go shoot a few birds.

Regards,

Capt. Robert L. Brodie

Cell (228) 697-7707

Home (228) 392-7660

Friday – COASTAL RIVER SPECKLED TROUT – On Friday I had my loyal comeback client John Noel down for some more angling. Today John wanted to catch some speckled trout, and so it was off to the Tchoutacabouffa River. There, by slowly working soft-plastics we managed to send John back home with a fine mess of fresh speckled trout fillets.

Caught them here and there for most of the day, and had plenty of throwbacks, a few small redfish, and lost a couple of really nice fish. Heck, we even caught two white trout, and one of the fish was well over a pound, a 15-inch fish.

John fishes with me at least once or twice a month for for anything that swims, but today we made it a point to seek out specks, and the inland coastal river bite was a great experience for John. I really like guiding John not only because he’s fun to fish with, but at lunchtime he creates one of the finest sandwiches know to man.

 A fine catch of Tchoutacabouffa River speckled trout caught on soft-plastic baits caught aboard TEAM BRODIE CHARTERS.

If you like to cast soft-plastics all day long in a beautiful setting, then I suggest giving the river specks a shot. It’s fun and relaxing!

Saturday – DIVING DUCKS ON THE MISSISSIPPI SOUND

Today was an ideal day to be hunting diving ducks, and the ducks decoyed beautifully. However, the cooperating ducks were greater and lesser scaups, and we could only take one per hunter.

Scaups aka “bluebills” at point blank range leaving the decoys.

With those quickly out of the way we set out sights on redheads, but they never showed.  All morning long big flocks of scaups landed practically at the gunners feet, but with the limits quickly filled all we could do was watch the beautiful decoying birds.

A flock of bluebills leaving the decoys as a hunter watches them flee.

However, it was a fun just being able to watch the divers come barreling into the set up. Today the bluebill numbers were high, extremely high, and the redheads just never made an appearance.

We generally take a number of greater scaups in these waters too, and they make for a beautiful trophy bird. Will do a private hunt one day next week with my friends, and will report back then. Remember, duck season closes on January 25, 2009, so be sure to book a hunt before the season closes.

Regards,

Capt. Robert L. Brodie of TEAM BRODIE CHARTERS

Cell (228) 697-7707

Home (228) 392-7660  

On Thursday I guided Jeff Windham of Beaumont, MS, a newcomer to diving duck hunting, as well as Ben Lewis of Woodville, MS, a regular client of mine to a day of hunting in some of the thickest fog imaginable. Due to lack of wind, and visibility that barely let us see our decoys, well, you can imagine how tough the hunt might had been.  However, they were lucky enough to take a pair of beautiful redheads, a few scaups, and a bufflehead.

Hey, they had some opportunities, but trying to take a quick shot at ducks popping in and out of the fog was quite a challenge. However, a slow hunt always leads to story telling, mostly lies, and we proceeded to have a lot of laughs while surrounded in the thick blanket of Deep South fog.

Both of these gentlemen were a treat to hunt with, and Ben and his father Bob have made numerous hunts with us in the past, and have enjoyed some epic redheads hunts throughout our adventures aboard TEAM BRODIE CHARTERS.

Ben Lewis of Woodville, MS displays a beautiful pair of redheads taken on the Mississippi Sound aboard TEAM BRODIE CHARTERS

Hunting diving ducks on the Mississippi Sound in an extremely thick fog. A really eerie time to be open water gunning, but exciting none the less! 

At the end of the day the fog cleared, and my assistant guide Eddie Jones and I let them hunt for a while by “free-styling”, that’s just simply standing hunched over in the decoys, and they got to see birds on the move, and take a number of good shots at the big water ducks. Yes, the day long fog bank provided the gunners a weird day on the water, but they all enjoyed the experience none the less.

We’re hunting on a shallow sand bar covered in grass beds located a mile or so off Mississippi’s mainland in the Mississippi Sound.

Although the hunter’s take was few on this fog bound hunt they had a great time, and will be back again to take another shot at south Mississippi’s diving ducks. Listen, we have plenty of dates open until the season’s closure on January 25, 2009, so if you would like to try a shot at diving please give me a call at (228) 697-7707, and well do our best to create a great gunning adventure of your own. These two man trips go for $450, and that includes myself and an assistant guide to help things run smooth and safe.

Regards,

Capt. Robert L. Brodie of TEAM BRODIE CHARTERS