Speckled trout and redfish active as Mississippi Sound inshore bite builds

What's Biting

What's Next

The immediate picture is encouraging for inshore anglers. NOAA buoy 42067 shows only 1.6-foot seas with winds holding around 8 knots — conditions that keep the back bays, barrier island passes, and open grass flats of Mississippi Sound accessible by skiff and kayak alike. With air temperatures near 72°F this morning, water temperatures in the shallows are likely tracking into the mid-to-upper 70s by midday, a range that activates speckled trout, redfish, and flounder across the grassy bottoms stretching between the barrier islands and the mainland shoreline.

The Last Quarter moon phase marks a transitional tidal window. Quarter-moon tides tend to run moderate rather than extreme, which can actually favor inshore presentations — less current means bait schools hold near structure rather than flushing through, and predators stage predictably at ambush points. Early morning and the last two hours of the falling afternoon tide are the most productive windows for speckled trout on Gulf Coast flats as a general rule of thumb; planning launches around those windows this weekend should stack the odds.

Salt Strong's spring coverage highlights topwater plugs — walk-the-dog styles in particular — as the most rewarding technique when water temps are rising and bait activity is visible near the surface. Their recent content notes that subtle differences in plug profile matter as spring progresses: matching the local forage silhouette (mullet, shrimp) tends to outperform heavily patterned attractor lures once fish have seen pressure. For redfish, working live or cut shrimp tight to oyster bars and marsh edges is the most consistent bet regardless of tidal stage.

Spanish mackerel typically push into Mississippi Sound waters by mid-May as Gulf temperatures continue building. If mackerel have not yet consolidated in force near the passes and barrier island cuts, trolling small silver spoons or high-speed retrieves with a gotcha plug gives anglers the best shot at tagging an early-season fish. Check locally before making the run — mackerel arrivals can shift by a week or more depending on forage density and water clarity.

Context

May is historically one of the most productive inshore months on Mississippi Sound. Speckled trout typically complete their transition from winter deep-water holding areas onto the grass flats and back bays by late April; by the second week of May the fish are widely distributed across the Sound's shallow interior, making them accessible to waders and poling-skiff anglers across a broad range of structure types. Redfish follow a similar seasonal arc, staging along oyster reefs, shoreline marsh edges, and the seagrass perimeter as water temperatures stabilize in the 70s.

Spanish mackerel are a reliable bellwether for the Sound's spring transition — their appearance near the barrier island passes and the open Sound typically signals that forage has consolidated and surface temperatures have crossed the threshold that triggers pelagic movement. The seasonal calendar puts us squarely in their expected arrival window this week.

No direct year-over-year comparison data for 2026 versus prior springs is available from the current source feeds. MS DMR's public updates this week are limited to coastal construction permit notices in Bay St. Louis, Ocean Springs, and Pascagoula — no fishing-pressure or catch-rate information was published in the data window reviewed. This makes it difficult to characterize whether the 2026 spring bite is running early, late, or on schedule relative to historical norms. If typical patterns hold, the next two to three weeks represent the peak inshore window before summer heat pushes fish deeper and shifts feeding activity to early-morning and nighttime windows.