Thread: Is December a good time to fish?

I love pier fishing about as much as anything I can do, as long as I feel like I'm going to catch some fish. I have caught good messes of whiting in December but, I'm going to be on a deer stand. You can take that for what it's worth.

I'm going to try and bump my vacation time up a bit. I don't really mind the cold. As long as it warms up to about 50 - 60 during the day I will be fine.
If I do go in December - How do I catch these Whiting? Will I be able to catch shrimp with my cast net? Anything else I can target?

Last year I took my big catfishing rig down there. The locals made fun of my "broomstick". I usually fish for catfish around St. Louis. We got some big ones here.
I will be around Pascagoula, the Singing River area. I go there because it is away from the tourist area further west.

The way I catch whiting is to Carolina rig a small hook and use a piece of dead shrimp, peeled, and cast in the deeper valleys right at the breaking waves. If they're there. You will catch them. They're looking for crustacean's being turned up by the waves. Good luck.

Originally Posted by sknhgy

I'm going to try and bump my vacation time up a bit. I don't really mind the cold. As long as it warms up to about 50 - 60 during the day I will be fine.
If I do go in December - How do I catch these Whiting? Will I be able to catch shrimp with my cast net? Anything else I can target?

You can catch whiting in skinny water from piers on the Gulf using a small piece of shrimp or a piece of shrimp-flavored "FishBites". I use a small hook on a carolina rig. Shrimp may have moved away from the shore in December. I'm not sure if you can successfully cast-net for them then, or not.

Whiting are nibblers. You'll feel a succession of taps. Set the hook if it's a j-hook; start reeling if it's a circle hook. No hook set? Leave it there and the fish will find it as long as there's bait still on the hook. The mistake that most fishermen make in fishing for whiting is that they use too big of a hook and/or too big of a bait. It's like fishing for bluegills instead of catfish. You don't use a whole nightcrawler when fishing for bluegills. If you do, they'll grab the end of the nightcrawler and pull it off your hook. Use a piece small enough for them to take in their mouths and you'll catch them. Whiting WILL also hit cut bait - again, small pieces. As a kid, I'd catch one small fish, then use that one fish for cut bait to catch a couple of dozen more whiting! I use "fresh dead" shrimp from the bait shop now.

As always, it's best to go through the "REPORTS" archives here to see what bites in December. There are also more in-depth rigging tips. The "SEARCH" bar is your friend!

Good luck and good weather!

Do you have a boat or are you shore based? The bridge/pier in Biloxi might be a good spot for ground mullet and big croakers if you are shore bound.
If you have a boat, then spec fishing the rivers might still be good.

Are there still shrimp and finger mullet around in mid November to catch in a cast net?
What about ghost shrimp?

Thanks for the info. I am shore bound, no boat. I talked to my boss today to see if he can move my vacation up.

Last year in October I caught a shark and a redfish off the end of the pier. Will those kind of fish be totally gone or just fewer and further between?

Sharks will be gone by December. Redfish should still be around.

Somewhat depends upon the weather patterns. Two years ago on the 29th of November I caught an ice chest full of large whiting (16 to 18 inches) and the pier had frost on it at daylight. Finally warmed to 50 degrees by 1pm but a cold wind. Warmer the trend the better for December fishing.

Would it better if I went to Dauphine Island in AL? Would fishing be better there in early/mid December than it would be along the Mississippi Coast?
Is that a good place to tent camp?
I will be restricted to fishing from shore.