From I-10 to Pass Road in Biloxi is Popps Ferry Road. The centerpiece of this road for fishermen is the Popps Ferry Bridge. Bisecting Mullet Lake and Big Lake off Biloxi’s Back Bay, the waters are home to healthy populations of both saltwater and freshwater fish.
Location and directions
Take Exit 44 (Cedar Lake Road) from Interstate 10 and head south. The second red light intersects Popps Ferry Road. A turn west along Popps Ferry Road brings you to the foot of the bridge that shares the same name. The last path before the water, Causeway Road, will take you under the bridge and onto the public pier and boat ramp.
Warnings and Notes
The 3,900-foot-long Popps Ferry Bridge is a major link on the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW). Its 25-foot drawbridge opens no less than ten times a day to allow commercial and recreational traffic to pass through the waterway. With some speedboats moving multiple barges tied together, these Leviathans take a high degree of caution and a wary look. In 2009, a tugboat with eight barges struck the bridge and collapsed a 150-foot section in the water.
What Brig
The waters of the Popps Ferry area, including Mullet Lake, Big Lake, and Back Bay, are found almost exclusively in brackish water between Interstate 10 and Highway 90. According to the Mississippi Department of Fish and Wildlife Parks, it is required a saltwater license south of US Highway 90 and a freshwater or saltwater license is valid between I-10 and US Highway 90. This means the area can be fished with either of the two licenses. Saltwater licenses are not valid north of I-10. Anyone (65) or older, or anyone who is exempt from obtaining a freshwater fishing license, must have documentation with them at all times and, as of July 1, 2010, residents 65 and older must buy a lifetime license. Recreational Saltwater Fishing License. However, Louisiana residents must purchase both a freshwater and saltwater license to fish in Mississippi marine waters.
Typical fishing
The old fishing pier pylons are good places for flounder. Slow-trailing natural baits, such as shrimp along the bottom, work well for these flatfish. The good-sized black drum comes up to eat crabs, and logically those baits, properly rigged, bring success there. The mouths of tidal streams entering the lakes are preferred locations for juvenile Red Drum up to twenty inches. Night fishing in a good moonlight during the summer months can attract a good number of white trout.
Because the area is brackish water, a good number of freshwater fish are often found in the area, including rim and bass. Large stripers (Atlantic striped bass) roam the reed schools with bait fish and are often a great catch. Fishing near the bridge brings in a good flounder, especially when fishing under the lights at night.
Tips and tricks from the locals
Clint Shows of Ellisville and his fishing buddies frequent the Popps Ferry area whenever they have downtime. Fishing from a 21 ‘semi-v set at the launch there, Clint is proud of his favorite spot. Related shows when asked if you’ve been lucky this spring so far that:
“Yeah, we have some really good ones. We always have big reds between the VA and the other side of the Popps Ferry Bridge.”
When asked what they were getting lucky with, he said: “We were using spin baits like redfish magic. Root beer colored cocahoe minnows seem to work just as well as any glitter or chartreuse tail. The fins (a lure sea bass) are good too. “
Clint and company prefer open face baitcast reels, including Cabela’s Prodigy. Bass pro shop Pro Qualifier and Daiwa Magazine Force V’s on Berkley Cherrywood graphite shafts. The entire ship confesses to using the 20-pound Spider Braid test.
“There is no need for a leader.” Clint explained with a smile.
His friend, Brad Hill, is holding a nice 17-pound liner caught in a DOA shrimp lure, for example.
James Randall of Biloxi, a local bank fishing with a medium-sized spinning reel, likes to use split cast weights and 1/0 hooks to catch the ever-present Sheepshead, white trout, and the occasional croaker. He confesses that the croakers are only to cut the bait into larger hooks for the redfish. In addition to his spinning reel, Randall uses Zebco 33 closed face reels strung with a 10 pound test. After a day of fishing, James places a nice collection of flounder and trout in the back door of his truck and smiles.
“It’s always good to fish here from this bridge”
No Comment