At the Gulf Coast Classic this year I made a bid on a donated trip and actually won the bid. The trip was offered by Jacob Commers of @AllseasonAnglers. Jacob guides part of the year out West, part of the year in Arkansas and in the Fall guides on the Mississippi coast for saltwater.
I tend to use the same guides over and over but this was an opportunity to try out someone new and I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised. Jacob is an enthusiastic and accomplished guide. I met him at a ramp in Pass Christian and after loading up his first question to me was, “What music do you listen to”? He created a playlist and off we went lickety-split across the Sound to the Biloxi Marsh. It was a little windy that first day but it was a 40 minute ride, made shorter by the tunes, and then we were fishing.
The water was pretty dirty but we noticed pelicans and gulls feeding in the murky water and started working the banks, headed toward them. We poled into a little quiet bay with very dirty water that had a raft of white pelicans chilling in the back of it. As we fished toward them they quietly moved off and we noticed tails coming out of the water exactly where they had been. We couldn’t see the fish because the water was so murky and deep enough that we only saw the tip of a tail now and then breaking the surface.
Jacob eased me into position and I made a cast up into the area of the tails and I hooked what I thought must be a redfish but it turned out I had snagged the tail of a stingray. Jacob jumped down from the platform to help me and to my surprise managed to get the fly out of the stingray’s tail. I was nervous as a cat watching that tail flip around while Jacob’s fingers darted deftly in and out toward the fly.
Soon my fly was free and when we looked back, and to our surprise we had not disturbed the redfish. That’s when we moved in again and Jacob recorded the interaction on his phone. He was poling me and using his phone to record which is something I haven’t seen done before, but thanks to his efforts, I have the following video of me trying to get a fly in the face of a redfish, which turned out to be a big bull.
After we caught this bull we noticed that there were still fish tailing and we went back and caught another one!
Of course we caught a few slot fish, but the bulls were the main event. Jacob did a great job guiding and even provided lunch! I had a great time. Jacob was entertaining, funny when he needed to be and serious when he needed to be.
We managed three bulls the first day and four the next. What a great trip. I would highly recommend Jacob Commers and I intend to book with him again soon.
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