Hidden Treasures

EDITOR'S NOTE: Many hunters have found that the new Mossy Oak Apparel Treklite brand crosses over two seasons. Lightweight, comfortable and very breathable, this pants and shirt outfit works perfectly for bowhunting in the early fall. In the spring of the year, you can chase turkeys over hills and mountains and still stay cool and comfortable. Yet many hunters don't realize that Treklite also works great for fishing clothes. Roll-up sleeves with a button-down keeper, zip-off legs so that an angler can wear the pants as shorts and fast-drying material make the Treklite suit ideal for the saltwater angler. Mossy Oak Apparel's Treklite promises to help the angler stay cool, prevent sunburn and remain dry. This past week Mossy Oak Apparel field-tested Treklite off Mississippi's Gulf Coast. Read on to learn about the trip and to see Treklite in action.

Using a rig hook, the anglers onboard the Triton attached the bow line of the boat to one of the Horseshoe rigs out in the Gulf of Mexico. Occasionally, the fishermen saw various species of fish swimming through the rig's pylons. Using Killer Bee herring and cigar minnows, they chummed the rig. They'd break the baitfish into four or five pieces and throw them to the rig.

Then as the fish swam out from under the rig, the anglers could spot them in open water. They saw some nice mangrove snapper in the 5- to 8-pound range. Using 30-pound-test monofilament and short-shank snapper hooks, the anglers cast their baits to the mangrove snapper they saw. Since these snapper shy away from fishing lines or hooks, they buried their hooks deep in the bait so the fish couldn't see the hooks. They would cast the baits out and let them free-fall with the other chum they threw toward the rig. The mangrove snapper ate the chum and then attacked the chum that carried the fishermen's hooks. The anglers had to set their hooks hard and fast and reel immediately to pull the snapper away from the rigs before they carried the lines into the barnacle-studded pylons. For every three fish that attacked, the anglers, outfitted in Mossy Oak Apparel's Treklite, would hook and land one of them.

The anglers enjoyed fast and exciting fishing off Mississippi's Gulf Coast aboard the "I'm Alone." Every time anyone hooked a mangrove snapper, the fish would peel off the angler's drag. Finally the fishing group boated eight mangrove snapper that weighed from 5- to 8-pounds each.

Remember, when you fish rigs in the Gulf of Mexico for king mackerel, snapper or grouper, don't forget to take some light spinning tackle and plenty of Killer Bee cigar minnows and herring.

To learn more about the ReliefBand call (888) 718-6900, or go to the company's website, www.reliefband.com. For information on chartering the "I'm Alone," write Captain Larry Hayden at P.O. Box 573, Pascagoula, MS 39568-0573; call him at work at (800) 647-7252 or at home at (228) 392-3290; or go the website www.imalonecharters.com. For more information about fishing off Mississippi's Gulf Coast, call (800) WARMEST or go to the website www.visitmississippi.org. You can reach Killer Bee Bait at (877) 557-2248 or at www.killerbeebait.com. To learn more about Treklite clothes, go to www.mossyoak.com.

TOMORROW: Why Jacks Are Better