Cajun Unlimited Fishing & Hunting On The Mississippi
The Blast & Cast Trip Is One Of The Most Popular Guides Given By Louisiana Captain Jesse Morris Along The Mississippi River
The Mississippi River delta is famous for its wildlife and fish diversity. It makes sense that Louisiana would hold the country’s largest commercial fishing landings. However, Captain Jesse Morris decided to break from tradition and venture into the growing recreational outdoor industry.
“I’m a fifth-generation commercial fisherman. Around 1989, I left the commercial industry, I saw there was going to be a trend and turn to more recreational fishing. I’ve been doing this guiding service since then. Before Katrina hit, I just did things solo, just me and my boat. After Katrina, I opened this company to have more people work for me. We do a full service inland fishing for redfish, speckled trout, and flounder. We do near shore fishing for snapper and mangrove snapper. We also have 7,000 acres of land for hunting and we run from teal season to big duck season every day”, explained Morris.
Anglers flock to the Mississippi Delta to pursue redfish and speckled trout. “The most popular species is the speckled trout and the redfish. Typically, during our busy season, our limits are twenty-five per person on speckled trout and we average about fifteen to twenty trout per person. Some people like to customize their trip, they just want to go for redfish. With redfish, we limit out almost every single trip. The redfish do have a slot limit that is 16-27 inches. We also catch a lot of bull reds, those are 27 inches and over and you can only have one per person, but that’s a lot of fun. A lot of customers come to catch the bull reds”, Morris said.
Morris’ guiding service runs year-round and guides sportsmen and women from throughout the country. “The duck hunting last year, I ran about 475 hunts during the season. It’s something that I just started because I just got the land about 3 years ago. We shot about 4,000 last year. With our duck hunting, we have boats we take hunters out in and put them in stationary blinds so they don’t have to get out and walk in the marsh. We put three people per blind and we put out and pick up their decoys. It’s really easy, they don’t have to do a lot", said Morris.
Most of the guide company's customers are avid hunters, so they like to do their own thing. That’s one of the things Cajun Unlimited offers, they set you up, but you can do your own thing. "You can bring your own dog...call your own birds...lots of hunters like to do that”, Morris stated.
In order to help manage their duck hunting property, Morris has also started guiding individuals for hog hunts. “The hog hunting, that doesn’t start until February. We are duck hunting up to then and don’t run hog hunts and duck hunts together. We try to keep the population down, we do hog hunting with our air boats. The hogs come in, spread out and over populate. It’s hard to keep the numbers down. We never did hunt them, but it got to the point where they were eating the marsh up, so we decided we had to do something. Typically, we take 100-150 off the property each year, it works well to keep the population down”, explained Morris.
For those adventurous souls who want to experience both angling and hunting, Cajun Unlimited offers what is called their Blast and Cast package. “Our blast and cast trips, we will have guides that will go out and hunt in the morning, come in and have lunch, and take them out fishing in the afternoon. We do a lot of those trips during the duck season. They are dependent on the weather. The blast and cast is by far the most popular trip, because they get to do two trips in one”, claimed Morris.
While Cajun Unlimited doesn’t offer lodging, they can provide visitors assistance with finding suitable accommodations. “We have relationships with all the places to stay. We can book it for them, or they can call in and get it done. There is a wide range of options, you can go from all-inclusive to just a cheap hotel”, said Morris.
When asked what he enjoys more, fishing or hunting, Morris stated, “My favorite is the duck season. When its duck season, I don’t take any fishing trips, I focus on duck hunting. I like the scouting and blind building, all aspects of it”.
Morris’ deep respect for the resource is evident and he takes great pride in being local. “What makes this place amazing is that Mississippi River. If it wouldn’t be for that river bringing the fresh water and creating that delta and the estuaries we have, we’d be just a normal fishing destination. We have a peninsula that sticks out so we can access the gulf, from the marinas where we launch our boats, we can be on the Gulf of Mexico in fifteen to twenty minutes. That’s by far what makes it one of the best fishing and hunting destinations in the world”, stated Morris.
Jared Langenegger
A graduate of New Mexico State University with B.S. in wildlife and fisheries science, Jared spent 15 years working in fisheries and parks management. He enjoys camping, fishing, hunting, painting, and wood working.
Make Sure To Stay At:
Grand Isle State Park, which is a beach ridge created by the action of the waves of the Gulf. The warm Gulf waters are enjoyed by swimmers most of the year, and Grand Isle State Park offers an excellent location for splashing in the surf.