McInnis Bayou

[Riley Smith]

McInnis Bayou hugs River Road along much of the journey to where it splits off the Pascagoula River in Moss Point. As I was coming from the lower river, the trip was upstream and against the falling tide. I had to act as a school bus early in the morning and that put me late to deal with the tide. As the tide waits for no man, the options were go somewhere else or deal with it. So I let the Honda push me upstream against the current and made the morning commuters jealous with the eye candy on the lake.

At first the current wasn't too bad but mid-trip it got pretty strong. I know when peak flow occurs on the flats at the beachfront but the marsh works a little differently. One of the reasons I wanted to make this trip was to lean about the flow and the depths and see some new scenery. A wag would say that it's the same everywhere....an endless sea of marsh grass. There are subtle differences and the occasional decoration of driftwood the river has adorned the bayous with act like signposts and markers. Although transient, as almost everything is in this environment.

I thought about fishing some of the docks before the current got up. The clear green water was inviting and some live shrimp in a real fishing rig would be a hoot. As the current was causing schedule problems, the decision was made to note the locations where things would be to my advantage. I have access to a crop of fiddler crabs on the beachfront and I'm sure a redfish could be had with them.

It's a nice ride and the morning sun was welcome for a bit. Nippy with the wind out of the NE and that means it would probably die later on; maybe I should have just sailed the river. At any rate, the Honda pushed me upstream past mansions and more economical homesteads. At one time I was very close to the place a where a Spanish pistol had been recovered in a back yard back in my youth. And finally I made the mouth of the bayou at Griffins Point.

Griffins Point is where the sawmills began and proliferated back in the early part of last century and before. The Escatawpa meets the Pascagoula there and it's very nice, with deep water. They'd raft the logs down both rivers to the sawmills there. I hoisted the sail and trimmed it, getting it right this time without a wrinkle. Doing a dance with a boat, two halyards, and a topping lift all at once. I did get a few puffs but soon the water turned glassy and the wind died.

 I know the drill, so I lowered and made fast the sail and fired the Honda up. It has plenty of range, that's for sure! I think I used about a tankful or a little more. I did refuel once I reached the river, but the falling tide and current made the trip back to the Boat Club much faster.
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There are camping places below Griffin Point, with white sand, so they're highly valued, but nobody was home this day. It got very warm on the trip back and I was wishing the sail WAS up so I could hide behind it. And so I'm not a newbie to McInnis Bayou anymore which is what the trip was all about. I saw  the morning sun on the grass, the herons and pelicans, and the clear water, I just didn't get to sail.
Pic is the glassy water at Griffin Point, Moss Point, MS.

[Doug SC]

I always enjoy your well written reports. I am partial to the marsh, and I have paddled my kayak through many miles of it. It is far from barren. I have seen mink, otters, and rails. herons and oyster catchers, dolphins and sharks, sea turtles, gators and diamond backed terrapins, various terns, gulls and shorebirds, ducks and loons, blue crabs. horseshoe crabs and shrimp jumping away from my bow.

The tides are often delayed by the marsh and there are tidal nodes you may cross in some marsh creeks. You are paddling against it. Then it seems to stop. The next thing you realize you are now paddling with it on the same creek. At high tide you can see a long way over the exposed tops of a sea of spartina, and at low tide you are then confined to the base of the grass, mud, and the exposed oysters.

Then there is the bewildering maze of marsh creeks to navigate where I paddle. Everything looks the same to the eye, but there are many subtle clues to be alert too and a good chart is handy.

I don't consider the marsh as a boring place to spend time. you have inspired me to post a few photos from the past.

Satellite view of the marsh near Bull Island.
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Kayaks in the marsh.
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Marsh Sparrows.
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River Otter.
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Gator.
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Clapper Rail.
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[Riley Smith]

Yes, that! The area looks just like your Google view, with a maze of bayous and lakes. Yes, a chart is very nice, although I navigated with a screen shot on the phone    I sort of knew where I was, still there are many secrets in all this sameness. I half expected to see a gator but didn't. I know of one bayou that comes off the gulf and is about five feet wide, and six feet deep. Once we were there fishing and looking for bait and it had just rained a white-out. We were standing on the side and I was gauging whether I could jump across, when in the curve just above us I saw an alligator gar that was GIGANTIC. My wife saw my eyes go saucer-like and ran, thinking it was a gator.

[Captain Kidd]

I experienced the marshes like these on the ICW trip but never up close and personal like you guys.

[Riley Smith]

Upriver a little ways from Griffin Point is the widest part of the lower river. Back in the day getting lost in there was a serious problem, especially during cold weather. Often you can SEE where you want to go but there is a strip of marsh in the way that causes you to go two miles to get around it. Real jungle too, as it turns to pine/cypress savannah up there, and choked with underbrush. It is also  complete with critters and wallygobblers and snakes that'll ask you for a chew of tobacco. I saw the biggest alligator I've ever seen up there; a real life dinosaur monster.