Brown Water Banter

Captain Cole Ganey of Reel Therapy Charters joins us to talk about life on B-Block, running a 36-foot Topaz out of Biloxi, and what it takes to build a charter business from the ground up. Cole got his captain's license as soon as he turned 18, went through sea school in Bayou La Batre, and has been in the charter game for 11 years. He started out deckhanding on mackerel and shark trips, worked hi...

The man who started it all — Woody Bailey — joins us alongside Joe Spraggins, Executive Director of the Mississippi DMR, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Cruisin' the Coast (October 4–11, 2026) and talk about the big Mississippi Gulf Seafood partnership fueling this year's event. 🚗 How Cruisin' the Coast was born from a group of business people and casino execs brainstorming ways to extend to...

⛵ The Hobie 16 International Championship is coming to the Ocean Springs Yacht Club — and Sandy and Mark join us to break down everything you need to know about this once-in-a-lifetime event hitting the Mississippi Gulf Coast September 13-25. 🌊 What exactly is a Hobie 16? A 16-foot beach catamaran that can hit 25 knots with two people aboard - one design class, strict rules on modifications, and...

Fisheries Management: From the Cod Collapse to Amberjack 🎣 From centuries of "endless" cod to modern-day fisheries collapse — how we got here and what it means for Gulf fishing today. Trevor from the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources and Dr. Marcus Drymon from Mississippi State University join us to break down the history of fisheries management and why it matters to every angler on the...

You Can Sleep Where Barq's Root Beer Was Invented | Biloxi, MS Terese Nicovich and Thomas Quave join us to share the incredible true story behind one of the most iconic brands ever born on the Mississippi Gulf Coast — Barq's root beer — and the historic Biloxi building where it all started. 🥤 How a French-educated flavor chemist left New Orleans for Biloxi in the 1890s and turned an artesian wate...

A location scout knocked on Savannah's door in high school and handed her a card. She thought it was sketchy and almost threw it away. Her mom made the call — and less than a week later, producers from LA were walking through their house in Biloxi scouting a Nicolas Cage movie. Savannah and Dalton from Little Lighthouse Productions join us to talk about building a production company from the groun...

🔥 From a 10x10 tent to a brick-and-mortar joint on Government Street — this is how Salt & Sand BBQ built a barbecue business in Ocean Springs. Chris Horton, Shelby Horton, and Emmanuel Brown of Salt & Sand BBQ join us to break down the climb from tailgate cookouts to competition wins to a full-service pit and catering operation. 🥩 Chris met his wife at a barbecue competition in 1994, ste...

This week on Brown Water Banter, it's a double feature as two homegrown tackle companies pull up to the studio to talk shop, share their stories, and show off what they've been building from the ground up. 🔧 Trey and Sam from 2 Rednecks Fishing Tackle join us to break down how a shed in the country, a YouTube education, and a whole lot of trial and error turned into a full soft plastics and hand-...

Scott and Mandy from Red Radio Productions join us to talk about their journey from a living room podcast to landing a streaming deal with WLOX — and everything in between. 🎶 How a late-night walk down Government Street in Ocean Springs sparked the idea to create a platform for original music on the Mississippi Gulf Coast 🎙️ Starting the Red Radio Facebook page around 2017, filming bands in the l...

Captain Zach Courtney from ChEnected Charters joins us to talk all things offshore fishing out of Mary Walker Marina in Gautier, Mississippi. From his freshwater roots in Brandon to chasing 200-pound yellowfin tuna in a 25-foot Sea Hunt, Zach breaks down how he built his charter business from the ground up and why he's all-in on blue water fishing out of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. 🎣 How growing...

Grand Bay NERR  is one of 30 National Estuarine Research Reserves in the country, it sits right on the Mississippi-Alabama line, and most people on this coast have never set foot on it. 🐢 Biologist Andrew Heaton and stewardship assistant Ashley Bosarge from the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve came into the studio to walk us through what's out there — and what you can do on it. 🥾 Na...

Captain Mike Strickland with the Mississippi DMR returns to break down Operation Dry Water, Fourth of July boating safety, and what actually gets you stopped on the water. 🚤 We talk probable cause boat stops, impaired boating enforcement, gunnel riding, no wake zones, inflatable PFD rules, engine cutoff switches, and the difference between safety stops and regulatory inspections. Captain Mike als...

Three charter captains pack the Brown Water studio for a Friday night snapper roundtable that runs nearly three hours deep — and this one covers a lot of ground. C-BO from Spray You Later Charters , Chance Seymour from Mississippi Gulf Coast Fishing Charters , and Captain JJ from Family Tradition join the show to talk red snapper rules, rough weather, reef building, charter life, and what is reall...

🎣 The guys from the Pascagoula Men's Club are back in the Brown Water Studio — Chris Langston and Jack Northrop stop by to break down everything you need to know about the Inshore Challenge fishing tournament hitting Point Park on June 13th 💰 One entry fee covers ALL categories — redfish, speckled trout, flounder, cobia, snapper (now aggregate weight for two fish), and largest tripletail — with...

Kenny DiNero is back in the Brown Water Banter studio, and that means one thing — the Ocean Springs Marine Mart Fishing Tournament is almost here. 🎣 In this episode, we talk through the 2026 Ocean Springs Marine Mart Tournament, happening May 30–31 at Ocean Springs Marine Mart. The tournament includes inshore and offshore divisions, with redfish, speckled trout, flounder, blackfish/tripletail, co...

General Joe Spraggins Returns: Oysters, Snapper Allocation Battles & the Gulf of America Seafood Push Department of Marine Resources Executive Director General Joe Spraggins is back in the studio for his third appearance on Brown Water Banter, and this one covers a lot of ground — from record oyster harvests to the frustrating math behind Mississippi's snapper allocation. 🦪 Mississippi's on-b...

We sit down with the crew from Driftset Fishing to dig into the world of deep drop fishing off the Mississippi Gulf Coast. We're not talking about your average inshore trip — these guys are running miles offshore and dropping lines hundreds of feet down to pull up some of the biggest, prettiest fish most people will never see in person. From snowy grouper and tilefish to the kind of monsters that...

In this episode of Brown Water Banter, we sit down with Senator Jeremy England to break down the new Mississippi DMR probable cause law and what it could mean for boaters, fishermen, and enforcement on the Gulf Coast. Senator England explains how the bill came about, why constituents pushed for it, and what changes when DMR officers stop or board a vessel. The conversation also gets into how bills...

The guys from the Mississippi DMR are back in the studio — Trevor Moncrief (Marine Fisheries Director) and Travis Williams (Artificial Reef Director) join us to break down everything happening with Mississippi's artificial reefs and fisheries management. 🪸 Katrina Key got a major refresh — concrete from the old Broadwater Marina demolition was repurposed to cap subsided reef material south of Dee...

Rob Lipolla and Cody join us in the Brown Water Studio to break down everything about the Southern Kingfish Association — a tournament series that's been running since the late nineties across the entire Southeast coast from Texas to North Carolina. 🎣 Rob has been fishing SKA tournaments for roughly 25 years and shares the history of how the organization grew into a major competitive circuit with...

Troy Guillotte of Trigger Time TV joins us in the Brown Water Studio for a conversation about firearms, filming, and growing up in Jackson County, Mississippi. 🦌 Troy talks about his Gautier roots and how his dad's influence shaped his love for hunting, fishing, sports, and all things outdoors in South Mississippi 🔫 From magazine junkie to TV host — Troy shares how a fascination with firearms th...

Tyler Prowant is back in the Brown Water Banter studio — for what might be his fourth appearance dating all the way back to the old dining room table setup. This time he's got a lot to talk about: his ongoing mission to bring a real skate park to Biloxi through the Gulf Coast Skate Park Association , and the launch of his brand new venture, Mythic Skateboards . 🛹 Tyler has visited 143 different s...

Griffin and Wyatt from Gulfside Detailing and Armor Co. sit down in the Brown Water Studio to talk about how they built their detailing business from the ground up right here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. 🚗 Griffin traces the journey from H and M detailing to working car washes on Pass Road to building enough leads and funds to buy his first trailer 🎥 Wyatt got hooked watching detailing reels o...

Another Department of Marine Resources -sponsored episode of Brown Water Banter welcoming back Michael Lee (Hatchery Bureau Director and Manager of the Lyman Hatchery) and Matt Hill (Deputy Director of Marine Fisheries) for a deep dive into what's happening with Mississippi's fish stock enhancement programs. 🐟 Michael Lee breaks down the history of the Lyman Hatchery — built in the 1930s as a fre...

Three local tackle makers. Three different stories. One thing they all had in common — they got tired of buying gear that didn’t quite do what they wanted it to do, so they started building their own. In this episode, we sit down with Tim Holden of T3 Tackle Outdoors, Justin Melton of Skinny Water Innovations, and Len Shinenberry of Shinenberry Tackle to talk about how each of them turned a love f...