Last week there was a jubilee on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. This was great news. I have been in South Mississippi for 53 years and a lot of that time was spent in and around the beaches and bayous of the Mississippi Coast and I have never heard of a jubilee down there.

     Up until a few days ago, the only place I ever knew of jubilees happening was in Mobile Bay near Point Clear.

     A jubilee is a spur-of-the-moment phenomenon in which various seafood species— shrimp, fish, crabs— move en masse to shallow waters and can easily be caught with dip nets or by hand.

     I grew up hearing stories about jubilees in Point Clear where someone would run into the lobby of the Grand Hotel yelling, “Jubilee! Jubilee!” Hotel guests and locals would then grab a net, and an ice chest— or any container they could find— and walk out into shin-deep saltwater and scoop up blue crabs, shrimp, speckled trout, flounder, and several other Gulf species that might be trying to reach the shallows.

     Years ago I was skeptical when I first heard of this phenomenon. It sounded fishy. No one I had ever met had been a part of a jubilee. Many had heard of them. It seemed like one of those stories that hotels might use to promote ongoing legend and lore helping to aid and assist in public relations matters. Some hotels claim to be haunted. I assumed the Grand Hotel in Point Clear was claiming to magically be able to produce various seafood species on its shoreline.

     In 1989 I met a man in the Purple Parrot Café who was from Point Clear. He had been a part of several jubilees over the course of his lifetime. I sat in awe as he recounted numerous instances of his participation in jubilees since childhood. I gave him my phone number and told him to call me anytime of the day or night the next time a jubilee occurred. He said that they only happen for an hour or so, I said, “I don’t care. I will be there quickly. I have to see this.”

     The call never came.

     I have been a guest at the Grand Hotel several times when companies and conventions have booked me as an after-dinner speaker. I always ask the staff about jubilees and have asked many from the podium if they have ever heard of the phenomenon. Most are skeptical and think, as I did, that it’s a legend trumped up by locals to create charm and mystique.

     It’s a real thing. A jubilee is a natural phenomenon that occurs when the oxygen level of the water is low, the temperature of the water is high, and a wind blows out of the north. It usually happens early in the morning or near dusk (now we know why Walter Anderson called it “the magic hour”) when the plankton hasn’t had time to break up and produce oxygen. It’s rare when all of those factors come together at once, but when they do it’s a seafood jackpot for those who are in the vicinity. Fish, shrimp, and crab head to shallow water in search of oxygen and local citizens head to the shoreline in search of supper.

     I have been waiting over 30 years to take part in this happening around Mobile Bay. When I heard there was a jubilee just an hour away in Pass Christian I had mixed emotions. I was excited that this occurrence can happen in a place beyond Lower Alabama, but was upset that I didn’t hear about it until the next day— way too late.

     The tragedy of the recent jubilee on the Mississippi Gulf Coast is that most of the fish washed ashore and died on the beach.

     I don’t know if that’s because of the time of day that the jubilee occurred or that people in our part of the world aren’t used to this happening and just let it go unnoticed. Either way, I am saddened to learn that fish were wasted, but a little glad to know this can happen 70 miles from my home. I saw photographs from several of the news media on the Coast and blue crabs and flounder were plentiful. There were tens of thousands of fish along the 26 miles of Mississippi Gulf Coastline but most of the heavy jubilee action was around the Pass Christian-Long Beach border.

     From this point forward I am putting my Mississippi Gulf Coast friends on notice: The next time there is a Mississippi jubilee call our restaurant, 601-264-0672, any time of the day or night. The managers will make sure that I get the message. My dip net and ice chest are in the garage sitting on “G” and waiting on “0.”