Guided Mr. Ron Fairbanks and business associate, Dennis, this morning at Redfish University. Ron was gracious enough to allow me and Redfish University to participate in General Motor’s “Fishing for Sales” program. Had a blast today fishing with these guys, both great anglers. Started out in the Sound for some topwater redfish action. Dennis was the first to draw a big strike and got the first nice redfish in the boat. This is where the story takes a grim turn. As I was prepared to remove the Skitterwalk’s treble hooks from the fish, the fish shook and my hand slid toward the redfish’s face implanting a hook firmly into the flesh and tendon between my thumb and fore-finger. That hurt! Short story, pushed the barb through, clipped it and carried on. Boy, did it hurt later in the morning. Went to the doctor for pain meds and antibiotics. First time I hooked myself in 35 years!! Back to the important stuff. We found plenty of redfish and small trout to bash our topwaters and also followed up some topwater blowups with Johnson Spoons to boat a few more redfish. Back to the launch and trailered to Pensacola Bay. Fished a few solid banks but the water was still dirty from the rains and only scored a few decent trout. Ran to find clear water and produced some bigger speckled trout and viewed some redfish unwilling to strike. Had a fun day(with the exception of the hook in the hand)and looking forward to working with GM Corp’s “Fishing for Sales” into the future. Thanks for the help with the hook removal fellas and thankfully I didn’t faint!!  All fish released and caught on Berkley Gulp! Jerkshads, Johnson Gold Spoons and Skitterwalks with very sharp hooks.

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Guided Mr. Chuck Barousse and his son this morning. Started out at 515am and ran to some great topwater areas. Started getting big strikes immediately but very few actual hookups. Chuck dropped a very large speckled trout about halfway to the boat and boated a few more medium fish. Traveled to a distant bank and fished slicks with Berkley Gulp! Jerkshads. Boated several quality(3-5#) trout with a few redfish mixed in. It really made up for all the short strikes on topwater early. Poked around to some other good areas and found a few more decent trout and some small redfish. All fish released except for a few trout and redfish for the grill.

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Guided Mr. Roger Orth and his son, Roger Jr., this morning. Picked up the duo at 430am and took a little drive in the Excursion east to some areas where I found several nice groups of redfish and speckled trout. Arrived at the first flat at 500am with topwaters ready. Caught some decent speckled trout and had several very nice redfish blowups but no takers. They just didn’t have their hearts in it this morning but it was fun watching them crash the baits. Ended up switching to Johnson 1/4oz. Gold Spoons and began sightfishing and blindcasting for redfish. Stuck some nice redfish pretty quickly but as usual, the bite slowed as the temperature rose. Roger Sr. was able to masterfully present a spoon to a flashing fish and the fight was on! Roger also ended the day with the largest redfish at 25.5″ Lots and lots of boats on the water this morning. I am very glad we got out early and got to the fish before the party started. All fish released with the exception of three quality redfish that will be cooked as Redfish on the Half-Shell tonight at Roger’s dinner party.

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With a long string of trips approaching, Randy Hamilton and I hit the water this morning to explore some areas I haven’t fished in a while. Caught lots of redfish and trout on topwater and found some areas with huge amounts of both species. Fished until 800am and called it a day! My clients are will be very pleased with their upcoming trips. See everyone soon. E Holstman

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Guided brothers Jim and Scott Michie this morning. Jim and Scott are anglers from Destin, FL. and wanted to learn about the inshore species available along the Gulf Coast. Started early with the topwaters and found plenty of speckled trout including a 4.5# fish. Moved to a bank flat and fished the slicks with topwaters with the same result. Quite a few small fish with some nice ones mixed in but always a great time on surface baits. Switched to Gulp! Jerkshads and pitched slicks and mullet to boat several more trout. Made a short run to some grassy redfish banks and pulled some small-medium redfish. Hit some deeper structure for some more speckled trout and those pesky white trout were everywhere. Next, we went to some shallow docks where there have been quite a few redfish and normally lots of flounder this time of year. We were able to wrestle some redfish out from under the dock-shade but no flounder today. I also pointed to some great areas to look for tripletail this time of year but no fish were seen although it shouldn’t be long until we start finding these tripletail pretty consistently. Ended the morning poling through some shallow stained water and saw a few more redfish but no biters. Back to the ramp to show the guys some great fluoro to braid knots and some other very helpful tips. All in all, a good day of catching fish and I hope Jim and Scott learned a ton and can apply that inshore knowledge to catch many fish together in the future. All fish released.

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Boy oh boy, what a poor day of fishing. Guided Mr. Mark Clark and his son this morning. Both anglers are very experienced bass fisherman from E. Texas so I was very excited to show them some of our excellent redfish and trout fishing.  Started at 515am and hit some shallow flats with lots of bait and mullet. Plenty of topwater short strikes but only a few speckled trout caught. We did manage a 5# fish and a few legals but overall, mostly small trout and very inactive fish. Rolled over to another normally fantastic area and only enticed 4-5 blowups but no hookups. At this point, all three of us were fishing extremely hard with Berkley Gulp! Jerkshads since the topwaters proved difficult for the first hour. Managed a few more very small trout and a small redfish. Moved to some deeper(8-12′) water and still couldn’t find quality redfish and trout although we stuck 12-14″ white trout nearly every cast. Not what the fellas came to see and definitely not my strength. Poked around to 7-8 more great areas with lots of bait and mullet with the same dismal results. Very, very slow today. The fellas agreed to return soon and a very deeply discounted trip was granted. Hopefully tomorrow will be much better.

Fortunately, we’re still getting quite a few calls/emails and running some trips at Redfish University. The bays and inland waters are clear of oil, although there are some very productive areas protected by oil boom. Guided Mr. Derrick Grant and his son this morning for some redfish and trout action. Hit the water at 515am and set out for some early morning topwater action. Found the north facing banks to be a bit turbulent but the fish were there. Stuck some 3.5-5# speckled trout but no redfish on this pass. Ran to some marshy banks protected by boom and wasn’t quite able to reach the prime areas  near the banks. We did find some quality trout off the banks including a nice 4# fish. Derrick hooked a heavy fish that made two crackling runs only to split the 20# fluoro leader. My guess was a small tarpon and large tripletail or possibly a shark, but it was fun while it lasted. Ended up plugging away for a few more trout and redfish including a decent 4.5# redfish at the end. Pretty tough today but we managed some decent fish and missed quite a few more. All fish taken on Berkley Gulp! Jerkshads/Marsh Works Jigheads and Skitterwalks for the topwater fishing. All fish released.

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Guided Mr. Steven Schubert this morning. Collected Steven at the Ramada on Scenic Hwy. at 450am and continued to the ramp. Made a quick four mile run to begin with the topwater baits. The protected bank was pretty glassy(too glassy in my opinion) but we quickly attracted some great blowups. I believe a significantly slower dog-walk is the key to producing more fish on topwater in glassy conditions. Steven stuck quite a few nice speckled trout and was gloriously rewarded with a second cast to a redfish looking for his topwater bait. A fine 26″ stout fish. Abandoned the topwaters around 730am and stayed with Berkley Gulp! Jerkshads with worm rattles the rest of the day. Found some water to be stained and off-color, hence the rattles. Rattles in Steven’s bait and zero rattles in my bait. I think Steven had 5-times as many bites and probably learned a bit about stained water fishing. Anyway, pounded away at nice trout and redfish the rest of the morning. Strangely, we both had several fish drop hooks this morning including a few huge trout and some nice redfish. In fact, a very large trout inhaled a small croaker that I accidently hooked and held it all the way to the boat only to be lost through the hole in my net. Need to fix that!!! Steven was a blast to fish with and he took some redfish and trout home for dinner.

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The calls/emails keep coming, so Redfish University will continue to guide on the Gulf Coast. Our inshore waterways remain clear of oil.

Guided Mr. Preston Thomas this morning. Preston is an experienced angler and wanted to go checkout some redfish and trout action in Pensacola Bay. Started out at 515am with some topwater action. Found the fish to be pretty sluggish today(maybe as a result of all the rain yesterday), but we did catch a handful of speckled trout until the bite came to a halt. Travelled to some other productive areas and found the redfish/trout more cooperative on the Berkley Gulp! Jerkshads. Most of the redfish were on the small side but we did find one larger 4.5# trout. Continued a little milkrun and found a few fish in each area. Today was pretty difficult but I think we did as well as we possibly could. Slow bite, lots of freshwater. Preston returned home with some redfish and trout to prepare on that new professional oven of his.

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Got out this morning for a quick topwater redfish and trout trip. Hit some great areas and picked up several nice 2.5-3# trout and some quality redfish including a 26″ fish. Found most the redfish and trout on sandy bottom around bait. Lots of action and lots of fun. Pretty decent string on trips scheduled in the next few days. Hope the weather cooperates and the oil stays away. All fish released this morning.

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