Guided Kirk Johnson and his son, Destin, this morning for some speckled trout and redfish in Pensacola Bay. It was a real pleasure to fish with young Destin who is an outstanding angler and really stuck it to the large speckled trout on a very difficult bite. Today, the water was coming in but last night with the combination of the outgoing tide and a very stiff north wind, there was very little water in our normally epic redfish and trout areas. Started early with topwaters and only caught a few small trout and really didn’t get any huge blowups. Made the obvious adjustment and moved well off the banks to produce some medium-large trout on Berkley Gulp! Jerkbaits. Found the fish to be very uncomfortable and unwilling to strike baits this morning. Moved to some deeper banks and slowing produced move fish but still not what we really wanted. Finally, I came through in an area with bottom structure in 12-15′ of water where the big trout were happily biting our baits. A few doubles on 3-5# fish was nice to see and by 900am we had an extremely impressive limit of quality speckled trout. Mission accomplished on the trout so we moved in for the redfish. Only one small fish cooperated and a few more nice trout. The redfish were difficult this week but we did get some very nice fish on Monday’s trip. All fish released except 15 super trout for a cookout. Great job, Destin, in tough condition. Thanks again.

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Guided some of my best and favorite clients Jim and Kyle Lawrence this morning. The guys drove over from Destin this morning at 400am and had catching fish on their minds. Met at 515am and set out for a morning of epic topwater action. Epic it was!!! Immediately, Jim and Kyle started pounding away at the speckled trout and redfish. The sound of topwater explosions filled the silent morning and was music to our ears. Lots of “booms”, “pows” and “cawblauwees” from all of us witnessing this stellar morning of topwater action. I have no idea how many quality trout were landed, stuck momentarily and dropped at the boat, but it was many. Moved on once the sun got up and fished some water in the 3-6′ range in search of more trout and redfish. Didn’t take long and the action was almost every cast! I was able to give my friend Jim some great advice in this area by suggesting working his Berkley Gulp! Jerkbait a bit slower(at a snails pace) to draw a larger trout. In RU’s experience, both small trout and redfish are much more attracted to quick/fast moving baits because of their youthful aggressiveness. Sure enough, Jim lands an awesome 5# fish next cast in the same exact area where three 14-15″ just came. With our mission to successfully slay the trout and redfish all morning accomplished, we took a ride for the Pass to just catch some fish. Caught Spanish, bluefish and ladyfish for the rest of the time and even hooked a few large sharks on the big rod. RU doesn’t spend much time at all in Pensacola Pass but we all had a great time watching bait scatter from sharks and Spanish. Jim and Kyle left Pensacola with 15 very nice trout, some redfish and lots of local knowledge that can be applied at their vacation home in Destin. Great day!! Thanks again Jim and Kyle!!

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Hello Redfish University anglers!

Please take a moment to view the new Berkley fishing website at www.berkley-fishing.com.

It’s a great resource for choosing baits, rods and reels and finding angling information from the Berkley Pro Staff anglers. You may also recognize a Pro Staff member on the Berkley site as well.

Berkley Pro Staff- http://www.berkley-fishing.com/my-berkley/pro/eric-holstman 

Abu Garcia- http://www.abugarcia.com/pros_detail.php?id=2460&m=0

Spiderwire- http://www.spiderwire.com/pros_detail.php?id=2538

Thanks for looking and see everyone soon. Eric Holstman

Redfish University participated in a Boat US Angler program to highlight the Gulf Coast’s inshore guiding industry and the recent BP oil spill. We wanted travelling anglers to see for themselves that the inshore fishing on the Gulf Coast is still excellent and there are plenty of fish to catch. With camera crew in tow at 530am, I guided friend and former Redfish Cup General Manager, Steve Levi, for an exciting morning of redfish and speckled trout action in the Pensacola Bay system. Steve immediately stuck a quality 5# redfish on topwater and continued to slam the speckled trout in the 2-3# range. We also picked up a few more redfish in different areas but by 8am, the show was packed full of great footage so we took off for breakfast and then had a great lunch at the Fishhouse. I hope this promotional/tourism piece will continue to drive potential inshore anglers to the Gulf Coast to enjoy our awesome inshore action. Please look for this show to air in the coming weeks on Fox Sports and Versus television and keep an eye out for the big Redfish University logo and advertisement! Thanks for watching. E Holstman.

Guided Brian Enabnit and friend, Doug, this morning. They absolutely whacked the speckled trout this morning on topwater baits. In a few hour period, 25-30 trout were brought to the boat including some nice 3-3.5# fish and Brian’s pig trout at 5#. Stopped at a few more great areas and picked up more trout and a 25.5# fat redfish as well. Again, the guys wanted lots of late morning action so we split for the Pass to find some great Spanish mackerel action on spoons but no sharks or tarpon this time although we did see one tarpon leap in the distance. Lots of fish were taken back to Destin for a cookout!

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Guided Carl and Steve this morning for some early morning topwater action. Started at 515am and really got into the speckled trout. Landed 20-30 fish in a short period including some very nice 3-4# fish. As 9am came around, the anglers wanted to just catch fish and be around lots of action so we took off for the Pass and found some very nice Spanish mackerel grazing on schools of tightly packed minnows. Lots of sharks in the baitballs as well. The fellas picked off several very nice fish on Johnson Gold Spoons and we called it a day. Several trout and Spanish were taken for a fish fry.

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Guided Brian and Phil Enabnit for a two day trip. Started early with some topwater action for trout and redfish. Lots of fish on topwaters and then switched to Berkley Gulp! Jerkshads once the sun rose. The surprise catch was a 40# drum in the same area as the trout and redfish. Around 9am, we took off for Pensacola Pass where the fellas wanted to target some Spanish Mackerel, sharks and more. Fished the beach west of the Pass and immediately found lots of Spanish and sharks. Sightfished some 4-5′ blacktips with many hookups and jumps but no sharks actually landed but lots of fun nonetheless. Brian hooked an 80-100# tarpon on a Gulp Jerkshad which didn’t last long on 10# braid and a 20# fluoro leader. Great action along the beach, an area I haven’t fished in a month or so. All fish released except for some nice trout for dinner.

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Guided Mr. Kevin Thompson this morning. Kevin wanted to learn about our local redfish and trout fishery and I thought I could help him out on the subject. Again, topwaters early quickly produced some very nice trout and a 26″ beautiful redfish. It was great see the huge blowup and watch Kevin reel begin to smoke. Covered some other areas with topwaters and caught many, many more nice trout. Switched to Gulp! Jerkshads once the sun was high and scored some more redfish and trout in deeper water. In conversation, I mentioned that I was trying to repair my sprinker system at my house until 11pm the night before and that a main pipe had ruptured causing me to shut off the water to my home for the night. Bottled water shower was interesting! Just so happens, Kevin owns a landscaping and sprinker company and offered to come over and help after our fishing adventures. Kevin switched out a main valve, fixed a pipe and installed a new timer for me in a few hours(would have taken me a few weeks.) Needless to say, Kevin received a free fishing trip today and is always welcome to fish with me in the future. Very cool and thoughful guy. Thanks Kevin!! All fish released.

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Guided Brian and Holly McDuff this morning for some topwater redfish and trout action. Like on our first trip, Holly had the hot hand scoring the first several trout but Brian did eventually catch up. Found plenty of both species and had a great time with lots of explosions. Fished some deeper structure as it heated up and found some nice redfish and larger trout.  Gulp! Jerkshads in camo worked very well again and Skitterwalks at first light produced all the trout and redfish. All fish released.

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Redfish University is back in action after a few days off. Guided Mr. Roger Orth this morning. Hit Santa Rosa Sound early this morning for some topwater action for redfish and trout. Pretty slow this morning with a few trout in the boat and some redfish blowups. Roger scored a 27 3/4″ stout redfish on a topwater before we took off for Pensacola Bay. Put in at Garcon Point and fished Berkley Gulp! Jerkshads in search of redfish and trout. Again, found a few decent trout but nothing great. Travelled to a proven redfish spot and found what we were looking for. Stuck several redfish in the 26 3/4-34″ range with a few finding structure before we could turn them.  Only found one fish to measure and keep but fun nonetheless. All fish released except for a few trout and a 27″ redfish for dinner.

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