Since I was scheduled to perform a seminar for the Emerald Coast Redfish Club at The Lucky Snapper tonight(which was a fantastic event!), I decided to make a day of it and trailer the Hewes down to do some shallow water redfishing in some of my favorite West Bay spots. Picked up Peter Wright, Jr. and fellow Hewes owner, Mr. Tom Crawford, and arrived at the ramp at 830am. Although the weather conditions this morning were absolutely ideal for our purposes of sightfishing, we knew the extreme tide conditions and moon phase was going to be challenging. The water was very, very low and the fish were very, very shallow. To say we saw 200 redfish in a few hour period would be a conservative estimate and to say they were extremely uncooperative would be an unstatement. Cruising fish, sitting fish and even tailing fish were nearly impossible to entice. Finally started sticking them by spotting fish just inside the longest cast you could make and they had to be facing away from the boat. Seeing them early and a perfect, long cast was the key. Very difficult fish today!! Should be better next week. The fish ran at approxiately 90mph from all baits except the Gulp! 5″ Jerkshad in camo. Found some heavy 7-8# fish. All redfish released.  ...
Read MoreFlorida Sportsman Magazine with Redfish University- December 31, 2008
Florida Sportsman Magazine contacted me to highlight the shallow water redfish secrets of NW Florida. There’s no photos with this report, but will be soon available in FL. Sportsman in the coming months. After a few wind and rain delays, we finally got our opportunity to hit the water yesterday. Armed with trusty, redfish master Brant Peacher as my co-angler, we set out into Blackwater with less than ideal conditions, but as always, we figured it out and produced some quality redfish. After a carefully calculated milkrun dictated by tide and wind conditions, we found the redfish were going to be inconveniently difficult on this most important of outings. Cameras on a boat are sometimes a curse. A very recent, private and timely report from fellow PFF member and Redfish University graduate, Jeff Russell, clued me in on a classic shallow water flat near deeper water with large bottom lumps. This is a scenerio that held true in other areas as well. This was the ticket and thank you Jeff!! All redfish were caught on Berkley Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads in camo and 3″ Gulp! Shrimp in Lime Tiger rigged weedless. All redfish released. Anyway, I think this will be an excellent article and represent the sometimes forgotten Panhandle well. It will also show that redfish can be sightfished in NW Florida and that we have some fantastic areas to target them in very shallow water. *An interesting sidenote- After reviving and releasing one of the redfish, the fish swam about eight feet and stopped. Making sure that the redfish was okay, I flipped the same 3″ Gulp! Shrimp in front of him to urge him along and he inhaled it again. Not the first time that has happened, and I’m sure not the last. All the more reason to use Berkley Gulp! These fish are hungry if you can find...
Read MoreWinter Speckled Trout Seminar Outline from Emerald Coast Saltwater Series-December 10, 2008
ECSSS Seminar Outline for December Winter Speckled Trout Speckled trout regulations for NW Florida: No less than 15″ and no more than 20’, except one fish per person over 20″ Fish are measured total length with a pinched (compressed) tail. Make the fish as long as possible. Season closed in Feb. Winter Speckled Trout gear Small spinning tackle and baitcasting tackle will be most popular. Light tackle combos in the 6-12# range will be ideal. Light action and tip sensitive rods in the 6’6″ to 7′ range are great. 6-12# mono or 8-10# is perfect. Light fluorocarbon leaders when using artificials or livebait will produce more fish. 10-15# fluoro is perfect. Winter Areas to target Speckled Trout: Speckled trout prefer water temperatures between 60 and 80 degrees. In the winter, when the water temps dip below 65 degrees, the trout will leave the cold water flats and gather in their wintertime homes. In the summertime, trout can be found in nearly 90 percent of the water in our local fishery. In cold water, that percentage dropped dramatically with the temperature and anglers will find trout in only 5-10 percent of our local waters. Point is, cold water concentrates speckled trout making them much easier to target. You will also be surprised by the size of many of the trout. Much like a flood tide on the East Coast with redfish, post-storm bay fishing for grouper or extreme winter low tides for our local redfish, this time of year is an extreme environment for speckled trout. So although, it may be extremely uncomfortable for anglers to be on the water, the trout fishing this time of year is superb. Right now, trout will be gathering in local canals, bayous, deep creeks and area rivers. The name of the game is deeper and warmer water. We’ve looking for the deepest water in the areas. Water depths from 6-20 feet will be most productive. The areas listed above achieve this during the winter months. The canals and bayous often encounter less water movement from winds and tide, and many contain a darker, muddy bottom which will hold heat better than...
Read MoreMuch learned, less caught at Redfish University-December 7, 2008
Fished with Coast Guard member PJ today. PJ wanted to learn some different techniques and areas to produce more redfish in the Pensacola area. Today was a difficult day for catching at Redfish University. Plenty of fish in a few areas and very few in others. Sightfished many small schools of redfish as well as singles. End up up catching one decent redfish and pulled the hook on a few more. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful day to be fishing and I was able to cover tons of material and instruction as the fish weren’t exactly cooperating. I scheduled a makeup trip with PJ at no charge in hopes we will catch more fish. We will hammer then next...
Read MoreThanksgiving Day Tailing Redfish!! November 27, 2008
Had so much fun throwing at tails yesterday, I grabbed my brother and set out to sightfish the redfish in the upper bays this morning. Fished very shallow grass and found many, many tailing redfish. Gulp! Jerkshads in camo and Johnson Gold Spoons produced the strikes. All fish released. ...
Read MoreTails in the Mist-November, 26, 2008
Got out very early this morning with my friend Jeff. Wanted to do some scouting for a bunch of Redfish University trips next week. Very cold and very foggy in East Bay this morning. Found redfish tailing in super shallow water with grass bottom. It was an unbelievable sight. Must have seen 40-50 single tails and backs on a 300 yd. bank. Fun, fun, fun!! All fish caught on Johnson 1/8oz. Gold Spoons and released. Happy...
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