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Windy, rainy and lots of fish at Redfish University-March 4-5, 2010

High winds nor rains can stop Redfish University anglers! Guided Lawrences again on Friday then Jeff and his son, Cody, and Saturday. Conditions weren’t exactly ideal with 30-35 mph winds and some rain but there’s nothing wrong with a little challenge. Both days were filled with lots of redfish and speckled trout including a nice 5.5 fat trout. Most of the redfish were in the 19-24″ range and were cooperating nicely before the front blew through. We switched to larger 1/4oz. Marsh Works jigheads because of the high winds but the Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads remained the bait of choice. Forgot the camera for Saturday so I’ll add more client photos later. Lots of trips coming up so hopely the fishing will continue to be outstanding at Redfish U. I think it will! E...

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Instructional Excellence at Redfish University-November 15, 2010

Redfish University has really gained a reputation for excellence in the area of instructional/location-based/technique guided fishing trips. We are finding that many local and visiting anglers are taking advantage of this unparalleled and untapped resource.  The instructional curriculum at Redfish U. remains fluid and a work in progress, and always will, as each trip and angler will dictate levels of educational intensity. Also the fact that I, and every angler, should learn something new on each fishing outing, the curriculum continues to get even better.  Of course, we catch plenty of  the targeted species, but these excursions are centered around where to be, when to be there, what to look for and what these fish are biting. Guided Mr. Bob Simmons in the northern bay areas this morning to concentrate on redfish, speckled trout and even largemouth and striped bass areas of interest. I think Bob found it very interesting to catch a redfish, a trout and a bass in the same areas! Covered some great areas and showed Bob everything I know about inshore fishing from setup techniques, casting, knot-tying, bait selection, line selection, leader selection to shallow water, deeper water and even introduced the dreaded popping cork with which we actually scored some very nice fish. Anyway, a very fun trip before the rains and winds really kicked up. For those interested, there isn’t a better way more efficient way to learn target and species specific areas than by booking an instructional/location/techniques(I need a clever name for these guided trips!) guided trip at Redfish University! You”ll save the fee in fuel money in a few months!! Lots of instructional trips on the books so please plan ahead. No photos today, forgot my camera. Happy Fishing! Eric...

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Redfish and Flounder before the deluge at Redfish University-October 28, 2010

Guided Gene and Tina Hunter this morning for some redfish, flounder and speckled trout action in hopes of packing the cooler with fresh fish. It was Redfish U’s intent to make a valiant effort to follow my friend Matt’s stellar performance on yesterday’ trip with Gene and Tina, a tremendous bay trip of grouper, snapper and big redfish! It seems we just couldn’t catch a break with the weather this week with Monday’s strong winds and this morning’s downpour, lightning and hard northwest winds. Our plan was to return to the site of yesterday’s epic inshore trip where we conquered over 30 redfish, big flounder and plenty of trout. Made the run west in pretty nice conditions with darker skies to the north. Radar indicated that clouds were moving from the southwest to the northeast but as we all know, things can change very quickly. Arrived in the area and started fishing. Wham! Big flounder on the second cast, a redfish immediately after that and plenty of bait and strikes in the next few minutes. Then the rain and wind hit us making it very difficult and with some thunder coming in, we decided to run back. A very disappointing morning especially since the fish were biting as well as they did yesterday. Perhaps next time Gene and Tina are in Pensacola we’ll have much better weather but at least they had a great day of catching fish one day prior! Book now to experience Redfish University. Please click an image to enlarge and view...

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Back to Destin for Redfish University-October 22, 2010

Many anglers have found yesterday’s report from Destin visually stimulating. As a result, it looks like Redfish University will be spending quite a bit of time in Destin in the near future. Did a little overtime today so this afternoon’s guide trip in Pensacola was postponed until next week. Guided Mr. Shane Johnson and his mom, Mrs. Johnson, this morning over in Destin, FL. Both were looking for some inshore tips and techniques for redfish and trout. Started with topwaters and Gulp! Jerkshads in camo early in the morning and found the redfish and trout very, very difficult. We picked up some trout but nothing great. Visited some local bayous but it was really off. Good news was that we could go hit the big redfish early. Found the same groups of oversized fish as the day before and caught fish between 15-28.5#. Mrs. Johnson’s largest fish previous to this trip was a 20# salmon. Needless to say, she smashed that record many times over and won the “chicken dinner” with the 28.5# massive redfish. Worth mentioning is how impressed I was with Mrs. Johnson’s casting, retrieving technique and fish fighting ability. This young lady really knew her stuff and was really fun to fish with!! Anyway, we were able to sight fish most of these huge redfish in less than 5 feet of water and even blindcast a few with some exciting pursuits in the mix. Naturally, the 4″ Gulp! Shrimp in lime tiger gets the job done everytime. The Gulp! in combination with the Marsh Works Bull Red jigheads is a great bait for these fish. Haven’t straighted a Marsh Work bait yet but oh! do we try!! All fish released. Book now to experience the thrill of Redfish University. Please click an image to enlarge and view...

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A quick morning of redfish and trout at Redfish University-October 19, 2010

Guided Mr. Paul Heatherington this morning for what may be one of Redfish University’s last trips on the year in Santa Rosa Sound. It’s not that the fishing is horrible over there, it’s just that there’s so many more fish in a few areas to the north. We were interested in seeing some redfish and trying to get some larger trout in the deeper water. Started out with very small topwater baits at first light and really nailed some great redfish outside the schools of large mullet. The key this morning was a very soft dog-walked retrieve with a 3-4 second pause every 5 feet. Most fish crushed the bait as it was stationary and they had a huge problem eating it while it moved. Neap tide, very little water movement and laziness are my guess. Once we could see them around 800am, we switched to very small Johnson Gold Spoons and picked some more redfish. Pushed off the banks in some areas to go back to topwater and found some decent speckled trout on the sandholes in 4-6 ft of water. The fish are thinning out in the Sound in my opinion but there are still some nice redfish if you get there early and mid-week always helps. A great bonus for today was the chance to pull on some fish with my Conquer 2000’s/All-Star ASR 7′ with 6# Spiderwire Ultracast Invisi-Braid in preparation for Belize’s tailing bonefish, permit as well as tarpon and snook. Casts an 1/8-1/16 Bone jig a mile!! Book now to learn more about inshore angling than you’ll ever imagine at Redfish University. Happy Fishing. Please click an image to enlarge and view...

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