Guided Mr. Jim Lawrence and his four sons this morning in Destin. Jim is one of my favorite clients and it was our goal to top our 30-35 redfish massacre back in March. With five anglers and me, we split up with two on my boat and two on Jim’s boat. Well, we were predictably greeting with high and very muddy water in Hogtown. Lots of mullet and menhaden on the banks but very little redfish. We managed to stick a handful and dropped another few before we changed locations drastically. Headed back towards Destin and fished a couple flats where we picked up a few more fish. Ended at Crab Island where we stuck a 29″ cobia on light tackle. A nice surprise. All-in-all, the fishing was pretty slow but we covered lots of water and a few different techniques that should produce for the Lawrence Family in the...
Read MoreRedfish and Rain-September 16, 2009
Guided Mr. Jeff Mowery this morning. With all the recent rain, I decided to concentrate in Santa Rosa Sound towards Navarre Beach and the Opal Beach area. Lots and lots of mid-sized redfish with a few smaller and few larger. Concentrated on grassy ledges and sandy dropoffs. All fish caught on Gulp! Jerkshads in camo rigged with a jighead and drop-shot style. Photos to...
Read MoreRedfish University invades Destin again-Sept. 9, 2009
Guided Mr. Kevin Stillworth this morning in Destin’s Hogtown Bayou and some nearly banks east of there. As always, Hogtown provided lots of action and lots of redfish. The schools of mullet were in full flight and the redfish were positioned within these massive schools. Went to the old faithful in Hogtown, the Johnson 1/4oz. Gold Spoon, and went to work. We banged redfish after redfish!! Some were 24″, some were 19″ and some were 26-28″. Worked there for a few hours and then buzzed to a school of consistent fish about 2 miles east of Hogtown. Mostly mid-sized (23-24″) with a few studlies mixed in. Quite honestly, I can count how many fish we caught but 45 would be a safe guess. Sore arms...
Read MorePanama City pounding at Redfish University-Sept. 8, 2009
Guided Mr. Sean Williamson in Panama City’s West Bay this morning. Hit the water at 600am and rushed to the first productive area. The end of the falling tide is the ideal time to target shallow redfish in West Bay and my goodness, we hit it perfectly. Started at Botheration Bay and Breakfast Point on the tide fall. Found large numbers of 25-28″ redfish in singles, doubles and groups up to 20-30 fish. Had great success on weedless Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads in camo. Light line, long casts and silence were the key. Headed to North Bay next and concentrated on the westside between the powerlines an Muddy Bayou. The fish were staged outside the grass and very cooperate. Ended with 16 sightfished redfish in the 25-29″ range. My camera coded when trying to snap a few shots but waiting for client...
Read MoreSteady Day at the University-Sept.7, 2009
Steady trips at Redfish University this week although there small concentrations of redfish in very few areas. Good news is, I expect the redfishing to improve dramatically in the coming weeks and especially next month. Guided Mr. Barry James and his wife Cheryl this morning. Barry is an avid local kayak angler and I was able to cover lots of water with him and introduce him to some excellent kayak fishing areas and some clever tricks with artificial baits. Started out with some quality trout and lower slot redfish as we waited for the water to drop in the upper bay areas. At 730am, we blasted to some very productive area and a found the fish to be very difficult(local Labor Day traffic?) Whatever the cause, we managed to product an decent range of quality redfish. Ended the day trying to scrape up a few flounder which proved to be predictably grim on slow water movement. All in all, a below average day according to Redfish University standards but hopefully much knowledge was gained and a fantastic redfish dinner was had. Thanks again for the wonderful bottles of wine, James and Cheryl!! Please click on photos to...
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