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Very slow day at Redfish University-September 13, 2010

Guided Mr. Mitch Smith and friend David this morning in Pensacola Bay. Cool north breeze at 15-20, high pressure and clear skies were a concern but a positive outlook was the attitude this morning.  Left the ramp at 530am and entered a very choppy bay. Got some face-spray for the first three miles then found the protected water. Launched the topwaters and found the trout and redfish very sluggish and biting short. We put quite a few trout on the boat and had some big redfish blowups but nothing found the hooks. Ran to some very, very shallow water and found some redfish milling around. Stuck a few small fish and took off to find the 25-35″ redfish that were plentiful last week. Nowhere to be found! No bait and huge current. Returned to the marshy banks and stuck a few more small-medium redfish with one very nice one dropping the hook. We also got a few flounder and saw quite a few trails. All in all, a very disappointing day and well below Redfish University standards. We did catch some fish and had some opportunities but nevertheless, a very deeply discounted rate was granted in hopes of a much more success trip next time. All fish released and taken on Johnson Gold Spoons, Gulp! Ghost Shrimp and topwaters. Please click an image to enlarge and view...

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Redfish and Trout on the neap at Redfish University-September 9, 2010

Guided Mr. Ferd Saloman and Chris Saloman this morning in search of redfish and speckled trout. Fishing on the neap tides the last few months have made very little difference in fish production and today was no exception. Started at first light with some topwaters in shallow water. The redfish and trout were a bit sluggish with lots of chasers and short bites but several quality speckled trout and redfish found the hooks. Surprisely, it was the trout that were most uncooperate on some banks that normally produce 20-30 fish in a very short timeframe. Made some good decisions to fish a little deeper water around bait to find some great redfish between 25-31″. We also found some sharks at the end of the morning which were alot of fun to fight and rounded the trip out nicely. Redfish and trout were taken on Gulp! Jerkshads in camo, Johnson Gold Spoons and small Skitterwalks. Most fish release with some trout and redfish taken for dinner. Please click an image to enlarge and view...

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Lots of trout and rain at Redfish University-August 5, 2010

Back from another short vacation and ready to fish. Guided Mr. John Prudhomme and friend Harris today for some trout and redfish action in Pensacola Bay.  Started at first light and ran about 8 miles to our first area. Found plenty of medium trout on topwater baits in shallow water but these fish were not as aggressive as last week. Switched to sub-surface baits and improved our catch-rate a bit. Ran from the rain and storms and found some better trout in another area but still, not very aggressive. Eight wind direction shifts and erratic pressure didn’t help us today but we did as well as humanly possible. Ended up with 20-30 decent trout with 10-12 being great keepers. Also had a great redfish wake and blow-in and out. Probably an oversized fish but the strike was epic. All fish caught on Berkley Powerbaits and topwater baits. Different areas for tomorrow’s...

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Very slow but caught some fish at Redfish University-May 14, 2010

Guided Mr. Jeff Shiver and his son, John, this morning. Today is what we call, at Redfish University, a below average day. Started out early with some topwater action over shallow sandy bottom. With quite a few topwater strikes, we found it very difficult to get the fish to stick to the hooks. Speckled trout blew the bait out of the water several times but only a few were actually hooked. Tried several different retrieves as well before we had to switch to Gulp! Jerkshads to insure fish. Ended up with a handful of quality trout including a 4# fish. With the trout bite coming to an end, we jetted for some great redfish areas, areas that have been outstanding for the last few months. Arrived around 830am to sight fish these redfish and were greeted with a few boats in the same area throwing topwater. Weird… Threw spoons at redfish and caught some very nice fish there. Travelled four or five miles to escape the crowd and found lots of uncooperative redfish but did make a few bite our spoons. Ended the morning on a nice group of hungry redfish and managed to get three or four more in the boat. Very difficult at times today but we plugged away and did as well as we possibly could. I fished hard as well the last part of the morning to locate fish and quickly found how annoying those little boogers were today! Great job Jeff and John in tough conditions!! All fish caught on Berkley Gulp! Jerkshads, Johnson Gold Spoons and a few fish on Skitterwalks. All fish released. Please click an image to enlarge and view...

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Redfish, Trout, Flounder and Stripers at Redfish U.-October 24, 2009

Guided Mr. George Converse and his friend from Birmingham this morning. These guys were excellent anglers and really fun to fish with! I was a little concerned with the passing front, the high pressure and the west wind, but we really caught alot of fish today. With all species being pretty sluggish today, we focused on very,very slow retrieve techniques, boat positioning for optimal casting angles and the use of worm rattles in our Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads rigged with 1/4oz. Marsh Works bull red jigheads. We found plenty of redfish and trout on some wind-blown banks and creek drains. We also picked off some nice trout and flounder in some open-water areas with uneven bottom. To our surprise, 2 small striped bass were brought to the boat. Bait presentation and rattle was the key today. We focused on areas where there were good numbers of fish and used a “tap, tap, tap, stop” retrieval which proved to be too much for the fish to handle. Lots of bites on resting baits, pick-ups and falls which indicated these fish were following and interested, but just needed to smell the Gulp!  All together we stuck 12-15 Redfish of all sizes, 15-20 trout from 12-17″, a 3# flounder and 2 striped bass. A great day under difficult conditions. Please click on a photo to...

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