Guided Mr. Roger Orth and his son, Roger Jr., this morning. Picked up the duo at 430am and took a little drive in the Excursion east to some areas where I found several nice groups of redfish and speckled trout. Arrived at the first flat at 500am with topwaters ready. Caught some decent speckled trout and had several very nice redfish blowups but no takers. They just didn’t have their hearts in it this morning but it was fun watching them crash the baits. Ended up switching to Johnson 1/4oz. Gold Spoons and began sightfishing and blindcasting for redfish. Stuck some nice redfish pretty quickly but as usual, the bite slowed as the temperature rose. Roger Sr. was able to masterfully present a spoon to a flashing fish and the fight was on! Roger also ended the day with the largest redfish at 25.5″ Lots and lots of boats on the water this morning. I am very glad we got out early and got to the fish before the party started. All fish released with the exception of three quality redfish that will be cooked as Redfish on the Half-Shell tonight at Roger’s dinner party. Please click an image to enlarge and view...
Read MoreThe year’s most unproductive day at Redfish University-June 16, 2010
Boy oh boy, what a poor day of fishing. Guided Mr. Mark Clark and his son this morning. Both anglers are very experienced bass fisherman from E. Texas so I was very excited to show them some of our excellent redfish and trout fishing. Started at 515am and hit some shallow flats with lots of bait and mullet. Plenty of topwater short strikes but only a few speckled trout caught. We did manage a 5# fish and a few legals but overall, mostly small trout and very inactive fish. Rolled over to another normally fantastic area and only enticed 4-5 blowups but no hookups. At this point, all three of us were fishing extremely hard with Berkley Gulp! Jerkshads since the topwaters proved difficult for the first hour. Managed a few more very small trout and a small redfish. Moved to some deeper(8-12′) water and still couldn’t find quality redfish and trout although we stuck 12-14″ white trout nearly every cast. Not what the fellas came to see and definitely not my strength. Poked around to 7-8 more great areas with lots of bait and mullet with the same dismal results. Very, very slow today. The fellas agreed to return soon and a very deeply discounted trip was granted. Hopefully tomorrow will be much...
Read MoreQuality redfish and trout at Redfish University-June 9, 2010
Guided Mr. Steven Schubert this morning. Collected Steven at the Ramada on Scenic Hwy. at 450am and continued to the ramp. Made a quick four mile run to begin with the topwater baits. The protected bank was pretty glassy(too glassy in my opinion) but we quickly attracted some great blowups. I believe a significantly slower dog-walk is the key to producing more fish on topwater in glassy conditions. Steven stuck quite a few nice speckled trout and was gloriously rewarded with a second cast to a redfish looking for his topwater bait. A fine 26″ stout fish. Abandoned the topwaters around 730am and stayed with Berkley Gulp! Jerkshads with worm rattles the rest of the day. Found some water to be stained and off-color, hence the rattles. Rattles in Steven’s bait and zero rattles in my bait. I think Steven had 5-times as many bites and probably learned a bit about stained water fishing. Anyway, pounded away at nice trout and redfish the rest of the morning. Strangely, we both had several fish drop hooks this morning including a few huge trout and some nice redfish. In fact, a very large trout inhaled a small croaker that I accidently hooked and held it all the way to the boat only to be lost through the hole in my net. Need to fix that!!! Steven was a blast to fish with and he took some redfish and trout home for dinner. Please click an image to enlarge and view...
Read MoreTricky redfish and trout at Redfish University-June 6, 2010
The calls/emails keep coming, so Redfish University will continue to guide on the Gulf Coast. Our inshore waterways remain clear of oil. Guided Mr. Preston Thomas this morning. Preston is an experienced angler and wanted to go checkout some redfish and trout action in Pensacola Bay. Started out at 515am with some topwater action. Found the fish to be pretty sluggish today(maybe as a result of all the rain yesterday), but we did catch a handful of speckled trout until the bite came to a halt. Travelled to some other productive areas and found the redfish/trout more cooperative on the Berkley Gulp! Jerkshads. Most of the redfish were on the small side but we did find one larger 4.5# trout. Continued a little milkrun and found a few fish in each area. Today was pretty difficult but I think we did as well as we possibly could. Slow bite, lots of freshwater. Preston returned home with some redfish and trout to prepare on that new professional oven of his. Please click an image to enlarge and view...
Read MoreYamaha VMax 250 SHO performance update-June 2, 2010
Hello everyone. The new Yamaha Vmax 250 SHO was mounted on my 2009 Hewes 21 Redfisher about a month ago. The engine currently has 21 hours on it and I wanted to provide a short report of my experience and the performance of the Yamaha 250 SHO. This engine has surpassed all expectations! 71 mph, incredible out of the hole, outstanding mid-range power and acceleration, quiet, reliable and 80# lighter than the F225! The SHO is the perfect engine. Although I will rarely hit 71mph, it is nice to know that I can out-run storms, reel-in most boats in tournament settings and provide my clients with better range and more fishing time. Not to mention, the SHO cruises at 48-55mph under very little strain and sips fuel at 3.2-4.0 mpg. The Yamaha SHO is beautifully matched with the Yamaha Vmax Series 25TI 15 1/8 prop. For everyone interested in testing the Yamaha SHO, please visit Peter and Pete, Jr. at The Ship’s Chandler in Destin, FL. If I am in the area, I will be very happy to give you a test ride on my boat. Thanks again and here are a few photos. Please click an image to enlarge and view...
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