Guided Mr. Ron Fairbanks and business associate, Dennis, this morning at Redfish University. Ron was gracious enough to allow me and Redfish University to participate in General Motor’s “Fishing for Sales” program. Had a blast today fishing with these guys, both great anglers. Started out in the Sound for some topwater redfish action. Dennis was the first to draw a big strike and got the first nice redfish in the boat. This is where the story takes a grim turn. As I was prepared to remove the Skitterwalk’s treble hooks from the fish, the fish shook and my hand slid toward the redfish’s face implanting a hook firmly into the flesh and tendon between my thumb and fore-finger. That hurt! Short story, pushed the barb through, clipped it and carried on. Boy, did it hurt later in the morning. Went to the doctor for pain meds and antibiotics. First time I hooked myself in 35 years!! Back to the important stuff. We found plenty of redfish and small trout to bash our topwaters and also followed up some topwater blowups with Johnson Spoons to boat a few more redfish. Back to the launch and trailered to Pensacola Bay. Fished a few solid banks but the water was still dirty from the rains and only scored a few decent trout. Ran to find clear water and produced some bigger speckled trout and viewed some redfish unwilling to strike. Had a fun day(with the exception of the hook in the hand)and looking forward to working with GM Corp’s “Fishing for Sales” into the future. Thanks for the help with the hook removal fellas and thankfully I didn’t faint!! All fish released and caught on Berkley Gulp! Jerkshads, Johnson Gold Spoons and Skitterwalks with very sharp hooks. Please click an image to enlarge and view...
Read MoreBig Trout and Redfish at Redfish University-May 25, 2010
Guided Mr. Barry Cowart and his son, Barry Jr. this morning. Today’s focus was early morning topwater action and introducing Barry Jr. to inshore fishing and our local redfish and speckled trout. Hit the water at 515am and watched fish explode on the baits all morning. Young Barry quickly gained confidence with a light-tackle spinning outfit and began walking the topwater like a pro. Stuck some nice trout in the 3-4.5# range and also hit some nice redfish in the same areas. Fished until around 1000am when the wind picked up and the water movement stopped. All fish taken on Skitterwalks and Berkley Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads. Barry and Barry took some fish home for dinner. I hope the guys learned alot today and can use this experience to catch many fish together in the future! Please click an image to enlarge and view...
Read MoreVery 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...
Read MoreTopwater and Sight fishing at Redfish University-May 5, 2010
Guided Mr. Tim Wright and friend Doug this morning. Both fellas wanted to learn about early morning topwater baits and techniques for redfish and trout. Started out at 530am and found some nice redfish immediately followed by some healthy speckled trout on the same flat. The topwater action ended around 800am so we headed for very clear water to do some sight fishing for redfish. Found large concentrations of redfish quickly and stuck some very nice redfish in shallow water. We had a plethora of sight fishing opportunities These fish seemed to prefer a slow-rolled Johnson 1/40z. Gold Spoon over everything else. Spent the rest of the morning picking off redfish and even found a large school of over-sized redfish but that ended quickly when a lady in a kayak paddled right through. Hot at times and slow at times but got to show lots and lots of redfishing and trout fishing techniques to Tim and Doug including the infamous Berkley Gulp! 4″ Shrimp deadstick on difficult redfish. All fish caught on Berkley Gulp! Jerkshads, Shrimp, Johnson Spoons and Rapala Skitterwalk. Three redfish and two nice trout were taken for dinner. Fishing is great so book now!! Please click an image to enlarge and view...
Read MoreSightfishing Extravaganza at Redfish University-April 29, 2010
Guided Mark Battia and Dave this morning. Both are very talented anglers and although today was difficult at times, they really showed some solid skills. Started in the upper bays for some big trout. Found some very nice speckled trout pretty quickly with some redfish and flounder in the mix. The lack of mullet made things difficult but we stuck 12-15 very nice trout between 2-3.5#. Next, sightfishing was on our minds so we traveled to some very clear water. Immediately found big schools of redfish in shallow water and got to work. It may have been the full moon but these fish were pretty difficult at first but when the tide changed, they really started to bite. Mark and Dave were able to sight fish many redfish in shallow, clear water with some very nice casts and exciting strikes. Even a few double hookups were achieved!!! I enjoyed the awesome view from the poling platform as they picked off redfish along the bank. I hope to fish with both guys again very soon. Challenging but very enjoyable trip for us all. All fish caught on Berkley Gulp! Jerkshads and all redfish were sight fished with Johnson 1/4oz. Gold Spoons. Some trout, flounder and smaller redfish went home for the grill. Please click an image to enlarge and view...
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