It is Friday the 13th but I’m pretty certain it was the overnight 35 degree temperature drop that stopped the fish in their tracks this morning. When people want to fish, they want to fish. In any conditions, I guess! Guided a few fellas that wanted to catch some redfish, trout and flounder that have been so easy to come by this week. Started at 600am with ice on the boat and a stiff NW wind. Slowly, slowly cruised to our first stop and we all felt the immediate windburn. Made a few strategic casts and caught some decent speckled trout and a few small/medium redfish. Pretty nice start considering! Well, it was a tremendous struggle from there. No mullet, no bait and very little water movement. We used some rivers and creeks as our water movement and picked up a few more speckled trout and some more solid strikes. Finally, we decided to just stick in water depths of 5-10′ and be around as many fish as possible. Slow taps and deadsticks lured a few more trout and redfish but it was incredibly slow fishing to say the least. They’re hard to catch when they won’t bite! Anyway, stayed until the water totally stopped and returned to the warm Excursion. Moved around some guided trips due to the cold weather and crap tides for the next few days but we’ll be back early next week with more great fishing at Redfish U. All fish released. Thanks, E Holstman Please click an image to...

Guided Steve from Georgia yesterday and a fellow from the Milton area on Tuesday. Both gents were in search of angling instruction and nice catches of redfish, trout and flounder. Needless to say, the last few days have been very windy. A big west wind shouldn’t be feared but celebrated, especially in rising water conditions. The good thing about a hard west wind is the fact that it will move the water more quickly and I really like where it pushes the mullet and bait. Each day, we focused directly on wind-pounded banks and found more redfish, trout and flounder than I’ve seen in a long time. In fact, many of the speckled trout were in the 3.5-5# range. These fish can still be found on shallow flats and obviously, much less stressed by falling water temperatures. We’re even getting plenty of big trout on topwater baits. In 20-30 mph winds, boat positioning is critical and casting with the wind is an absolute must. Also, very light Ultracast InvisiBraid(6#), a bit bulkier jighead and Gulp! with worm rattles in turbulent water makes all the difference. Both days produced solid Grand Slams and almost a Super with a striper falling near the boat. I’ll take consistent catches of 25-30 speckled trout, 8-10 redfish and 3-4 flounder in difficult conditions any day. Next time it’s windy, try out some wind-blown banks with lots of mullet and bait. I think you’ll like what you find. Most fish released and some were taken for consumption. Thanks, E Holstman Please click an image to...

Guided a nice couple from West Point, GA. this morning. Started with some nice speckled trout but found the bite to be pretty slow. Eventually, we found a big group of fish and had a decent run. At 800am, we took off to find those huge redfish everyone is coming to Redfish University to see. Got on the trolling motor and didn’t see a redfish! Checked a few more productive areas and didn’t even pick one up blindcasting. Very disappointing but they simply were not there. All fish released this morning and we’ll get the redfish later in the week. This afternoon’s trip with Mr. Colby is another story. More of an instructional trip this afternoon with a very good angler who was interested in learning a few new areas to produce great numbers in the Fall/Winter. Predictably, it started a little slow but really ramped up as the water rose and the sun fell. Stuck some big trout on Jerkshads and Bongos including a great 4.5# fish. We also had some great flounder action in shallow water. A few dropped the hook at the boat but got a few in the well for Mr. Colby to stuff this evening for the Championship Game. Next was the redfish. Found decent numbers in shallow water and again, some came unbuttoned. As the sun set, we both switched to Bongos and found great action with both large speckled trout and some redfish from 25-29″. Definitely a blast on topwater and we viewed some awesome explosions. We even got a nice black drum bonus in the same area. Not bad, some Grand Slams on a difficult day of fishing! Mr. Colby only wanted some flounder so that’s what we took. All other fish released. Oh yeah, and we ran into a lost white trout fisherman. Entertaining, indeed. You’re welcome.:) Thanks, E Holstman Please click an image to...

Today we performed two more extremely instructional and very successful trips at Redfish University. The morning session started at 600am and the matinee got underway at 1230pm. Both groups of anglers wanted to learn highly productive areas and techniques for the upper bay areas of Pensacola. Great tides today with falling water in the morning and a rising tide in the afternoon. The full moon was completely ignored as always by the fish and Redfish University. Both trips yielded huge catches of speckled trout, legal/over-sized redfish, flounder and striped bass. Both trips accomplished the Super Slam today with a redfish, trout, flounder and striper. We had some incredible topwater action for redfish today with some explosive topwater hookups with some fish clearing the surface to pounce on the Sebile Bongos. Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads and Sebile Bongos were the baits of choice for the morning and afternoon sessions. Lots of fish were released and quite a few were kept for dinner. Camera pooped out on the second trip but the photos are identical to the first. Another double booking tomorrow so more reports tomorrow. Trying to keep up! Thanks, E Holstman. Please click an image to...

Ran a double-header today and absolutely hammered the fish. Guided a new resident in the Milton area that wanted learn about the upper bay areas in hopes of producing great catches of redfish and speckled trout in the future. Started at daylight with a bunch of really nice speckled trout including some 3-3.5# fish. Covered some shallow flats later and found both redfish and large speckled trout mixed in the mullet. For the finale, we approached some schools of large menhaden and really stuck it to the 30-35″ redfish which were found under and outside the bait schools. Really fun morning of catching and lots of great instruction. Our angler took a few nice trout and a redfish for dinner this evening and will, no doubt, be very pleased with his future angling adventures. For round two, my clients, Roger and Barbara Orth, invited me to a poolside lunch before we took off to catch some large redfish in shallow water. Yellowfin tuna steaks, roasted potatoes, a ginger salad, Texas toast and (one) a fine Chinese beer called Chang. My clients are so good to me! Anyway, we left the bayou and they wanted to see and catch very large redfish. Arrived at our destination quickly. When the other boats and “charter fishers” departed after scaring the crap out the redfish, it was game on and a sight fishing festival. Posted out, sun came out, sun to our backs and let the groups of 15-30 huge redfish swim to us against the current. There’s some good advice!:) Continually stuck 20-30 pound redfish coming to the boat and the Orths did well to see them and have a great time catching them. We are very pleased to announce that Mrs. Barbara Orth broke yesterday’s new redfish record at Redfish University with 37 pound lunker taken on 6# Spiderwire Ultracast InvisiBraid, a 20# Stren Tinted fluoro leader and a Berkley Gulp! 4″ Shrimp in Lime Tiger. It was truely a mammoth specimen. I think I really wore the anglers out so we took off back to Bayou Texar with some great photos, laughs and long-lasting memories to be sure. All released...