Monday I guided Richard Woodall for some instructional redfishing over in Santa Rosa Sound. Met with excellent conditions except for all the seagrass on the surface which made topwater fishing nearly impossible. The few redfish we did catch must have landed right on their nose because they pounded the bite in the first two feet. Also found some decent speckled trout and a few more small redfish on Johnson 1/4oz Gold Spoons. At 800am, I decided to trailer the boat over to East Bay and give that a try. Dirty water everywhere but we managed a few better trout including a 4# fish. Gulp! Jerkshads in Camo with worm rattles did the trick. Also found lots of gafftop catfish which was lovely. A very slow day but I hope much was learned.
Today, I guided Mrs. Bekki Studer and her son, Calam, for some more inshore fishing. Thankfully, Bekki mentioned that Calam would like to catch lots of fish and big fish. Since the redfish and trout have been crap recently, I was very happy to accommodate the duo on the easiest fishing trip in the world!! Hit the Pass and caught a plethora of Spanish and ladyfish. They really has a blast! Threw about 10 of those in the livewell and made a run back into the bay. Set up near Buoy 22 and dropped a few large spinning outfits with long wire leaders. Good grief there are tons of sharks out there!!! It took about 2 minutes to get a double hookup and the chaos was on. Jumping sharks, long running sharks, I just sat on the poling platform and laughed all morning. Little Calam was thrilled and Bekki got an incredible arm workout with numerous sharks herself. Most fish were 3-5′ at around 10-40#’s and no idea how many we caught or jumped off. Mostly blacktips I think, although who knows. I know nothing about sharks quite honestly. Didn’t get many photos of the sharks as I needed to handle the fish as they aprroached the boat for obvious reasons. Hopefully Bekki will send some photos of my struggles with these crazy animals. Smiles, photos, sore anglers and the easiest fishing trip ever. I had a blast watching today and may just have to do more. Maybe branch off–Shark University. Tomorrow, my angler and I will travel to a special place where I know the redfish will cooperate. E Holstman
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