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 MoreInstructional trip with plenty of fish at Redfish University-June 17, 2010
Guided brothers Jim and Scott Michie this morning. Jim and Scott are anglers from Destin, FL. and wanted to learn about the inshore species available along the Gulf Coast. Started early with the topwaters and found plenty of speckled trout including a 4.5# fish. Moved to a bank flat and fished the slicks with topwaters with the same result. Quite a few small fish with some nice ones mixed in but always a great time on surface baits. Switched to Gulp! Jerkshads and pitched slicks and mullet to boat several more trout. Made a short run to some grassy redfish banks and pulled some small-medium redfish. Hit some deeper structure for some more speckled trout and those pesky white trout were everywhere. Next, we went to some shallow docks where there have been quite a few redfish and normally lots of flounder this time of year. We were able to wrestle some redfish out from under the dock-shade but no flounder today. I also pointed to some great areas to look for tripletail this time of year but no fish were seen although it shouldn’t be long until we start finding these tripletail pretty consistently. Ended the morning poling through some shallow stained water and saw a few more redfish but no biters. Back to the ramp to show the guys some great fluoro to braid knots and some other very helpful tips. All in all, a good day of catching fish and I hope Jim and Scott learned a ton and can apply that inshore knowledge to catch many fish together in the future. All fish released. Please click an image to enlarge and view...
Read MoreDifficult but not impossible at Redfish University-June 14, 2010
Fortunately, we’re still getting quite a few calls/emails and running some trips at Redfish University. The bays and inland waters are clear of oil, although there are some very productive areas protected by oil boom. Guided Mr. Derrick Grant and his son this morning for some redfish and trout action. Hit the water at 515am and set out for some early morning topwater action. Found the north facing banks to be a bit turbulent but the fish were there. Stuck some 3.5-5# speckled trout but no redfish on this pass. Ran to some marshy banks protected by boom and wasn’t quite able to reach the prime areas near the banks. We did find some quality trout off the banks including a nice 4# fish. Derrick hooked a heavy fish that made two crackling runs only to split the 20# fluoro leader. My guess was a small tarpon and large tripletail or possibly a shark, but it was fun while it lasted. Ended up plugging away for a few more trout and redfish including a decent 4.5# redfish at the end. Pretty tough today but we managed some decent fish and missed quite a few more. All fish taken on Berkley Gulp! Jerkshads/Marsh Works Jigheads and Skitterwalks for the topwater fishing. All fish released. Please click an image to enlarge and view...
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 MoreGreat trout, slow redfish and rain at Redfish University-May 31, 2010
Guided Mr. Jim Greeson and friend, Richard, this morning. With rain all around, we dodged rain showers and lightning most of the morning. Started at 515am with some topwater action for the normally pretty consistent speckled trout and redfish. Only had a few blowups in the first ten minutes so we switched to Gulp! Jerkshads pretty quickly. We immediately started catching small to medium-sized trout and no redfish. Ran to another area to find the same small trout bite with one 5# fish being the exception. Went to a recently very productive redfish bank and only picked up one decent fish but also scored a few large trout in the 4.5-5# range. Ended the day catching a few decent redfish on a marshy bank but really never hammered the redfish like in recent days. Plenty of speckled trout but the redfish were tough. All fish released. Please click an image to enlarge and view...
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