Hello all! Full bookings for next week! For the anglers who are scheduled to fish with me after this cold front passes, get ready for hot and heavy shallow water action!! It’s going to be outstanding!! With a little break in my busy guiding schedule, I thought I’d post a redfish report from Panama City to Hopedale, LA. Let’s begin to the east with Panama City, shall we? In the West Bay area, the redfishing has been superb. My favorite time to target these fish is about 2-3 hours before the low tide. The fish will exit the grassy banks and are much easier to catch. Long casts with Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads in camo is the tickets. Areas such as North Bay, Breakfast Point and Botheration Bayou have been very consistent and 15-20 fish mornings are pretty easy to produce. Moving west to Destin, Hogtown Bayou has been hit or miss. Lots of small fish can be taken on small Johnson Gold Spoons but the larger redfish can be difficult. The north banks of Choctawhatchee Bay have turned on and the larger redfish can be sightfished on the sand and grass flats. Santa Rosa Sound will be winding down soon as the temperatures drop. Redfish can still be found around Tiger Point and the Narrows east of Navarre. Don’t expect to find large concentrates of fish in the Sound, but there are a few decent groups around. East Bay and Blackwater continue to improve weekly. Lots of fish in few places, but this will change after this weekends cold front. The cooler weather makes these fish very aggressive and trips of 20-30 fish are not uncommon. Not a huge fan of Escambia Bay, but you’ll find a few fish over there as well. Mobile Bay is producing good number of fish on the southside. Grassy banks and banks with creeks have been pretty good. Spinnerbaits and popping corks from Marsh Works have taken large amounts of quality redfish. Dauphin Island also has some fish in the shallow water areas. Pascagoula River is always a hot spot in the fall. Large flats on the river banks will hold great groups of...
Read MoreRedfish (the easy way) with some mackeral and sharks-Sept. 30, 2009
Guided Mr. Keith Jones and Cullum Miller today. They wanted to learn about the redfish in our area. One day we would concentrate on the larger fish along the beach, and tomorrow we would target the shallow water fish up in the northern bays. Started the morning with a few Spanish mackeral, then went sightfishing for blacktips along the beaches. When the water rose to its highest point, we started sightfishing for larger redfish along the beach. Found plenty of fish in the 27-38″ range in shallow, clear water. Also found a few fish in the bay. Lots of fun but I told them, “Just wait until tomorrow!” All together, we stuck 30-35 upper slot and over-sized fish. Please click an image to...
Read MoreRedfish and Rain-September 16, 2009
Guided Mr. Jeff Mowery this morning. With all the recent rain, I decided to concentrate in Santa Rosa Sound towards Navarre Beach and the Opal Beach area. Lots and lots of mid-sized redfish with a few smaller and few larger. Concentrated on grassy ledges and sandy dropoffs. All fish caught on Gulp! Jerkshads in camo rigged with a jighead and drop-shot style. Photos to...
Read MoreLots of Slams and Tripletail! July 9, 2009
Guided Mr. Randy Hamilton this morning in Escambia and East Bay. Multiple Grand Slams of redfish, trout and flounder with some tripletail mixed in. We found the redfish a little difficult at first but figured it out and found some fish concentrated in 6-8 ft. of water. The new Hewes 21 Redfisher proved to be a fish catching machine like the last one as we boated a ridiculous amount of fish in a 3.5 hour period. The fishing is difficult in the upper bays but knowing where they are on the various tides is the key. Lots of fish in very few places. All fish caught on Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads in camo and Gulp 3″ Shrimp in lime tiger. No rattles were needed today as the water was pretty clear. Oh, saw one 15# tarpon which charged the boat and bounced off us in a hurry. We’ll get him next time. All fish released except 7 Flounder and 1 Tripletail. Don’t forget, September 1 marks the $250.00 shallow water redfish trips in East, Escambia and Blackwater Bays. Book now as I will be EXTREMELY busy. Please CLICK on an image to...
Read MoreEmerald Coast Saltwater Seminar Series-2/18/09
Hey Everybody, Sorry for the delay. This is a rough draft but they are my notes. There’s actually two pieces. Thanks for coming to the seminar and see you in March! Sightfishing for redfish seminar. Tonight’s topic is sightfishing for redfish. Looking forward to this seminar. Sightfishing is exactly what is says, Fishing from sight. Much more goes into this technique though besides seeing and casting. Sightfishing is performed in 1′ of water to about 3′ of water. Bay boats with drafts of less than 14″ or so are fine. Rods and reel Light to medium action rod able to make long, accurate casts. Spinning or baitcaster is fine. Generally, spinning tackle will allow better distance and accuracy. Reels with 8-12 pd test mono or 10-20 braid. 10-20 pound fluorocarbon leaders 30-40″ long. Try not to use a swivel. A line to leader knot will increase success. Bait Livebait is possible but difficult in sightfishing. Gold spoons, Gulp Shrimp, crabs and jerkbaits, spinnerbaits, crankbaits, suspending plugs. Topwater is not recommended but can be used while blindcasting. Also, anything that a bass will eat, a redfish will eat, including plastic worms. My favorite baits in this area(Pensacola): 1. 3 inch Gulp Shrimp or Crab on a flutterhook or Gamakatsu 1/16 oz lead. 2. 1/8 Johnson Gold spoons 3. Gulp 5″ Jerkbaits on flutterhook or 1/16 or 1/8 oz. Areas to sightfish for redfish in our area: Any shallow flats or bank will hold redfish. Areas that contain oyster bar or shells, sawgrass, black root systems on the bank, dark muddy bottoms, sand bottoms and grass bottom will all have redfish. All the above in one section is the best. North Escambia Bay, Garcon point, East Bay, Big Lagoon, North Santa Rosa Sound are great places to sightfish for redfish. Things to look for when sightfishing: Clear water- redfish love clear water. You can see the fish much easier and you can identify bottom conture and vegetation. Also bait will be easier to see. Water movement- incoming and outgoing flow is important. Redfish like a little water movement like most fish and they feed better. Look for bait (particularly mullet)- When...
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