Guided Mr. Bill Cleek and family today. Bill and the fam are regular Spring break visitors from Houston and wanted to use their beautiful 22 Pathfinder to get familiar with the Pensacola area fishing. Met the crew at Shoreline Park at 830am and ran east in search of some redfish and trout action. Found minimal redfish and a few trout but nothing spectacular so I showed them some very productive areas they may want to try later in the week. Took a cruise back to the west. Instead of chancing the big redfish in the surf that have been unusually uncooperative lately, I introduced the Cleeks to a solid mixture of very plentiful and extremely cooperative redfish in the 8-20# range on some 3-6′ deep clear flats. Pulled up, lower the trolling motor and absolutely smashed them! All fish were easily caught sight fishing and it was thrilling seeing the group have such fun. With the Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads in camo we took as many fish as we could humanly handle. Lots of trips coming up so book now to experience the wonder of Redfish University. Photos to...
Read MoreWindy, rainy and lots of fish at Redfish University-March 4-5, 2010
High winds nor rains can stop Redfish University anglers! Guided Lawrences again on Friday then Jeff and his son, Cody, and Saturday. Conditions weren’t exactly ideal with 30-35 mph winds and some rain but there’s nothing wrong with a little challenge. Both days were filled with lots of redfish and speckled trout including a nice 5.5 fat trout. Most of the redfish were in the 19-24″ range and were cooperating nicely before the front blew through. We switched to larger 1/4oz. Marsh Works jigheads because of the high winds but the Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads remained the bait of choice. Forgot the camera for Saturday so I’ll add more client photos later. Lots of trips coming up so hopely the fishing will continue to be outstanding at Redfish U. I think it will! E...
Read MorePlenty of redfish and trout at Redfish University-March 1 and 2, 2010
Guided Mr. Jim Lawrence and his son, Jamie, on Tuesday and guided Chris and Missy Simmons this morning. Jim and Jamie really stuck it to the redfish and trout, taking some great fish home for dinner in Destin. Today, Chris and Missy joined me for a very similar trip where both anglers got their share of quality redfish and trout. Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads in camo always do the trick and fish were found on both protective and wind-blown banks. With the water quickly rising, I find it most productive to skirt the banks very closely, casting outward to redfish approaching the grass and root-filled bottom. Blindcasting and sight fishing were both successful techniques. The couple took a few quality trout and some mid-sized redfish home for dinner. Lots of trips booked so plan accordingly anglers!! E...
Read MoreRedfish University at Bass Pro Shops in Destin, Feb. 24-25.
For the fifth year,Redfish University and Eric Holstman will be at the Spring Classic event Bass Pro Shops in Destin on February 25-26 from 10-3pm. As a Pure Fishing/Berkley Pro Staff ambassador, I will be assisting store employees and customers with our products including Berkley Gulp!, Berkley Powerbait, Penn Reels, Abu Garcia, All-Star Rods, Spiderwire, Stren, Trilene, Johnson and many more. Don’t forget about the “Reel Trade Ins” and all the great deals between Feb. 25-March 13. Redfish University will also perform redfish and speckled trout seminars during various periods of the day. For those in Mobile, Berkley Pro Staff ambassador, Bobby Abruscato, will be handling the Spanish Fort Bass Pro Shops event. Abruscato is the absolute best over in Mobile Bay. Thanks and I hope to see everyone at Bass Pro Shops. E...
Read MoreLots of trips at Redfish University-February 24, 2010
Hello all, Redfish University took a little break back in December but has performed many shallow water redfish and trout trips between the New Years and now. We’ve been concentrating in the upper bays where there are plenty fish as well as some trips down to West Bay for the shallow water tailing redfish. I wouldn’t say it’s been busy but 1-3 trips per week is fine with me. A point worth mentioning, with the early morning low tides for the last few months, the redfish and trout fishing has definitely been better in the afternoons as the water is rising. 3-4 hours before the high has proved to be most production. An average trip has consisted of 15-35 trout from 1-4# and 6-20 redfish in the 20-25″ range. Lots of trips in the books in March, April, May and beyond so I will do a much better job of posting reports in the coming weeks. Thanks for looking and see everyone soon. Eric...
Read MoreRedfish University in Belize for bonefish, permit, tarpon and snook with the genius of George Bradley!-November 19-29, 2010
Recently, we returned to one of our favorite destinations and my home away from home for the Thanksgiving break. Travelled to Belize with my wife, Tracy, and this time, we brought along our friends Scott and Susan George, and one of Tracy’s colleagues, Lea. With the exception of our arrival day, the weather cooperated beautifully. The twenty-five minute flight on the private plane from Belize City to the island was pretty eventfully in very stormy conditions and made the approach to the island’s very small and very narrow runway extremely tricky. Needless to say, a few One Barrels were polished off at the house. My friend Scott and I quickly unpacked our arsenal of rods, reels and tackle already waiting for us and we were off in search of bonefish, permit, tarpon and snook on the shallow Belizean flats of Chetumal and Savannah as well as the surrounding lagoons containing cenotes. Scott is an experienced bass angler and was really looking forward to the fantastic shallow water angling in Central America. When we’re in Belize and being flats boatless at the moment down there, we fish with the best of the best, George Bradley. During our stay, George guided us to countless bonefish, permit, tarpon and a few snook and did so in ways that were extremely challenging and in some ways that were much less challenging. All fish were taken on artificial baits including small tan/brown bucktails and Gulp! 5” Jerkshads. We used Penn Conquers in 2000 and 4000 Series with All-Star ASR Redfish 7’ rods with 4-6# Spiderwire Ultracast InvisiBraid for the bonefish and permit, and 15# InvisiBraid for the tarpon. All leader material was 10-12# Stren Tinted in Coral Mist for the bones/permit and 30-50# Stren Tinted in Tannic for the tarpon/snook. We even encouraged George to hit some difficult bones and permits with the fly rod and we really got to experience a master at work. It was a great several days of fishing with daily numbers of 15-25 bonefish in the 2.5-4# range, 6-12 permit in the 3-8# range, some great 20-50# tarpon with lots of jumped off fish and some snook. During the...
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