Got out this afternoon with friend, Eric M, to do some prefishing for several upcoming Redfish University trips. Fished for a few hours and did very well with several nice redfish from 23-27″(one at 8#) and some very nice trout. All fish caught on Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads in camo and nuclear chicken. All fish...
Read MoreAnother great day at Redfish U.- 1/23/09
Guided Mr. Tom Crawford of Destin today in the Blackwater area. Found plenty of large trout first thing, then went to whack on the redfish as the water started moving. Found a group of nice redfish in two reliable areas. Quite a few fish around today but they were tough. All fish caught on Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads in camo. All fish...
Read MoreRedfish University!! A fine day. 1/22/09
Well, starting to get busy at Redfish U. again. Guided Tom (Flounderpounder) this morning in the Blackwater area. Met at 7am and carefully boarded the 21 Hewes Redfisher which was covered in a thin film of ice. There was also small icebergs in the canal from which we launched. It was cold!! Anyway, first spot, hammered fish. Redfish and trout. Went to some other productive areas and then came back to “A” once the water started moving again and continued to stick great fish. Ended up with 7 nice redfish and 12-15 very nice trout(1 4.5# trout and several 3#plus fish.) All fish caught on Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads in camo. All fish released, except 1 25″ Redfish and 2 medium...
Read MoreRedfish U. West Bay!!! 1/09/09
Since I was scheduled to perform a seminar for the Emerald Coast Redfish Club at The Lucky Snapper tonight(which was a fantastic event!), I decided to make a day of it and trailer the Hewes down to do some shallow water redfishing in some of my favorite West Bay spots. Picked up Peter Wright, Jr. and fellow Hewes owner, Mr. Tom Crawford, and arrived at the ramp at 830am. Although the weather conditions this morning were absolutely ideal for our purposes of sightfishing, we knew the extreme tide conditions and moon phase was going to be challenging. The water was very, very low and the fish were very, very shallow. To say we saw 200 redfish in a few hour period would be a conservative estimate and to say they were extremely uncooperative would be an unstatement. Cruising fish, sitting fish and even tailing fish were nearly impossible to entice. Finally started sticking them by spotting fish just inside the longest cast you could make and they had to be facing away from the boat. Seeing them early and a perfect, long cast was the key. Very difficult fish today!! Should be better next week. The fish ran at approxiately 90mph from all baits except the Gulp! 5″ Jerkshad in camo. Found some heavy 7-8# fish. All redfish released.  ...
Read MoreFlorida Sportsman Magazine with Redfish University- December 31, 2008
Florida Sportsman Magazine contacted me to highlight the shallow water redfish secrets of NW Florida. There’s no photos with this report, but will be soon available in FL. Sportsman in the coming months. After a few wind and rain delays, we finally got our opportunity to hit the water yesterday. Armed with trusty, redfish master Brant Peacher as my co-angler, we set out into Blackwater with less than ideal conditions, but as always, we figured it out and produced some quality redfish. After a carefully calculated milkrun dictated by tide and wind conditions, we found the redfish were going to be inconveniently difficult on this most important of outings. Cameras on a boat are sometimes a curse. A very recent, private and timely report from fellow PFF member and Redfish University graduate, Jeff Russell, clued me in on a classic shallow water flat near deeper water with large bottom lumps. This is a scenerio that held true in other areas as well. This was the ticket and thank you Jeff!! All redfish were caught on Berkley Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads in camo and 3″ Gulp! Shrimp in Lime Tiger rigged weedless. All redfish released. Anyway, I think this will be an excellent article and represent the sometimes forgotten Panhandle well. It will also show that redfish can be sightfished in NW Florida and that we have some fantastic areas to target them in very shallow water. *An interesting sidenote- After reviving and releasing one of the redfish, the fish swam about eight feet and stopped. Making sure that the redfish was okay, I flipped the same 3″ Gulp! Shrimp in front of him to urge him along and he inhaled it again. Not the first time that has happened, and I’m sure not the last. All the more reason to use Berkley Gulp! These fish are hungry if you can find...
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