Some really fantastic trips this week. The last few days I’ve been concentrating on the shallow water flats of Pensacola Bay and East Bay. Today’s overcast conditions gave us some incredible opportunities to throw topwater Bongos late into the morning. Although there was very little water movement, we found both legal and over-sized redfish in the 23-31″ range along shallow protected banks with lots of mullet and bait. We also picked up some great quality speckled trout as well. Lots and lots of speckled trout and we probably caught well over 50 fish today in the 14-23″ range. We alternated between the Bongos and Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads in camo and continued to hammer the redfish and trout all morning and even picked up a few flounder. Both groups graciously took only what they could eat in the next couple days and we released the rest to be caught at Redfish University in the future. A packed week of fishing next week for the Thanksgiving holidays so many more posts to come shortly. Thanks, E Holstman Please click an image to...

Tuesday morning I guided a couple that was interested in learning about the large redfish in Pensacola Bay, Pensacola Pass and along the beaches. Started around 630am and ran towards to the Pass. Found some groups of pelicans and seagulls diving and found a few redfish under them. Continued to the beach and didn’t see much happening although we did find a few in the surf and tempted them with 4″ Gulp! Shrimp. Ran back inside and concentrated on some usually very productive flats where I have been finding nice amounts of fish. Both Bongos and 4″ Gulp! Shrimp took plenty of redfish between 15-25 pounds. Fun morning of instruction and hot fishing. All fish released. Last night, I met a fella at Hopjacks traveling the US and fly fishing along the way. He had been fishing in California, Montana and some other area between here and there. Had a few beers and told him to checkout my website and he mentioned he’d never caught a redfish and would really like to catch one on a flyrod. As luck would have it, I know how to catch both legal and bull redfish pretty well!  He chose the bull redfish and we set a departure time for 830am this morning. Went directly to the area we did so well on Tuesday and immediately started seeing redfish. Large redfish were hooked on both fly rods and light tackle and he was thrilled they fought much harder than Montana’s rainbow trout. We found a huge black drum tailing on the flat and took him with a 4″ Gulp” Shrimp. This drum was the biggest I’ve ever seen anywhere and I would guess a 45# weight on him as he bottomed my 30# Boga. All fish released happy and healthy. Thanks, E Holstman Please click an image to...

Guided the Hamiltons this morning for an instructional and fish catching trip at Redfish University. The duo requested some areas where they can consistently find redfish, speckled trout and flounder to catch and eat. I knew just the place! Started a first light with Bongos over mixed bottom. Plenty of quality speckled trout and redfish. Perfect conditions allowed us to skirt groups of mullet and bait and hammer away at the redfish and trout. We found it difficult at first to produce some legal redfish as most were between 29-33″ but we were able to weed through the overs and then found some to sight fish on a shallow, protected bank. Started landing redfish in the 24-26.5″ range pretty regularly. We also found a few flounder on the banks. Not big ones but 13-15″ range. The Hamiltons graciously took only what they could eat and we released the rest to be caught later at Redfish University. Thanks, E Holstman Please click an image to...

Guided the Parkers from Gautier, MS. this morning. The anglers requested some topwater action for bull redfish. Found small groups of fish in various locations and had a great time watching 15-20# redfish pound topwater Bongos. We found some legal redfish mixed in as well but never got one although a few were at 28″. We also used Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads to sight fish a few redfish on a shallow, clear flat. Ended the morning with some fantastic speckled trout fishing at 1030am. Fun trip and a very easy morning of fishing. I followed that trip with a Redfish University appreciation trip with my Hilton Pensacola Beach connection. The Hilton treats me well and provides many clients for Redfish University! Thanks, E Holstman Please click an image to...

Quite a variety of species this week at Redfish University. Earlier in the week, we performed some instructional and fishing catching trips in the bay system. Finding lots of redfish and speckled trout in shallow water resulting in some excellent topwater and sight fishing opportunities for our new and local Redfish University clients. Relatively calm winds and ideal tide conditions have made finding tailing redfish quite easy in the early morning hours. Bongos, Gulp! Jerkshads and Johnson 1/4oz. Gold Spoons are all a great choice. The coming front will make things a little interesting in the coming days but with the amount of fish, we shouldn’t have a problem producing big numbers of both redfish and trout. This afternoon, we tried a little bay grouper fishing. With the front approaching, good tides and a better bite in the afternoon from the full moon, I thought we may be able find some hungry grouper. Large live pinfish and 20z. white bucktails tipped with bonita strips produced a few nice grouper between 25-27″. Not hot and heavy like it was the other day but not bad for a few hours of fishing. Many more trips to come and sorry for the shortage of photos. I will charge my camera. Thanks, E...