Long-time Redfish University clients, Jeff and John Shiver, flew into Pensacola International Airport late last night to go do some catching at Redfish U. The fellas wanted to target some speckled trout for dinner and then catch some big fish for a little variety on light tackle. A little pressure, especially considering their extensive travel, but I put together the best plan for their requests. Started at first-light with 1-3.5# speckled trout on nearly every cast. Again, Berkley Gulp! Jerkshads rigged with jigheads and drop-shot style are absolutely the most productive baits and techniques. Fished in the fog for trout until 8am and then ran very slowly into the bay and a very thick fog. The Yamaha SHO doesn’t like to crawl at 19-20mph! Arrived on some shallow flats and immediately found what we were looking for. Huge redfish!! We don’t target diving birds or huge schools of redfish unless absolutely necessary. Used Berkley Gulp! 4″ Shrimp to sight fish some massive redfish. Admittedly, some of the redfish were very difficult this morning but seeing them from a long distance was very helpful and that’s where I was able to help the Shivers with direction and placement. A new record was broken this morning by Jeff Shiver. The old record 31 pound redfish was shattered by one of Jeff’s gigantic redfish which tipped the scales at exactly 35 pounds! I’ve only personally seen one fish bigger and that was in Venice, LA. Redfish Cup prefishing when my partner stuck a 41# redfish just to weigh the beast. Congrats Jeff! Anyway, wore the guys out with big redfish and headed back. Endless trips in the future so back soon. Thanks, E Holstman Please click an image to...

Happy New Year! The 2012 Redfish University season has begun with some outstanding fishing, lots of instructional trips, a “slammed” Winter season and some very exciting expansion and developments at Redfish University this year. Not to mention, Redfish University will throw the new 2012 Pathfinder 23 HPS/2012 Yamaha SHO 250HP into its arsenal soon and will offer some thrilling new services for the 2012 fishing season. Stay tuned! With the dismal trip last Saturday hanging over us, this week’s trips thus far have been much, much better. Guided some Pensacola Foolish Forum members on Tuesday, a really nice fellow from the GCFC on Wednesday and a few anglers from North Carolina this morning. Each Redfish U trip took place in completely different areas but all had one thing in common. Lots of fish! There are lots of fish in very few areas. Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads rigged with jigheads and drop-shot style were the most productive baits. Found quality redfish, speckled trout, flounder, stripers and even a bald eagle for some nice variety. Trips straight through to Monday so many more recents reports to come. Thanks, Eric Holstman Please click an image to...

We don’t make excuses and I was fishing as well. Admittedly, the title is a little dramatic but let’s just say an epic and extremely successful 2011 Redfish University season didn’t end with a bang this morning. We returned safely from a dense fog to terra firma, no one fell off the boat and I remained calm although painfully perplexed so all is well. One or two trips out of a couple hundred is okay but disappointing nonetheless with certainly much more being expected from us. Obviously and understood by RU anglers, the strict use of artificial baits at Redfish University adds increased pressure to produce strong numbers but then again, my clients care nothing about livebait/natural bait for any species of fish. With conditions very similar to yesterday’s tide, wind and movement, I guided a couple new saltwater anglers, Devon and Sara. Both wanted to get some in depth instruction for inshore angling in the Pensacola area and catch some fish for dinner tonight. Superior instruction is easy enough but it’s so much more fun to view the results in the form of a livewell full of redfish, speckled trout and flounder. In the very thick fog, I cruised along at 8mph and kept a sharp eye on my Garmin GPS. It’s not my boating skills that I’m concerned with but the yahoos in the jonboats cruising the bay at first-light in tremendous fog. Arrived safely and began our morning. Found it a bit odd that the duo didn’t stick some quality fish in the first 5 casts so we moved a hundred yards down the bank. Both were good anglers and were making long, accurate casts. Fifteen minutes go by and still no bites so I pick up a rod and hit it. There’s a reason I hit this area and that reason is, there are tons of speckled trout and redfish in the area. Picked up and cruised slowly to another normally productive flat with a few mullet. Ten casts in and still nothing so I’m a little concerned. In a panic, I begin to fish again to just cover the area and find some fish....

Performed an enjoyable instructional Redfish University trip this morning with the Johnson duo from Navarre, FL. My favorite aspect of Redfish University in teaching kids all I know about fishing. One on one attention. Our focus was to introduce young Caleb to inshore saltwater fishing for redfish, speckled trout and flounder. Our young angler was extremely enthusiastic, very attentive, polite and kept calling me “sir”. Very polite of him but I said, “It’s Eric”, about ten times. Haha! Not used to that, I’m young! Great kid and his parents should be very proud. While my instructional trips are flooded with detailed techniques, presentations, bait choices, areas, etc., it is also important to produce great numbers of fish so that the client can truely see that this great instruction, indeed, does work. May as well catch lots of fish while learning! Fog, slick conditions and slow water meant the bite was going to be tough. Standing on the bow side-by-side, I started Caleb out with some speckled trout. The guys found the light 6-8# Ultracast InvisiBraid fascinating and couldn’t believe the distance they were getting on their casts. One of the many lessons, long casts catch more fish! Later, we found a few redfish for Caleb and I know he enjoyed the more spirited fight from these shallow water redfish. Next was flounder and a Grand Slam for the man! Caleb’s first redfish, speckled trout and flounder. Mission accomplish and most importantly, he knows where, how and why he caught so many fish today. Oh, then he caught a pelican. We were also able to get Caleb very comfortable with topwater baits for when the Spring and Summer comes around but didn’t draw any bites on the Bongos today. We also struck out on the big redfish at the end of the morning. Here one day, gone the next, I guess. Anyway, more information than can probably be remembered but that’s what lengthy emails in the form of maps, recipes, bait/line/leader/knot choices, detailed equipment reviews and further information for the Spring and Summer are for. The Johnsons left with an impressive assortment of fish for a fishfry tonight. And again...

Guided the Pluths this morning from Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. They departed Destin in a taxi at 500am and met me at the ramp in Pensacola. The Pluths are experienced bass anglers and have done some tarpon fishing in the Keys but have never caught speckled trout or redfish. I was hoping they came to the right place and the fishing was better than the last few days. Got on the water at first light and started with some good numbers of quality speckled trout in the 1.5-3.5# range and even got some on topwater Sebile Bongos. Great start already! Most were legal with a few in the 13-15″ range but only kept what they could eat in Destin this evening. Ran to a shallow flat with lots of mullet and took another quality trout on topwater but had a few legal redfish drop the hook. Solid bites and short runs but just dropped the hook. Cruised to an area where I’ve been seeing small schools of medium-sized redfish but just couldn’t draw a bite in there. With the three schools pretty blown out, I asked if they’d like to catch some over-sized redfish in shallow water in the 30-40″ range with the slight possibility of sticking a legal fish. Lots of smiles so we opened up the SHO and travelled seven miles south. Found large redfish to keep us busy for the last few hours and even I was surprised by some the massive redfish in the area. Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads were pounced on and festivities were on. Ended up with some great redfish in the 9-12# range and a beast for Mrs. Pluth at 21#. These redfish are shadowing small groups of menhaden and small mullet in 3-6′ of water. Quite an exciting way to be introduced to Florida shallow water red fishing. Since they were staying in Destin and they wanted to do some flyfishing for these big redfish, I hooked them up with a boat rental and a few areas in Destin where they could find similar redfish in shallow, clear water. I’m really looking to seeing their report. The Pluths left with...