Busy with guide trips again and guided Nori and John this morning down in Destin. The duo wanted to learn some shallow water redfish techniques in their area. Full moon and dirty water made things difficult but we figured them out and caught 14 redfish of mixed size. Fished behind schools of large mullet with 1/4oz. Johnson Gold Spoons and Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads in camo. The fish were pretty aggressive very early coming off the full moon and then became tricky mid-morning. All-in-all a pretty decent day and hopefully much was learned in these difficult conditions. I encouraged the guys to return to the areas on any other moon and clear water conditions. Also saw a small pod of porpoise working on large schools of mullet and, most likely, redfish as well. A pretty cool sight. All fish...
Read More16 Grand Slams plus a Tripletail at Redfish U!!-May 16, 2009
Wow! 56 Fish today!! What a fantastic day at Redfish University. Guided Mr. Ron Harrell from Mobile this morning. Ron wanted to learn some advanced techniques for catching redfish, trout and flounder. My goal was to successfully demonstrate the proper techniques in some very productive areas so that he could easily replicate the same scenerios over in Mobile Bay. We dropped the HAMMER on all three species this morning , catching legal fish Grand Slams 16 times. To our surprise, Ron also picked off a 5# Tripletail on a Jerkbait that dropped the hook as I was preparing to land it. All fish were caught on Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads in camo with a small worm-rattle insert. Not too much sightfishing lately which results in by-catch(trout and flounder) but hopefully the water will clear soon. Total for the day: 17 nice Redfish, 22 Trout(2.4-4.5#),16 Flounder(including two 4.5#’s and one 5#), 1 Tripletail dropped at the boat. All fish released except 7 flounder for Ron and I to stuff. Back at it hard Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and...
Read MoreLots and lots of fish at Redfish University-May 15, 2009
Took a little time off and now I’m busier than ever with 5 trips scheduled in a row before I leave for The Cup in Kemah, TX. Guided Mr. Allen Beach this morning in East Bay and crushed the fish. Allen is a competitive bass angler who wanted to experience how hard redfish fight and we accomplished this many times over. The water was still a little dirty but nothing that we couldn’t handle. We covered some sand flats with 5″ Gulp! Jerkshads in camo but the secret to our success was the use of some small rattle inserts. This, I believe, allowed the redfish and trout to find the baits easier and attracted them from a distance much like a popping cork. Ended up with 18 Redfish in the 22-25.5″ range, 16 very nice trout and a nice flounder. All fish...
Read MoreRedfish Cup Punta Gorda-May 1-3, 2009
The first Redfish Cup event of 2009 took place in Punta Gorda, FL. on May 1-3. We were greeted with some difficult tides and conditions. We found the larger fish to be very uncooperative and set a goal of concentrating on more catchable redfish as this event would be the trickiest of the year. Each morning, we quickly secured two medium-sized fish in the well and then concentrated on a small group of redfish that were 26-30″ in hopes of grabbing a few quality tournament fish for upgrades. Ended up getting some over-slot fish and then going back to some other fish that would help us in the end. I found that the Berkley Gulp! 3″ Shrimp in camo were the ticket for both sightfishing and blindcasting holes along mangrove flats. All in all, a difficult event but we accomplished our goal and got 17.59# to secure 16th place and a nice check for $3500. Sometimes it’s best to play the tricky venues on the conservative side especially since the Redfish Cup Championship is right here in Pensacola, FL. in late September. Thank you very much for all the words of encouragement and best wishes, we represented Pensacola well and will continue to do so for the rest of the year. Photos to follow. Eric...
Read MoreSolid day at Redfish University! March 30, 2009
Guided Mr. R.J. McDermott today and found very clear water, decent amounts of bait and mullet but very difficult redfish. Some usually outstanding areas today were painfully unproductive. Found some solid consistency and replicated it over and over. Found quite a few redfish in the 20-30″ range along some sand/grass ledges. We saw some and blindcasted others. Pretty tough day but we popped 8-9 good redfish with a few more coming unbuttoned. Also some very nice trout and a good flounder were also in the mix. All fish caught on Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads in camo and all fish released. RJ got his personal best, a 36″ 14# redfish on artificial today and we also saw a naked person on the...
Read MoreThese are the incredible companies that have made me so successful in professional tournament fishing and provide my clients at Redfish University with the world's best and latest in saltwater fishing gear. Please visit Eric Holstman's Pro Staff pages on all sponsor websites.
To visit one of our sponsor's websites, just click on a logo below...
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |