We’ve had some strong SE winds and some unfavorable tide movement but the fishing remains very productive at Redfish University. Guided some anglers on both mornings that just bought beach houses in the area and wanted to get familiar with Pensacola Bay and the surrounding areas. Started early for some legal redfish, speckled trout and some flounder. Had no problem finding a few of each on Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads. In fact, a few speckled trout were 22-23″. When the sun rose, we took off for some very clear, shallow flats in search of the bull redfish. We found plenty and had no problem getting them to attack Gulp! 4″ Shrimp in lime tiger and white. We found several huge groups of 20-30# redfish and pulled on them for a while. Next, we ran back west and found a huge amount of legal redfish on some shallow sand flats. Threw Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads as we sight fished redfish in the 24-28″ range. It was nice to see so many redfish and speckled trout in the shallows so early in the year. Both trips kept a few fish to take to Aegean Breeze, but most fish released. Taking a few days off and then everyday for the nearly three weeks. Thanks, E Holstman Please click an image to...

Guided a few Texas college students in search of redfish, speckled trout and flounder. They also wanted to take some fish to Aegean Breeze for dinner tomorrow night and I knew just the place their requests could be accomplished. Started with some great speckled trout along the edges and deeper flats. Lots of trout in the 14-15″ range this time but it wasn’t long before we found the bigger fish and a really nice 22″ trout inside a school of mullet. Took off to an area known for numbers of flounder but only found one nice flounder with another dropping the hook. Next, it was off to the redfish. Our lady angler stuck a great 25″ redfish immediately but we really struggled to get more bites on a few passes. Slow water movement could have been the culprit but with the wind blowing hard, it’s difficult to say. Headed north to find the huge schools of legal speckled trout in deeper water but they just didn’t show for us today. Weird… they’ve been a sure thing for last few weeks. We found a few more stray trout and called it an evening. Much learn, much caught and a fabulous dinner is in store for our Texas anglers. All fish caught on the Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads and 3″ Shrimp in New Penny. Thanks, E Holstman Please click an image to...

Guided some very good bass anglers from Arkansas this afternoon. In fact, one angler had never seen the saltwater and had never caught a saltwater fish. Fished the afternoon and immediately found some quality speckled trout and a few redfish. We really worked some areas slowly and methodically to produce our fish as they just didn’t want to commit to holding the bait. We did scale down our Gulp! to the 3″ Shrimp which helped a bit. Targeted some areas with hundreds of mullet but really didn’t hit the big numbers of redfish and speckled that we are accustom to. It was great to see our new saltwater angler picking off the speckled trout and even a nice redfish. These bass anglers are great at adjusting to the freshwater-like techniques here in Florida. I think switching to the InvisiBraid on my rods helped them recognize bite and make longer casts as they were using 10# fluoro on their own rods to start. Ended the afternoon by sticking some really nice speckled trout which were again schooling to the north. It really surprises me at the quality of some of these fish, some of which were in the 16-19″ range. We even nailed some on topwaters!! Today was a much needed catch-and-release trip. We’ve really been working the area over and taking a TON of speckled trout, redfish and flounder. Took it easy on them today. Thanks, E Holstman Please click an image to...

Performed a morning and an afternoon session today at Redfish University. Had some local anglers that wanted to get out and find some redfish and speckled trout. Both trips were a struggle and a bit slower than many recent trips but we eventually found what we were looking for. Fished deeper ledges to produce nice numbers of quality speckled trout and concentrated on shallow, mullet infested flats to find some redfish but the redfish really never came alive for us all day. The rising tide meant we’d find some big numbers of speckled trout to the north and they arrived like clock-work. Found some really large schools of speckled trout in the 14-18″ range and it was every cast. It was a really nice way to end a few average to below average trips. All fish caught on Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads and Gulp! 3″ Shrimp. A very, very slow presentation was a must. Some fish released, some went home for dinner. Thanks, E Holstman Please click an image to...

Guided some regular clients from Houston today in search of redfish, speckled trout and flounder. There were four anglers, so mom and dad were on the skiff and I had the college kids on my Pathfinder. These trips work out great with both boats fishing the same areas and making close-by drifts. These guys were fun to fish with and were great anglers. Lots of speckled trout to start and I limit came very quickly. Next we targeted redfish on shallow flats and hit our limit quickly. Rounded out the cooler with a nice flounder. Both boats produced great fish and much fun was had. Most fish released but many went home for dinner. Please click an image to...