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...

The last few days has been pretty slow with high pressure conditions and falling temperatures. The fish are in their normal Winter areas but it’s just a bit difficult to get them to put their mouth on the bait. Each day, Redfish University guided an angler that is very new to inshore angling although both were experienced offshore anglers. Many find the inshore techniques extremely interesting, specifically, the very light 6# Ultracast, 12-15 fluoro, light jigheads and small bait. Introduced the clients to both speckled trout and redfish areas, techniques and popular baits. The speckled trout were more difficult than the redfish and found some fish in the 1.5-3# range with most being legal. Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads in camo rigged both on jigheads and light drop-shot rigs produced the most trout. We also found some small packs of redfish in shallow water as well as around schools of large mullet. Again, a few double hookups when one angler threw at hooked fish. The redfish ranged from 23-27.5″. Since both anglers were interested in sight fishing as well, we spent a fair amount of time looking on shallow flats for resting, cruising and tailing redfish. Fortunately, both days we found all three and stuck a few. More importantly, the anglers were educated on exactly what to look for in the form of wakes, rings and shallow activity. Also, the difference between waking mullet and waking redfish was demonstrated many times over. Overall, a very instructive and educational two days of fishing although the fish didn’t cooperate as well as we would have liked. It can always be better!! Each day, anglers took some fish for cookouts and the rest were released unharmed. Trips everyday and will report soon. Thanks, E Holstman *Included the drop-shot rig as promised that I enjoy using.* Been using the technique for bass then inshore species for nearly 25 years and I’m very confident with it. It’s a great system over mud and very grassy bottom. The drop-shot rig is made with 4-5′ of 12# fluorocarbon. Using a Palomar knot, I attach a #1-2 Owner straight or bass hook leaving 6-18″ of tag for the drop-shot...

Guided a very talented angler and nice fella from over on the Pensacola Foolish Forum this morning. He just really needed some new areas to catch redfish and speckled trout. Started at first light and in the first few casts, quality speckled trout were flying in the boat. As always, we found the better trout inside groups of mullet in 3-5′ of water. Slowly bounced Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads continue to be the best choice of bait. Our trout ranged from 1.5-3.5#. Speckled trout accomplished! Next, we hit some areas where there has been plenty of redfish in the past few weeks. Hooked a few quality redfish that dropped the hook. We checked some deeper areas and then traveled way north to a bank famous for tailing redfish in the Winter. Slowly moved down the bank and found a handful of medium redfish. Some were tailing, most were sitting and with very low light and cloud cover, we found it extremely difficult to actually see the redfish. Looking for small “rings” and disturbances is the key to finding these very shallow, resting fish. I also introduced him to some other great locations that will be outstanding for sight fishing in a month’s time. With the water almost all the way out, I had the idea of hitting another shallow area with a warm water runoff that had some gradual drops. Pulled in and found exactly what we were looking for. Big groups of mullet were everywhere and so were the redfish. Launched baits into the mullet and double hookups!! Most fish in the 23-27″ range and even a few nice trout in the mix. We let it rest for a few moments and hit it again with very similar results. Finally count was 8 mid to upper slot redfish, who knows how many speckled trout and a flounder. Grand Slam for Alex! A few fish went home for dinner and all others released healthy. Back tomorrow for more! Thanks, E Holstman. Please click an image to...

Guided Mr. and Mrs. Sims this morning in search of redfish and speckled trout. The Sims are pretty experienced bass anglers from up north so their techniques and presentations were spot-on. Met with high winds, fast falling water and a little cloud cover. Naturally, the first few hours were going to be best so we moved fast. A few casts in, the anglers stuck some quality speckled trout and a 24″ redfish. Continued to find more of both down the bank but the fish were pretty tough already. Ended up switching to a light drop-shot rig which really increased the strikes. Found that most of the bigger trout and redfish were mixed in with mullet so we only fished areas with big numbers of mullet. No flounder today. The Sims graciously took home only what they could eat tonight and the rest was released. Definitely slower than yesterday. Not fishing tomorrow then 7 days straight and more reports to come. Happy fishing and Merry Christmas. E Holstman Please click an image to...