Guided Jay and Tommy White this morning in East Bay and Pensacola. The fellas are excellent bass fisherman from Memphis and wanted to catch some inshore saltwater species “bass-style.” We made a short run east and stopped in an area with mullet jumping everywhere. Handed the Whites some Penn Conquer 2000/Abu Garcia Verdict combos with small topwaters and they really put on a show. I think the first few big explosions really caught the anglers off guard. The classic bass fishing hook set was in full swing! I mean these guys have neck-breaking hookset techniques. After some laughing and ribbing, they got the steady pull back technique mastered and nearly every fish made a connection. It’s really almost better to work topwaters with your eyes closed and only side-set when you have tension. It’s a very good trick that will produce twice as many fish. Found the small fish outside the mullet and the large ones inside. We also got a few decent redfish as well. Travelled into Escambia Bay to find some big trout on some eastern mudflats. Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads in camo and suspending Sebiles made it easy. We also stuck some decent flounder but nothing huge. Finished up on the southside with some quality redfish, more nice trout and flounder on the same baits. Overall, a very good day with two very talented anglers. Lots of trout in the 3# range and redfish up to 26″. They had so much fun today they requested an encore tomorrow so we’ll hit it again for a short trip in the morning. Different scenery, same fish. All fish released. E Holstman Please click an image to...

Took a nice little break, passing on trips over the Memorial Day weekend and was met with some very warm conditions this morning. Guided Martin Peters and his children, Victor and Eva, for some hot action in East Bay. Martin is the Communications and Dealer Education Manager for Yamaha Marine Group in Kennesaw, GA. I always enjoy having the “big guys” at Yamaha, Pure Fishing, Maverick, etc. come down for some fishing here in Pensacola. Started early and ran to East Bay. Stopped at an area infested with speckled trout and the anglers immediately started yanking fish. Little Eva was pretty new to fishing so I was able to help her on the bow one-on-one with her casting and techniques. It wasn’t long before she was sailing her topwater baits, demonstrating a classic dog-walk and catching one nice speckled trout after another. I guide very few kids at Redfish University but after today and seeing her pure euthusiasm and excitement, it’s really something I would love to see more at Redfish U. in the future. Martin and Victor held their own, sticking several nice fish with some quality redfish in the mix. Found the fish on the banks, off the banks and, most importantly, around large schools of mullet.  Targeted a few schools of menhaden and surface minnows, but lately, we’ve only found lots of gafftops in those areas. In my experience, the speckled trout and redfish most definitely prefer milling inside the large schools of medium to large sized mullet. This means, in my opinion, that these fish want smaller, slower moving baits such as shrimp, small crabs and especially croakers which a big trout puked on my leg this morning. The redfish have also been stuffed with small crabs, minnows and croakers. We matched the bait with Gulp! Jerkshads, very small topwaters and Gulp! 3″ Shrimp. All fish released except for a few nice trout for dinner. Sorry for the crap photo quality. Using my Kodak PlaySport which is great for HDvid but only has a 5MP cam. New camera coming soon. E Holstman Please click an image to...

Guided Mike Coleman and his wife, Erin, this morning. The Coleman drove all the way from their vacation spot in Panama City to get some eats last night at Peg Legs and fish today with me. Mike is down from Bentonville, AR. and  handles the Pure Fishing(Berkley, Penn, Abu Garcia, All-Star, Fenwick, etc.) durables for all the Wal-Mart  fishing departments along the Gulf Coast. We met at several meetings at Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville in the past few years. Lots of the guys have come down to fish with me and have allowed me to assist and consult their reps while visiting Wal-Mart stores here in our area. Got a late start at 545am and ran east into East Bay where we had some stiff winds out the southwest. Approached our bank in choppy but managable conditions. We tossed a  few Sebile Bonga topwaters but the wave action really made it difficult for the fish to target and find the baits. Skipped the Stick Shadds and went directly to the Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads in camo and watermelon. Because the wind and chop had been hitting the banks pretty hard all night and morning, there was a distinct line of good water and bad water. We skirted this color change to produce some good quality trout but some predictably very small ones as well. Made a run for the southside and threw at schools of mullet to find more trout. Found a few decent ones but nothing to really cheer wildly about. I just wasn’t quite feeling it in the bay today and knew the southwest wind was making it difficult. Back to the ramp at 730am, and we trailered to Oriole Beach to fish Santa Rosa Sound. We made a pretty long run to the east to get away from everyone and found some very large schools of mullet on the north side and in between some docks. Tied on some 1/4oz. Johnson Gold Spoons with very long 15# Stren Tinted Fluoro leaders in Gunsmoke and made long casts to the mullet schools. It wasn’t long before some 6# redfish were hooked and heading to the boat. We felt like we made the right decision although the fishing was...

Guided Mr. Randy Hamilton, Director of Marketing, Advertising and Website operations at Redfish University, this morning for few hours(530am-730am) to get him on the water and to check some areas for speckled trout and redfish. We saw the same huge alligator today and got some more photos. Before we got started, we decided to have a friendly tournament this morning with the loser buying lunch and a few rounds of posh, dark pints. Randy is an excellent angler and nearly as insanely competitive as I am so I knew he would work hard and produce lots of fish. Started with identical topwater baits, rods, reels, line and leader. We immediately started pounding quality trout. Randy got the first and it went to 5-all in no time. Then I hit a slump as Randy quickly jumped to a 12-6 lead. Suddenly, I hear and feel quite a commotion from the back of the boat and some strange gibberish that I couldn’t make out. He was pointing to something in the water and talking in tongues when suddenly, he leaps into the waist deep water. Of course, Im trying to figure out what the hell is going on and if he was feeling ill, stung by hundreds of bees or if the little flies were just getting to him. He frantically pops out of the water with my Oakley Scalpel sunglasses in his hand that he apparently dropped in the water. I told him, good God man!, you could have just let them go, I have several more pairs just for that reason!! Anyway, ooohh how we laugh and carried on after that little episode. I’m really glad there wasn’t anyone around to see or hear that! What made it even more funny was the fact that Randy never caught another fish after jumping in the water. Bananas vs. jumping in the water, I wonder… Since he ruined the small area, we took off for the last spot and switched to Gulp! Jerkshads and Shrimp which was going to be absolute game-over for Senor Hamilton. Went on a 15-0 run of redfish and nice speckled trout while Randy stood dripping on the deck. I gotta get...