Florida Sportsman Magazine contacted me to highlight the shallow water redfish secrets of NW Florida. There’s no photos with this report, but will be soon available in FL. Sportsman in the coming months. After a few wind and rain delays, we finally got our opportunity to hit the water yesterday. Armed with trusty, redfish master Brant Peacher as my co-angler, we set out into Blackwater with less than ideal conditions, but as always, we figured it out and produced some quality redfish. After a carefully calculated milkrun dictated by tide and wind conditions, we found the redfish were going to be inconveniently difficult on this most important of outings. Cameras on a boat are sometimes a curse. A very recent, private and timely report from fellow PFF member and Redfish University graduate, Jeff Russell, clued me in on a classic shallow water flat near deeper water with large bottom lumps. This is a scenerio that held true in other areas as well. This was the ticket and thank you Jeff!! All redfish were caught on Berkley Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads in camo and 3″ Gulp! Shrimp in Lime Tiger rigged weedless. All redfish released. Anyway, I think this will be an excellent article and represent the sometimes forgotten Panhandle well. It will also show that redfish can be sightfished in NW Florida and that we have some fantastic areas to target them in very shallow water. *An interesting sidenote- After reviving and releasing one of the redfish, the fish swam about eight feet and stopped. Making sure that the redfish was okay, I flipped the same 3″ Gulp! Shrimp in front of him to urge him along and he inhaled it again. Not the first time that has happened, and I’m sure not the last. All the more reason to use Berkley Gulp! These fish are hungry if you can find...
Read MoreMuch learned, less caught at Redfish University-December 7, 2008
Fished with Coast Guard member PJ today. PJ wanted to learn some different techniques and areas to produce more redfish in the Pensacola area. Today was a difficult day for catching at Redfish University. Plenty of fish in a few areas and very few in others. Sightfished many small schools of redfish as well as singles. End up up catching one decent redfish and pulled the hook on a few more. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful day to be fishing and I was able to cover tons of material and instruction as the fish weren’t exactly cooperating. I scheduled a makeup trip with PJ at no charge in hopes we will catch more fish. We will hammer then next...
Read MoreThanksgiving Day Tailing Redfish!! November 27, 2008
Had so much fun throwing at tails yesterday, I grabbed my brother and set out to sightfish the redfish in the upper bays this morning. Fished very shallow grass and found many, many tailing redfish. Gulp! Jerkshads in camo and Johnson Gold Spoons produced the strikes. All fish released. ...
Read MoreTails in the Mist-November, 26, 2008
Got out very early this morning with my friend Jeff. Wanted to do some scouting for a bunch of Redfish University trips next week. Very cold and very foggy in East Bay this morning. Found redfish tailing in super shallow water with grass bottom. It was an unbelievable sight. Must have seen 40-50 single tails and backs on a 300 yd. bank. Fun, fun, fun!! All fish caught on Johnson 1/8oz. Gold Spoons and released. Happy...
Read MoreRedfish University Santa Rosa Sound-November 20, 2008
Fished this morning with Ron Fairbanks on his Ranger bass boat. It skips along at 75mph so we got to the areas very, very, very quickly. With some warmer weather upon us, we concentrated on the very shallow flats near Soundside. Lots of mullet and saw an average amount of redfish. Got some nice fish on Gulp! Jerkshads in camo and 1/4oz Johnson Gold Spoons. Long distance spotting and long distance casts are the key. Those fish in there are a wreck and very uncooperative. All fish...
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...