On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Berkley/Penn Tour visited Destin, FL. and Panama City, FL. Pure Fishing representatives, Scott Dubiel and Kevin Benton, as well as Berkley Pros Bryan and Greg Watts, myself and Penn Pro George Mitchell were all in attendence. We were able to introduce tackle store employees and customers to Pure Fishing/Berkley/Penn new products for 2o1o. Lots of new Berkley Gulp! baits, Penn reels, Powerbaits, Superlines and rods are sure to take the fishing industry by storm. Pure Fishing has recently taken over Penn Reels, AllStar rods, Shakespeare, X-Tools and well as other companies in the industry. Keep an eye out for all the awesome new products in 2010!! Please click on a photo to...
Read MoreWindy and dirty but success at Redfish U.-October 22, 2009
Guided Mr. and Mrs. Barry James this morning and we were met with EXTREMELY windy and dirty water conditions. Rattle inserts and boat positioning were the name of the game in these very difficult, but not impossible, conditions. Started out with some nice legal trout(12-15) on some dropoffs and then targeted some redfish on some shallow water flats. Since we were fishing in whitecap conditions, the Power-Pole really came in handy as we methodically covered water that is known to hold redfish in any situation. Ended up sticking 10-12 small fish and kept one nice fish for the grill. All fish caught on Gulp! Jerkshads in camo with rattle inserts rigged with 1/4oz. Marsh Works Bull Red jigheads. 10# Ultracast InvisiBraid performs incredibly, especially in these conditions. Sensitivity and zero wind-knots!! Please click on photos to...
Read MorePrefishing for lots of trips at Redfish U.!!-October, 18, 2009
Got out this morning in the cold and wind to do some prefishing for some upcoming trips. Make a quick milk-run, fished for exactly 2 hours with Randy Hamilton and found lots of fish in lots of places. 25-3omph winds and very low water conditions made it easy! Caught a handful of decent redfish, some very nice trout and a big flounder. Slow retrieve was key. See everyone...
Read MoreIt’s Time at Redfish University-October 17, 2009
Redfish University welcomes the first significant cold-front of the Fall. Redfish U. has been waiting for a week like next week all year. As the water temperature drops and the water levels fall to extremes, the redfishing will become more predictable and 15-25 redfish days will be very common. Less water means less places to hide and the redfish will begin to concentrate in groups in shallow and relatively warmer water. Water clarity is also a huge plus this time of year as the rainy days become less numerous as the cooler temperatures arrive. Looking forward to showing all my clients some very aggressive redfish in the coming months!! See ya soon, Eric Holstman Click on this photo of a quality redfish on warm mud taken by Pete...
Read MoreGulf Coast report from Redfish University-Oct. 13, 2009
Hello all! Full bookings for next week! For the anglers who are scheduled to fish with me after this cold front passes, get ready for hot and heavy shallow water action!! It’s going to be outstanding!! With a little break in my busy guiding schedule, I thought I’d post a redfish report from Panama City to Hopedale, LA. Let’s begin to the east with Panama City, shall we? In the West Bay area, the redfishing has been superb. My favorite time to target these fish is about 2-3 hours before the low tide. The fish will exit the grassy banks and are much easier to catch. Long casts with Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads in camo is the tickets. Areas such as North Bay, Breakfast Point and Botheration Bayou have been very consistent and 15-20 fish mornings are pretty easy to produce. Moving west to Destin, Hogtown Bayou has been hit or miss. Lots of small fish can be taken on small Johnson Gold Spoons but the larger redfish can be difficult. The north banks of Choctawhatchee Bay have turned on and the larger redfish can be sightfished on the sand and grass flats. Santa Rosa Sound will be winding down soon as the temperatures drop. Redfish can still be found around Tiger Point and the Narrows east of Navarre. Don’t expect to find large concentrates of fish in the Sound, but there are a few decent groups around. East Bay and Blackwater continue to improve weekly. Lots of fish in few places, but this will change after this weekends cold front. The cooler weather makes these fish very aggressive and trips of 20-30 fish are not uncommon. Not a huge fan of Escambia Bay, but you’ll find a few fish over there as well. Mobile Bay is producing good number of fish on the southside. Grassy banks and banks with creeks have been pretty good. Spinnerbaits and popping corks from Marsh Works have taken large amounts of quality redfish. Dauphin Island also has some fish in the shallow water areas. Pascagoula River is always a hot spot in the fall. Large flats on the river banks will hold great groups of...
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