Fished with Jeff Russell this morning in East Bay. Jeff’s girlfriend secretly booked a Redfish U. session for his birthday so I wanted to make his experience extra special with some shallow water sightfishing. Started out with a quick milkrun through East Bay on some shallow muddy bottoms and picked off several very nice fish. As the water dropped, we made our way to some very shallow grass areas where we found 25-30 tailing redfish along a 500 yd stretch of bank. As I quietly poled, orange tails were flopping everywhere and Jeff made some awesome presentations with weedless Gulp! Shrimp and Jerkshads which resulted in some classic hookups. I even got to back up Jeff a few times on the rare occasions that he didn’t stick a fish!! Ended up with about 25 quality fish which were all released...
Read MoreWest Bay shallow water redfish-October 29, 2008
Fished this morning with friend Mike Tindal. Fished the West Bay area in Panama City in search of some shallow water redfish action. Found plenty of cold and uncooperative fish in very shallow water. Long casts and excellent vision were the keys to success. Caught 23 fish between 5-7.5 pounds on Gulp 5″ Jerkshads in camo rigged with weedless Mission Fishin 5/0 Hitch Hooks. The redfish will cooperate better as it warms during the day with this cool...
Read MorePrefishing for Redfish U.- October 28, 2008
Prefished for some upcoming trips at Redfish University with my friend Jeff Russell this morning over in East Bay. Didn’t find good concentrations of mullet but did find something better, small shrimp and crabs. Found that the fish were very comfortable lying on the bottom. I know this because we made several fan-casts in a usually very productive area and the fish were there but not feeding. Moved up and found lots of blowouts and muds. Changed plans and started to sightfish. Sightfishing would insure that I could get a bait on their noses. Found fish tailing, waking and was delighted by some very clear water and some fantastic visuals on artificial bait eating redfish. The fish were difficult because of the low, clear and cold water, but the Gulp 3″ Shrimp and small gold spoons did the trick. Extremely accurate casts and silence were a must! Found fish all over the slot, but lots of smaller fish. All fish...
Read MoreRedfish Seminar Outline-July 14, 2008 Pensacola, FL
Redfish Seminar  Blindcasting  I leave no detail overlooked when blindcasting and sightfishing for redfish. Meticulous preparation and research. I believe this dramatically increases my odds at catching good numbers of redfish.  Areas:  –        Summer/early Fall- Santa Rosa Sound on the north side. Between broken down docks. High tide closer to the bank and on low tide off the bank from the middle to the end of the docks. –        Southside of sound near Opal Beach and grass flats in the surrounding areas. –        Big Lagoon- on the south around Redfish Pt. and behind Ft. McRae in the no-motor pond. –        Late fall/winter- Northern bay systems of Escambia, Blackwater and East. These are the best redfish habitats in our area. Great on low tides.  Look for large schools of larger mullet which disturb the bottom. Redfish will follow the mullet and look for shrimp and crabs kicked up by these mullet.  Average depths are between 1-3 feet of water.  Approach your area very quietly shutting off your large engine well ahead of your destination. No noise inside boat, turn off baitwell, bottomfinder and secure lose cans and everything that may hit the deck. Walk quietly and off the hatches. The noise is amplified 100x’s underwater and will alert fish within 500 yds of your presence.  Try to set up with the wind and sun. Less bow slap and better ability to see redfish and mullet. Casting with the wind will produce larger casts and, in turn, more redfish.  Top artificial baits including Gulp 5†Jerkshads, Gulp 3’ Shrimp in any color, Zoom 4†Baby Bass, slow rolled Johnson Gold Spoons in 1/8-1/4oz., Mirrodine 17-MR #18 and #21 with green and black backs, sometimes small inline spinnerbaits slowly rolled as well.  Not much action with topwater or hard subsurface plugs. If you do want to use topwater, small Skitterwalks are my choice. Work them slowly(slower than for trout.)  Long 10-20# fluorocarbon leaders connected directly to my mainline. I like leaders between 3-4.5 feet long. The farther away from the braid or mono the better. Often times the braid is actually...
Read MoreJune 17,2008-West Bay Redfish at Redfish University
Guided Mr. Patrick Small this morning in West Bay as a part of a three-part series to the east concentrating on redfish and tarpon. I hated seeing that full moon when I left Pensacola at 215am and knew we would have to stick our fish early and before they entered the grass. Popped one very nice fish immediately and missed a few follow-up opportunities. Plenty of fish but very, very uncooperative and hidden in the flooded grass. Actually had a sightfished redfish blow out a Gulp! Crab today which isn’t too surprising since it was probably jam packed full of real crabs from its overnight feast. Got a few fish and dropped a few more. Also landed a nice 4# speckled trout. We will return to West Bay next week for an opposite tide and then to St. Joe for some tarpon action afterwards. All fish caught on 1/4oz. Johnson Spoons and 5″ Gulp Jerkshads in camo. All fish released. *On a full moon, get to your fish early and use small baits for best...
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