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 MoreRedfish University July 8, 2008-Redfish in Santa Rosa Sound, Pensacola, FL
Guided Mr. Bob Willice this morning in Santa Rosa Sound. Bob won a trip with me at the last HLS Seminar Series and it a very accomplished angler with experience all over the country. He was truly a pleasure to fish with. Found the mullet and found the redfish. Quality redfish were laying inside small groups of large mullet this morning. Also found some decent trout in the process including a chunky 3.5# fish. I even got in on the action with a long distance sightfished 6# redfish. Altogether, 5 redfish and 10-12 average trout.All fish taken on Berkley Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads in camo and all fish released.   ...
Read MoreRedfish University July 4, 2008-Hogtown Bayou Redfish and Trout
Redfish University traveled to Destin and I guided an old friend from high school, Eric Stevenson, in Hogtown Bayou on Friday morning. Original plan was to hit West Bay, which we’ll do next time, but I had some 4th of July plans and needed to cut the day short. Lots of mullet in shallow water. Picked up a few redfish and a handful of trout, and missed a few heavy bites. Little slow… all fish caught on 1/4 Johnson Gold Spoons in less than two feet of water. Covered alot of techniques and water! A beautiful morning at Redfish...
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...
Read MoreJune 12, 2008-Redfish Homework in Santa Rosa Sound, Pensacola,FL
Finally got a day off from my new guiding adventures and decided to fish by myself and go do a little homework. My goal was to find some good concentrations of redfish for some upcoming Redfish University students. It was a very difficult day. Not many fish and very spread out with the high water. The two fish that I did catch were sitting on shallow sandy areas between docks(right on the bank) and one on the south side of the sound. Both fish were sightfished which was nice. “Viewed” a handful of redfish on the grass in 1-2′ water between the docks, but they were not interested in anything I threw. That’s frustrating. Got 2 fish, 6# and 7#. Caught on 5″ Gulp Jerkshads in camo. Fished...
Read MoreInshore Expedition-June 10, 2008 Speckled Trout Day!!
Fished with HLS Seminar Series raffle winners, Barbara and her nephew Trevor, this morning in search of the elusive speckled trout. They have a family gathering at the beach in a few weeks and wanted to find some areas with lots of trout that they could fish with their family. Both Barbara and Trevor, even with his broken wrist(in a cast), were very impressive anglers and have obviously fished for a long time. The pressure was on. Found tons of small, medium and large trout on the flats in 4 feet of water. The Gulp! 3″ Shrimp under a Cajun Thunder was the technique of choice. I actually sightfished a big trout off a huge stingray on a very shallow flat as well. Trevor also pulled the hook on a nice redfish at the end of the day. We’ll get him next time!! All fish were released except 3 for...
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