Sunday’s instructional/catching trip at Redfish University was a real drag. Met with extremely foggy conditions, calm winds and slow water. Instruction, techniques and areas is simple but we like to see some solid results and instill a high level of confidence in our valued clients. Started fishing at first light and found it shocking not to catch a fish in the first five casts. I let that go on for about 15 minutes before I opened the rodlockers and put a few sticks in my hands. Cast, cast, cast, cast, cast…. nothing. Switched areas and same result. Wow. Went to an area littered with redfish and found a few that seemed annoyed by our topwaters and got a couple nose-pushes from some sizable redfish. Hit a deep water area and no bites. How can I expect clients to catch a fish when I can’t? Not even the drop-shot rig worked! Instead of struggling all morning, Matt was gracious enough to reschedule and wouldn’t have been charged either way. It seemed impossible to us both especially with the huge numbers we’ve seen in the past weeks and months. Back to the ramp at 800am we went. Ran into a friend, a great angler and past client at the ramp who reported exactly to same frustrations so I didn’t feel so idiotic. Hit the normal Pensacola Beach Hilton Sunday brunch and even booked a string of trips with some anglers that apparently were very entertained by the “Sponge Bob” episode of “Sportsman’s Challenge.” The day wasn’t a complete loss.
Monday and Wednesday were much more smooth. Better water and some much needed wind. The same areas produced decent catches of speckled trout and redfish but no flounder this week. Got down to business and hit them with smaller Gulp! baits on a drop-shot rig. Found the fish to be very lazy and uncooperative really but all clients gained the normal great information, techniques and productive areas and caught plenty of fish. We also took some redfish and speckled trout on Johnson 1/8 and 1/4oz Gold Spoons over broken bottom. I know these spoons are very small but that’s exactly what they want, small and easy. Slow-rolled spoons are a great choice. Anyway, not super hot Redfish University trips but I’m convinced we caught as many as humanly possible. No camera, no photos but the redfish and speckled trout looked exactly like the other several hundred previous reports. Photos of each can also be Googled.:)
Nothing planned for the next three days with sponsorship commitments scheduled. Back Sunday with a string of six/seven Redfish U. trips for next week. I know the fishing will pick up after this front and with faster water. Thanks for looking, E Holstman
