The Gulf Coast's Ultimate Angling Experience!
Best Rates on the Gulf Coast!! $600 (1-2 anglers) for 5 hours. $50 for each additional angler up to 4 total anglers. Includes Pensacola, Gulf Breeze, Navarre and Pensacola Beach. Call (850) 748-4368 or email ericholstman@hotmail.com. *(Adjusted for fuel prices on July 1, 2022)
Welcome to Redfish University in Pensacola, Florida
Redfish University is a unique opportunity for beginner, intermediate and advanced level anglers to improve their skills in the art of shallow water fishing for redfish, speckled trout, pompano and flounder. Redfish U. specializes in the challenging realm of sight fishing for redfish with the use of artificial baits. Redfish U. also targets speckled trout, flounder, pompano and bull redfish on traditional guided fishing trips. Our extraordinary curriculum insures that no detail is overlooked. From bait choices and line selection; to casting presentation and approaching your target, you will receive unsurpassed angling instruction. Challenge yourself, broaden your angling knowledge and invest in your fishing future at Redfish University.
Aug01
Spending a lot of time on the water lately with more guide trips than I can handle and lots of people wanting to go fishing. Santa Rosa Sound has been great in the early mornings for redfish and medium trout over the shallow grass but it really dies around 8am. Bongos and Stick Shadds are great choices right now. Around 8am, we’ve been running to some areas in Pensacola Bay where there are lots of sharks between 3-5′. Shark Week!! Plenty of blacktips that really put on a great show when hooked. Many anglers have requested shark fishing after the flats so that really makes the last few hours simple although it’s a little nerve-racking with so many unpredictable sharks coming to the boat. In the last few days, East Bay and Escambia Bay have really turned on with the rains ending and the water clearing. Early morning topwaters are producing huge amounts of quality speckled trout and a handful of nice redfish. A few mornings we must have gotten over 50 trout in the 14-23″ range on topwaters. The...
Jul26
Monday I guided Richard Woodall for some instructional redfishing over in Santa Rosa Sound. Met with excellent conditions except for all the seagrass on the surface which made topwater fishing nearly impossible. The few redfish we did catch must have landed right on their nose because they pounded the bite in the first two feet. Also found some decent speckled trout and a few more small redfish on Johnson 1/4oz Gold Spoons. At 800am, I decided to trailer the boat over to East Bay and give that a try. Dirty water everywhere but we managed a few better trout including a 4# fish. Gulp! Jerkshads in Camo with worm rattles did the trick. Also found lots of gafftop catfish which was lovely. A very slow day but I hope much was learned. Today, I guided Mrs. Bekki Studer and her son, Calam, for some more inshore fishing. Thankfully, Bekki mentioned that Calam would like to catch lots of fish and big fish. Since the redfish and trout have been crap recently, I was very happy to accommodate the duo...
Jul19
Sometimes it’s a little tricky to predict what our local redfish are going to do from day to day, but the redfish under the conditions we had the last few days were as predictable as it gets. Light to zero mph north winds, VERY slow incoming tide, high sun and hot water meant the redfish would be found in extremely shallow water. Both outings were very similar. Topwaters at first light produced some big strikes and a few redfish and trout. Slow moving water means inactive redfish and trout but they will bite, especially over sand bottom. Since we were in Santa Rosa Sound both days, most of the fishable sand bottom areas can be found on the south side and in a handful of fishable areas on the northside. Being in close proximity to deeper(3-6′) water is also very helpful and as always, huge amounts of mullet and flashing pinfish is an absolute must. Trolled the fellas down very shallow banks that had great shallow sand areas near the shore and found the redfish and big trout pretty cooperative. I viewed many fish...
Jul15
They got a little tricky on us the last few days but the beauty of artificial baits is you can cover lots of water. That was exactly what we did. Guided the head of the Yamaha Testing Facility up in Alabama, Keith Vince and his son this morning for some redfish action in Santa Rosa Sound. We really had to work for them today. The full moon, although it was covered most of the evening, really made things difficult with lots of big bites but very few sticks. Started with the Sebile Bongos and I encouraged the guys to really slow down the baits and use a pause. Stuck a few small redfish and then got a 24″ fish that finally grabbed the bait. Even the trout were off today. Frustrated with the first hour or so, I switched us over to the Johnson 1/4oz. Gold Spoons and went in search of large schools of mullet. Success!! We found some huge schools of mullet and slowly rolled the spoons through the mullet on the surface. Slow, slow, slow was the difference...
Jul13
Finding some excellent redfishing in the early morning hours at Redfish University. With the recent rains and dirty water in the bays, we’ve been concentrating in the far reaches of Santa Rosa Sound. The most productive hours are between 515am and 7am. Guided Robert Ruffino and Robert Jr. of Baton Rouge, LA. yesterday and my website designer, Randy Hamilton, and my dad for a short trip this morning. Started with Sebile Bongos over grass in 2-3ft of water and around small schools of mullet in mixed sizes. Robert Jr’s second cast was hammered by a 27.5″ 8# redfish that really worked him over. Further down, he stuck a -27″ redfish that weighed in at 7.25#. Had some quality trout coming to the boat as well. It wasn’t long been he did it again with a 26 7/8″ redfish at 7.25# again. Would have been a great tournament morning with +/-14.5#’s in 20 minutes. Maybe I’ll fish a little tournament here soon!! Anyway, sent the guys home with a few nice fish for fish tacos. This morning, my dad and,...
Jul07
Lots of morning inshore trips recently at Redfish University. A few weeks ago, I met a bunch of great folks from the GCFC while I was working with Penn Reels at the Bud Light King Tournament. I also fished a few hours in the Bud Light inshore event with my old Redfish Cup partner, Sonny Granger and our friend, Chad, from Shimano. Grabbed a 6+ lb redfish and some 3# trout but never got a big bite. Of course, I stuck with artificials but strangely, the guys didn’t get any bites on the live croakers, pinfish, etc. Maybe I have them trained on artificials!! Anyway, fished with them until 10am and attended a prior engagement. We’ve been concentrating mostly in Pensacola, Escambia and East Bays with some great early morning topwater action and then finding plenty of fish near structure in 6-15′ of water. It’s been so important to find large schools of mullet for the last few months. Both the redfish and trout have been hanging inside and outside these groups and will take topwaters early and then Gulp Jerkys and Johnson Spoons after about 730am. The Scenic Hwy flats...
