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.
Jun23
Had some trips last week, took a little trip to South Beach, then started at it again this week. We’ve been concentrating mostly in East Bay and Escambia Bay and have had very good results. Topwater action along Scenic Hwy has been great with both redfish and large trout. The east side of Escambia has been good as well with more trout than redfish. Finding some legal and oversized redfish now over in East Bay on sand flats and around shallow sandy docks. Gulp! Jerkshads are all you need and the fish are very easy to see. We are also finding some very large trout on the sand as well although they can be tricky to catch. It can be done! Lots of groups and fish inside schools of large mullet. Many anglers are keeping a few redfish and trout for dinner. Working with Senior District Pure Fishing Rep. Kevin Benton tomorrow night at the Penn Reels tent at the Bud Light Tournament at Flounders. Stop by and say hello. Please click an image to...
Jun14
Redfish University has become Speckled Trout University for the last few weeks. Guided Bob and Lauren Taylor this morning for some big speckled trout. For speckled trout, I’ve always preferred the bays not the Sound. In my opinion, the presence of large croakers, pinfish, small mullet and even spots, draw larger speckled trout and redfish to our bay system’s sand and mud flats. Started at first light and ran to a great topwater flat in East Bay. Found very dirty water from bank erosion and yesterday’s rains. Caught a few nice trout in the 2-3# range with Bongos, Stack Shadds, Gulp! Jerkshads and popping corks. The corks really work great in the dirty, turbulent water. Again, around the large schools of mullet is always best. Took the crew to some deeper oyster structure and really found some nice trout. Berkley Gulp! Jerkshads in camo with a 1/4oz. Marsh Works jighead works awesome. Very slowly on the bottom is the key. Many smaller speckled and white trout were being inhaled by huge trout at the boat. One was a 28.5″...
Jun13
Got a little backed up on reports so I’ll jam the last three trips together. All trips were performed in various area around Pensacola, East and Escambia Bays. Early morning topwater action has been epic with solid trout and some decent redfish. Sub-surface baits like Sebile Stick Shadds are great once the sun gets up and the trusty Gulp! Jerkshads in camo are always productive. You just have to find some larger mullet and small minnow baits and the fish are definitely there. Finding some 3-5# trout on deeper(8-15″) structure with slow Gulp! Jerkshads making them bite. Its so important to get out early especially in the last few days where the water has really slowed down at mid-morning. Lots of fish in the cooler and most released. More detailed reports on Tuesday and Wednesday. E Holstman Please click an image to...
Jun08
Guided Chris Ferstl and his friend Brett this morning in the Pensacola Bay system. The fellas are from Houston and fish Trinity Bay(one of my favorites) for huge trout and redfish so I wanted to get them around those big 3-5# trout and redfish we’ve been finding. Found the wind to be coming from exactly the wrong direction today which really fouled up our early morning topwater action. Started at 500am running the nose of the Hewes 21 Redfish tabs down into a wind/tide stacked chop. Arrived to find some nice rollers pounding the banks but found a few confused speckled trout to suck some topwater Sebiles. We quickly switched to Gulp! Jerkshads with 1/4oz. jighead(in windy conditions) and found many more quality takers. Ran to the south side of East Bay for some protection and found more speckled trout in deeper holes around the docks. No redfish or flounder yet. Made our way into Escambia Bay only to find many more trout. Clear water lines with lots of mullet was the key to catching fish today. We probably hit...
Jun07
Guided Kal Jansen this morning on his 22 Pathfinder to introduce him to some very productive areas for redfish, trout and flounder in Pensacola, Escambia and East Bays. Got on the water at 515am and started throwing topwaters for redfish and trout. There’s no doubt Kal has a lifetime of experience in bass fishing but just needed some ideas on locations, bait choices and techniques. After boating plenty of each species at our first stop, we proceeded to cover several areas in East Bay and Escambia Bay and tested each area for numbers. All areas had one thing is common and that was huge amounts of mullet and croakers. We even went up into Blackwater Bay where I showed him the golden spots in the late Fall and Winter. More trout than redfish with a few small flounder around as well. Kal’s set! All fish...
Jun07
Guided Jay and Tommy White again this morning down in Santa Rosa Sound. Picked the guys up at 500am at Portofino and made a short run east. As the morning progressed, many areas on the north side resembled a parking lot with boats absolutely everywhere. Another reason I rarely guide on the weekends, especially in Santa Rosa Sound. Fished the first area from dark to about 3o minutes of light and did very well. Threw topwater Sebiles for some quality speckled trout and a few decent redfish. We got quite a few big redfish strikes with some misses and a few unbuttons but that’s topwater fishing for redfish! Decided to take a long run to the east to find less pressured areas. There was plenty of mullet and bait and we found more nice trout and a few more redfish on Johnson 1/4oz. Gold Spoons. Finished the morning out on the south side around some grassy points and coves to grab a few more trout and drop a few redfish in between. We had great early morning action and...
