Navigation Menu

Gulf Coast report from Redfish University-Oct. 13, 2009

Hello all! Full bookings for next week! For the anglers who are scheduled to fish with me after this cold front passes, get ready for hot and heavy shallow water action!! It’s going to be outstanding!!  With a little break in my busy guiding schedule, I thought I’d post a redfish report from Panama City to Hopedale, LA. Let’s begin to the east with Panama City, shall we? In the West Bay area, the redfishing has been superb. My favorite time to target these fish is about 2-3 hours before the low tide. The fish will exit the grassy banks and are much easier to catch. Long casts with Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads in camo is the tickets. Areas such as North Bay, Breakfast Point and Botheration Bayou have been very consistent and 15-20 fish mornings are pretty easy to produce. Moving west to Destin, Hogtown Bayou has been hit or miss. Lots of small fish can be taken on small Johnson Gold Spoons but the larger redfish can be difficult. The north banks of Choctawhatchee Bay have turned on and the larger redfish can be sightfished on the sand and grass flats. Santa Rosa Sound will be winding down soon as the temperatures drop. Redfish can still be found around Tiger Point and the Narrows east of Navarre. Don’t expect to find large concentrates of fish in the Sound, but there are a few decent groups around. East Bay and Blackwater continue to improve weekly. Lots of fish in few places, but this will change after this weekends cold front. The cooler weather makes these fish very aggressive and trips of 20-30 fish are not uncommon. Not a huge fan of Escambia Bay, but you’ll find a few fish over there as well. Mobile Bay is producing good number of fish on the southside. Grassy banks and banks with creeks have been pretty good. Spinnerbaits and popping corks from Marsh Works have taken large amounts of quality redfish. Dauphin Island also has some fish in the shallow water areas. Pascagoula River is always a hot spot in the fall. Large flats on the river banks will hold great groups of...

Read More

Redfishing heating up-Sept. 7, 2009

Guided a great client from Atlanta this morning in East Bay and south Escambia Bay. Hit some very nice trout early and then blasted off to get some redfish in the shallows. Again, poling and elevation allowed us to have many more quality opportunities at sitting, tailing and cruising fish. Ended up with 8 fish between 25-29″ and quite a few under 22″. Lots of fish, lots of action and hopefully, lots of knowledge gained. See ya soon, E...

Read More

Shallow water at its best at Redfish University-Oct. 5, 2009

Guided Doug Dragen this afternoon in Blackwater and East Bay. Found plenty of redfish tailing in shallow water.  Sightfished with Gulp! 3″ Shrimp and Powerbait Chigger Craws rigged weedless on a #3 Owner 1/8oz. hook. Stayed on the pole most the afternoon as the trolly made things difficult. All together we stuck 13 redfish in the 23-28″ range. All fish released. Photos to...

Read More

High water, rain and redfish(and a surprise)-September 17, 2009

Guided Mr. Jim Lawrence and his four sons this morning in Destin. Jim is one of my favorite clients and it was our goal to top our 30-35 redfish massacre back in March. With five anglers and me, we split up with two on my boat and two on Jim’s boat. Well, we were predictably greeting with high and very muddy water in Hogtown. Lots of mullet and menhaden on the banks but very little redfish. We managed to stick a handful and dropped another few before we changed locations drastically. Headed back towards Destin and fished a couple flats where we picked up a few more fish. Ended at Crab Island where we stuck a 29″ cobia on light tackle. A nice surprise. All-in-all, the fishing was pretty slow but we covered lots of water and a few different techniques that should produce for the Lawrence Family in the...

Read More

Panama City pounding at Redfish University-Sept. 8, 2009

Guided Mr. Sean Williamson in Panama City’s West Bay this morning. Hit the water at 600am and rushed to the first productive area. The end of the falling tide is the ideal time to target shallow redfish in West Bay and my goodness, we hit it perfectly. Started at Botheration Bay and Breakfast Point on the tide fall. Found large numbers of 25-28″ redfish in singles, doubles and groups up to 20-30 fish. Had great success on weedless Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads in camo. Light line, long casts and silence were the key. Headed to North Bay next and concentrated on the westside between the powerlines an Muddy Bayou. The fish were staged outside the grass and very cooperate. Ended with 16 sightfished redfish in the 25-29″ range. My camera coded when trying to snap a few shots but waiting for client...

Read More

    These are the incredible companies that have made me so successful in professional tournament fishing and provide my clients at Redfish University with the world's best and latest in saltwater fishing gear. Please visit Eric Holstman's Pro Staff pages on all sponsor websites.

    To visit one of our sponsor's websites, just click on a logo below...

    skeeter-logo legendary-marine
    ABU GARCIA_BLACK_RED_LOGO_png-150x150 berkley-logo   patagonia-logo