With the passing of TD#5 this week, Redfish University has laid low and rescheduled several guide trips for the coming weeks. High winds, rain and dirty water has made fishing tough, especially in the upper bays and Sound. It was an excellent opportunity for Redfish University to deliver its 2010 Hewes 21 Redfisher to The Ships Chandler in Destin to have a 50 hour service performed on the new Yamaha 250 SHO. Oil changed, lower unit oil change, plugs, a full system check/boat check and we’re ready to go! I refuse to let anyone touch my boats except Mac, Pete Jr.and Peter Sr. down at The Ships Chandler in Destin. Those needing Yamaha service, boat service, mounting of accessories, a new Yamaha and a new/used Maverick, Hewes, Pathfinder or Contender, I would highly recommend The Ships Chandler. They do it right the first time, every time. Also, got a new lower housing for my Motorguide SW Digital at Bass Pro so we’re set. Redfish University has a full slate next week and the fishing will be excellent. Here’s a short fishing report from Redfish University. Early morning topwater for trout and redfish is excellent. We have been fishing sand bottom and mud bottom exclusively in the upper bays. From 515am-730am the optimal zone and I enjoy throwing the small Rapala Skitterwalks. Long casts on productive banks in Escambia, East and Blackwater Bays as well as Santa Rosa Sound. Make sure you are around large groups of mullets/small baits and you find plenty of redfish and trout. Once the sun gets up around 800am, I’ve been having great success with Berkley Gulp and Powerbait Jerkshads in camo or any natural color such as mullet, watermelon or rootbeer. Use these baits with a 1/8-1/4oz. Marsh Works jighead and you’re golden. Don’t forget your fluoro leader(2-3′) in 15 or 20#. Very simple fishing but extremely productive, especially if you’re around lots of fish. Those Mirrolure Mirrodines MR17 are also very productive once the sun has risen. The sightfishing for redfish in shallow water has been okay. The fish are cooperative but not very thick yet. Give it another few months. Deeper structure has also been a focus of Redfish University in...
Read MoreInstructional trip with plenty of fish at Redfish University-June 17, 2010
Guided brothers Jim and Scott Michie this morning. Jim and Scott are anglers from Destin, FL. and wanted to learn about the inshore species available along the Gulf Coast. Started early with the topwaters and found plenty of speckled trout including a 4.5# fish. Moved to a bank flat and fished the slicks with topwaters with the same result. Quite a few small fish with some nice ones mixed in but always a great time on surface baits. Switched to Gulp! Jerkshads and pitched slicks and mullet to boat several more trout. Made a short run to some grassy redfish banks and pulled some small-medium redfish. Hit some deeper structure for some more speckled trout and those pesky white trout were everywhere. Next, we went to some shallow docks where there have been quite a few redfish and normally lots of flounder this time of year. We were able to wrestle some redfish out from under the dock-shade but no flounder today. I also pointed to some great areas to look for tripletail this time of year but no fish were seen although it shouldn’t be long until we start finding these tripletail pretty consistently. Ended the morning poling through some shallow stained water and saw a few more redfish but no biters. Back to the ramp to show the guys some great fluoro to braid knots and some other very helpful tips. All in all, a good day of catching fish and I hope Jim and Scott learned a ton and can apply that inshore knowledge to catch many fish together in the future. All fish released. Please click an image to enlarge and view...
Read MoreDifficult but not impossible at Redfish University-June 14, 2010
Fortunately, we’re still getting quite a few calls/emails and running some trips at Redfish University. The bays and inland waters are clear of oil, although there are some very productive areas protected by oil boom. Guided Mr. Derrick Grant and his son this morning for some redfish and trout action. Hit the water at 515am and set out for some early morning topwater action. Found the north facing banks to be a bit turbulent but the fish were there. Stuck some 3.5-5# speckled trout but no redfish on this pass. Ran to some marshy banks protected by boom and wasn’t quite able to reach the prime areas near the banks. We did find some quality trout off the banks including a nice 4# fish. Derrick hooked a heavy fish that made two crackling runs only to split the 20# fluoro leader. My guess was a small tarpon and large tripletail or possibly a shark, but it was fun while it lasted. Ended up plugging away for a few more trout and redfish including a decent 4.5# redfish at the end. Pretty tough today but we managed some decent fish and missed quite a few more. All fish taken on Berkley Gulp! Jerkshads/Marsh Works Jigheads and Skitterwalks for the topwater fishing. All fish released. Please click an image to enlarge and view...
Read MorePre-Fishing for a string of trips at Redfish University-May 4, 2010
Redfish University continues normal guiding operations from Pensacola to Panama City(Port St. Joe). On days off, we will assist with BP oil spill issues if the need arises. With a long string of trips approaching and no cancellations in the coming weeks, I got out for a few hours today to locate some redfish and trout after the last five days of bad weather. Made it look easy with lots of redfish, trout and flounder taken on various baits including Gulp! Jerkshads, Baitfish, Shrimp, Lipless Cranks and even some decent topwater action. Fished for two hours and boated 7 redfish, 15 trout and 2 flounder. Lots of great fish around right now and Redfish University knows where they are and, most importantly, how to catch them! Trips tomorrow, Thursday and Friday and next week so we’ll report back soon. See everyone at Redfish U. soon. Yours, Eric...
Read MoreLots of species today at Redfish University-April 17, 2010
Guided Dr. Roger Orth and friend Carl this morning. Roger wanted a mix of species today and we were up for the challenge. Started in the upper bays early with lots of nice speckled trout and redfish. The flounder were pretty tough today. After a fish on nearly every cast, we jetted for the beaches to find some pompano. Roger stuck the first fish and then we boated another. A couple more bites and a few dropped hooks then we started catching Spanish mackeral. At the next location, we were greeted by some shallow water over-sized redfish as well as some huge schools of jacks. Lots of fun sight fishing these fish in shallow water on very light tackle. The Yamaha 250 SHO covered over 60 miles of water today very, very quickly. Always a plus for fishing time! All fish caught on Berkley Gulp! Jerkshads with Marsh Works jigheads and pink/orange pompano jigs. The Marsh Works jigheads were very impressive on the large jacks. Please click an image to enlarge and view...
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