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Solid morning of Speckled Trout and Redfish at Redfish University-August 9, 2010

Guided Mr. Dale Smith this morning in Pensacola Bay and Santa Rosa in search of trout and redfish. Started with topwaters early and boated several quality trout in the 2-5# range with some medium 20-24″ redfish mixed in. As the morning heat rose, we concentrated on deeper water for the trout and even did some successful sightfishing for redfish in the shallows. Monday-Friday trips are great for this with very little boat traffic. The fish enjoyed a range of baits today from Berkley Jerkshads and Shrimp and spoons to topwaters and suspending baits. I guess if you’re around lots of quality fish they’ll pound most anything. Total for this morning was 25 trout and 9 redfish in a short 4.5 hour period. All fish released and the camera battery was...

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Redfish, trout and more for new Pensacola residents at Redfish University-August 6, 2010

Back from vacation and busier than ever! Guided Mr. Jim Ball and his son, Thomas, this morning. Jim, Thomas and family are recent new arrivals to the Pensacola area. They are buying a new boat soon and wanted to learn about our local waters and fishery here in Pensacola. They are now very familiar with both!! Started out earlier and showed the guys where they can catch plenty of fish to eat. Whacked the trout and redfish on topwaters, suspending baits and Berkley Powerbaits most of the early morning. Thomas really came into his own with the suspending baits boating several quality speckled trout. We covered a variety of extremely productive areas and lots of proven techniques that have been the bread and butter at Redfish University. Next, the guys wanted go to some areas where they could just catch lots of fish. Picked out some areas in the bay and around the Pass and the guys had a ball with big Spanish mackerel, bluefish, ladyfish and some big sharks. Ended the day with some fishing talk and 15 typed pages of detailed inshore angling tips, locations and techniques for fishing in Pensacola. Jim and Thomas will have no problem catching fish in Pensacola year-round and Redfish University wishes them the best of luck in their future angling adventures. Most fish released but a few trout, redfish and Spanish macks were kept for the cookout. Please click an image to enlarge and view...

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Tricky Trout and Redfish at Redfish University-July 29, 2010

Guided Kirk Johnson and his son, Destin, this morning for some speckled trout and redfish in Pensacola Bay. It was a real pleasure to fish with young Destin who is an outstanding angler and really stuck it to the large speckled trout on a very difficult bite. Today, the water was coming in but last night with the combination of the outgoing tide and a very stiff north wind, there was very little water in our normally epic redfish and trout areas. Started early with topwaters and only caught a few small trout and really didn’t get any huge blowups. Made the obvious adjustment and moved well off the banks to produce some medium-large trout on Berkley Gulp! Jerkbaits. Found the fish to be very uncomfortable and unwilling to strike baits this morning. Moved to some deeper banks and slowing produced move fish but still not what we really wanted. Finally, I came through in an area with bottom structure in 12-15′ of water where the big trout were happily biting our baits. A few doubles on 3-5# fish was nice to see and by 900am we had an extremely impressive limit of quality speckled trout. Mission accomplished on the trout so we moved in for the redfish. Only one small fish cooperated and a few more nice trout. The redfish were difficult this week but we did get some very nice fish on Monday’s trip. All fish released except 15 super trout for a cookout. Great job, Destin, in tough condition. Thanks again. Please click an image to enlarge and view...

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New Berkley website and Eric Holstman Pro Staff page.

Hello Redfish University anglers! Please take a moment to view the new Berkley fishing website at www.berkley-fishing.com. It’s a great resource for choosing baits, rods and reels and finding angling information from the Berkley Pro Staff anglers. You may also recognize a Pro Staff member on the Berkley site as well. Berkley Pro Staff- http://www.berkley-fishing.com/my-berkley/pro/eric-holstman  Abu Garcia- http://www.abugarcia.com/pros_detail.php?id=2460&m=0 Spiderwire- http://www.spiderwire.com/pros_detail.php?id=2538 Thanks for looking and see everyone soon. Eric...

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Television again for Redfish University-July 24, 2010

Redfish University participated in a Boat US Angler program to highlight the Gulf Coast’s inshore guiding industry and the recent BP oil spill. We wanted travelling anglers to see for themselves that the inshore fishing on the Gulf Coast is still excellent and there are plenty of fish to catch. With camera crew in tow at 530am, I guided friend and former Redfish Cup General Manager, Steve Levi, for an exciting morning of redfish and speckled trout action in the Pensacola Bay system. Steve immediately stuck a quality 5# redfish on topwater and continued to slam the speckled trout in the 2-3# range. We also picked up a few more redfish in different areas but by 8am, the show was packed full of great footage so we took off for breakfast and then had a great lunch at the Fishhouse. I hope this promotional/tourism piece will continue to drive potential inshore anglers to the Gulf Coast to enjoy our awesome inshore action. Please look for this show to air in the coming weeks on Fox Sports and Versus television and keep an eye out for the big Redfish University logo and advertisement! Thanks for watching. E...

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