Monday morning, fished with Jason Harris in East Bay. Found out that I need to charge my camera battery every once in a while, so no photos. Sightfished 8 decent redfish in very shallow water with Gulp! 3″ Shrimp rigged weedless. All fish released.Today was another story. Fished with Mike Webb and son, Conner, in Blackwater. Mike and Conner were October’s HLS Seminar Series raffle winners and wanted to catch some trout and redfish. Started up river with some speckled trout(12-17″) action while we waited for some water movement in BW Bay. Headed to BW Bay around 8am and found very little fish, almost none. Managed to stick 4-5 small fish on Johnson Gold Spoons blindcasting in 3-4′ of water. I actually sightfished a very nice 27″ or over redfish on the bow only to have the hook pull. That’s how the day went!! Lost a few more fish that I hooked and lost in transition to young Conner. Seems I need to set a better hook. src=”http://pensacolafishingforum.com/fishingforum/Skins/Classic/Images/EmotIcons/463f9dc0-4599-4760-9cd0-8ad4.gif” border=”0″ alt=”” align=”absMiddle” /> Sorry Conner!! Also, got a small black drum on a spoon. A very slow day, but we had tons of fun and hopefully Mike and Conner learned alot. Mike, Conner and I will redeem ourselves in the spring near their home in Navarre on a “make up” trip. All fish released. ...
Read MoreRedfish University with Capt. Bob Quarles-November 9, 2008
Bobby Q (Capt. Bob Quarles) wanted to sightfish for redfish this morning in Escambia and announced that just one fish would make his Sunday! Even with very high water, a neap tide, bluebird skies, high pressure, very windy conditions and dropping temperatures, I figured no problem, since we’ve been hammering them elsewhere so we went into our Redfish U. session with great confidence. The conditions really mixed things up and the fish were extremely difficult today and we had to bring the “A” game to entice 4 or 5 nice redfish. Eagle eyes and long, accurate casts with Gulp! Jerkshads in camo and Gulp! 3″ Shrimp in new penny both rigged weedless was the key to success. We had some epic strikes while sightfishing these very uncooperative redfish. Poor to below average day but always fun to fish with Bobby Q and we both enjoyed the...
Read MoreRedfish University research in East Bay!!-November 7, 2008
Had a well deserved day off at Redfish University today, so I fished with Brant P. and Eric M. this morning to check out some areas that I thought may be productive on high water. No tailers today as the water was pretty high so we threw at mullet, bait and wakes. Caught good fish at all the spots we fished with some trout mixed in. Eric M. brought some fantastic donuts from his bakery which we hammered in between areas. All together, we stuck 14 redfish and all on Johnson 1/4oz. Gold Spoons. Slow-rolled retrieve proved deadly as the fish were milling around mullet and bait. The fish are there but low water makes it so much better!! All fish released, including this fat 26.5″...
Read MoreLast day of snapper season with friends-October 30, 2008
Decided to go get some snapper and test my 25 Contender in 4-6′ seas. The bite was excellent and the Contender performed beautifully. Fished with my brother, Wes Holstman, Brad Sauers, Joe Z and Party Boy. Caught plenty of 5-8 pound snapper and headed to the house. Some of us were feeling a bit sea sick towards the end. Fished from...
Read MorePrefishing for Redfish U.- October 28, 2008
Prefished for some upcoming trips at Redfish University with my friend Jeff Russell this morning over in East Bay. Didn’t find good concentrations of mullet but did find something better, small shrimp and crabs. Found that the fish were very comfortable lying on the bottom. I know this because we made several fan-casts in a usually very productive area and the fish were there but not feeding. Moved up and found lots of blowouts and muds. Changed plans and started to sightfish. Sightfishing would insure that I could get a bait on their noses. Found fish tailing, waking and was delighted by some very clear water and some fantastic visuals on artificial bait eating redfish. The fish were difficult because of the low, clear and cold water, but the Gulp 3″ Shrimp and small gold spoons did the trick. Extremely accurate casts and silence were a must! Found fish all over the slot, but lots of smaller fish. All fish...
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