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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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Lots of trout and rain at Redfish University-August 5, 2010

Back from another short vacation and ready to fish. Guided Mr. John Prudhomme and friend Harris today for some trout and redfish action in Pensacola Bay.  Started at first light and ran about 8 miles to our first area. Found plenty of medium trout on topwater baits in shallow water but these fish were not as aggressive as last week. Switched to sub-surface baits and improved our catch-rate a bit. Ran from the rain and storms and found some better trout in another area but still, not very aggressive. Eight wind direction shifts and erratic pressure didn’t help us today but we did as well as humanly possible. Ended up with 20-30 decent trout with 10-12 being great keepers. Also had a great redfish wake and blow-in and out. Probably an oversized fish but the strike was epic. All fish caught on Berkley Powerbaits and topwater baits. Different areas for tomorrow’s...

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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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A great day with some favorite clients at Redfish University-July 26, 2010

Guided some of my best and favorite clients Jim and Kyle Lawrence this morning. The guys drove over from Destin this morning at 400am and had catching fish on their minds. Met at 515am and set out for a morning of epic topwater action. Epic it was!!! Immediately, Jim and Kyle started pounding away at the speckled trout and redfish. The sound of topwater explosions filled the silent morning and was music to our ears. Lots of “booms”, “pows” and “cawblauwees” from all of us witnessing this stellar morning of topwater action. I have no idea how many quality trout were landed, stuck momentarily and dropped at the boat, but it was many. Moved on once the sun got up and fished some water in the 3-6′ range in search of more trout and redfish. Didn’t take long and the action was almost every cast! I was able to give my friend Jim some great advice in this area by suggesting working his Berkley Gulp! Jerkbait a bit slower(at a snails pace) to draw a larger trout. In RU’s experience, both small trout and redfish are much more attracted to quick/fast moving baits because of their youthful aggressiveness. Sure enough, Jim lands an awesome 5# fish next cast in the same exact area where three 14-15″ just came. With our mission to successfully slay the trout and redfish all morning accomplished, we took a ride for the Pass to just catch some fish. Caught Spanish, bluefish and ladyfish for the rest of the time and even hooked a few large sharks on the big rod. RU doesn’t spend much time at all in Pensacola Pass but we all had a great time watching bait scatter from sharks and Spanish. Jim and Kyle left Pensacola with 15 very nice trout, some redfish and lots of local knowledge that can be applied at their vacation home in Destin. Great day!! Thanks again Jim and Kyle!! 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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