Navigation Menu

Fun fishing with Bobby Quarles-November 13, 2009

Took a short spin around the bay this afternoon with friend, Capt. Bob Quarles. Bob is a fellow Maverick Boats guide and one of my favorite anglers to fish with. Found a big school of bull redfish and got to work. Hooked four fish on four rods including a sweet topwater strike right next to the boat. I also wanted to test my new favorite redfish combo, the Penn Conquerer 4000 and the Allstar ASR Redfish rod. Hooked a 25# redfish on this combo and really put some major pressure on the rod and reel. It came through like a champ and I actually tried to break the rod with the fish near the boat but actually broke the braid. Very, very tough set up!! Anyway, achieved my goal of pulling on some heavy fish, getting some sun on my face and watching the Blue Angels. Fun afternoon. Several trips schedule in the coming weeks and the fishing should be excellent. See everyone soon. Eric Holstman Please click an image to...

Read More

Classes cancelled this week at the University-November 8, 2009

As Hurricane/Tropical Storm Ida approaches, the Gulf Coast prepares for this late-year storm. Here at Redfish University, we have cancelled trips at least through Thursday, November 12th. These three trips will be rescheduled and all clients have been contacts. Obviously, we will do our absolute best to fit these trips in as soon as possible, even considering working a few weekends!! Depending on wind and rain amounts, Redfish University may resume operations on Friday, November 13th, but most likely next Monday, November 16th. Our apologies for the weather inconvenience and look forward to seeing everyone soon. E....

Read More

Yamaha Friends in for some fishing!-November 6, 2009

Guided Tim Haney, Yamaha saltwater promotions coordinator, and Adam  this morning. Our first choice was to rocket out to the beaches and do some sightfishing for pompano and redfish and then go stick some over-sized redfish nearshore and inshore. The 15-20mph winds from the east scratched that out for us but that is our plan tomorrow. We decided to trailer up to Blackwater and do some shallow water fishing for redfish and trout. Thankfully, it was much better up there than yesterday. We had lots of action with medium-sized redfish and some very nice trout, including a 3# fish. All fish caught on Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads in camo rigged with Marsh Works 1/4oz. Bull Red jigheads in assorted colors with worm rattle inserts. All fish released. Looking forward to seeing and sticking some pompano tomorrow and pulling on some big, dumb redfish!! Please click a photo to...

Read More

Pretty grim day at Redfish University-November 5, 2009

Guided my friend John this morning over in Blackwater and East Bay. John is an accomplished billfish angler and quite an inshore angler as well. Well, I guess it’s bound to happen every once in a while. Today was the second worst Redfish University trip on the year. On trips, I like to fish as well to demonstrate retrieval techniques and to help locate fish. This was the first trip ever where I didn’t catch a single redfish!! We covered some normally very productive areas and started out with two quality trout. John, who caught all the redfish, followed with two very small redfish. From there, it was all downhill. Ended up traveling way south where John scratched up a few more small redfish and an undersized trout. Then he completed his Grand Slam with a decent flounder. Headed back north to cover some areas at dead-low tide and saw some average-sized redfish on muddy bottom where we had already thrown at five or six times. John stuck the biggest redfish of the day(around 23-24″) and it spit the hook at the boat. That is the way the morning went!  The highlights of the day were: 1. A pretty pathetic Grand Slam. 2. Seeing a bald eagle grabbing mullet. 3. John being an absolute pleasure to fish with. All fish caught on Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads in camo rigged with Marsh Works 1/4 Bull Red jigheads with rattle inserts. Although John and I caught some fish as guaranteed, it really was a disappointing day. I invited John on a make-up, prefishing trip with me next week in either Panama City or here locally. Please pick Panama City, John!! Look for the next report to be off the hook! I remembered my camera this time but nothing exciting to photograph except the bald...

Read More

Low water success at Redfish U.-November, 4 2009

Back from a wonderful long weekend in New Orleans with some friends. The Marriott was lovely as always and Voodoo Fest was as eventful as ever. Not my favorite lineup this year, but did see Jane’s Addiction, Flaming Lips, Kiss, Lenny Kravitz and Eminem(if you like that sort of thing.) Took Tuesday off to recover and back at it hard for the remainder of the week. So here we go… Guided Mr. Walter Kelly this morning over in East Bay. Dropping and clear water made for excellent sightfishing conditions. We saw alot of fish and caught alot of fish. Changed it up today and went to the Gulp! Ghost Shrimp rigged weedless on Owner Twist-Locks to catch the majority of our fish. Blindcasting in deeper areas with 1/4oz. Johnson Gold Spoons also produced some quality fish. We also got the opportunity to test out the new Penn Conquerer 4000’s. These are incredible reels!! Long casts, very smooth drags and some of the best reels I’ve used. Check them out! Sorry forgot the camera,...

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