Guided Mr. Paul Heatherington this morning for what may be one of Redfish University’s last trips on the year in Santa Rosa Sound. It’s not that the fishing is horrible over there, it’s just that there’s so many more fish in a few areas to the north. We were interested in seeing some redfish and trying to get some larger trout in the deeper water. Started out with very small topwater baits at first light and really nailed some great redfish outside the schools of large mullet. The key this morning was a very soft dog-walked retrieve with a 3-4 second pause every 5 feet. Most fish crushed the bait as it was stationary and they had a huge problem eating it while it moved. Neap tide, very little water movement and laziness are my guess. Once we could see them around 800am, we switched to very small Johnson Gold Spoons and picked some more redfish. Pushed off the banks in some areas to go back to topwater and found some decent speckled trout on the sandholes in 4-6 ft of water. The fish are thinning out in the Sound in my opinion but there are still some nice redfish if you get there early and mid-week always helps. A great bonus for today was the chance to pull on some fish with my Conquer 2000’s/All-Star ASR 7′ with 6# Spiderwire Ultracast Invisi-Braid in preparation for Belize’s tailing bonefish, permit as well as tarpon and snook. Casts an 1/8-1/16 Bone jig a mile!! Book now to learn more about inshore angling than you’ll ever imagine at Redfish University. Happy Fishing. Please click an image to enlarge and view...
Read MoreSunday with R.U. website designer and marketing genius at Redfish University-October 17, 2010
Grabbed my good friend, web designer, photographer/videographer, marketing guru, merchandise specialist and enthusiastic Spanish mackerel angler, Randy Hamilton, this afternoon and cruised out to the beach in search of pompano, redfish or whatever was available. Randy is a HUGE reason Redfish University is the Gulf Coast’s most successful, busiest and supremely visible guide service with bookings of 4-5 per week, Monday-Friday. He keeps me busier than I want to be!! Randy and I fish together a ton needless to say! Purchased some pompano jigs, ice, Becks, Sierra Nevada and Landshark and took off for the Pass around 100pm. Sight fished the beach for an hour and didn’t see big numbers of pompano or redfish. I was really looking forward to testing my 2000 series Conquers with 6# Ultracast InvisiBraid for my multi-year trips to Belize for bones and permit. Oh well, soon enough. Falling tide, boat traffic, etc. may have decreased our odds. Ended up pulling on some Spanish mackerel and ladyfish for a little while and then back to the inside to look around some more. Haven’t fished an afternoon in forever but it was fun to be on the water. For anyone interested in increasing web traffic, advertising and marketing for your business, outside of inshore charter fishing of course, you should really look into Hamilton Designs. Randy is the best! Book now to experience Redfish University. Please click an image to enlarge and view...
Read MoreIFA Redfish anglers at Redfish University-October 15, 2010
Several times per year during the local IFA redfish tournament season, anglers seek Redfish University’s vast regional knowledge in search of productive redfish areas from Port St. Joe, FL. to Pensacola to Hopedale, LA. In the last month, Redfish U. has performed many such trips. These are very exciting and tiring trips for Redfish U. as we pre-fish with these teams as if I were fishing the event as well. A 110% effort always!! Today I guided a couple anglers from the IFA Redfish Tour over in Grand Bay, MS. and around Bayou La Batre, AL. Ideal wind and tide conditions with falling water all morning. Plenty of redfish but only in a few areas. Without getting into too much detail, the fish were found to be very aggressive in both shallow and deep water and took a variety of baits. Lengths ranged from 23-29″ with many 25-26″ in the mix which will be fantastic for tournament day with the Alabama 26″ limit. Back at the ramp at 100pm to save routes and label some more areas on the map. It’s really fun fishing with the IFA guys who are always very enthusiastic and I think we all benefit by exposing ourselves to new and old techniques. I learn alot on these trips and I hope the teams learn alot as well, especially where the redfish are!! Good luck guys!! Book your guided fishing trip or instructional guiding trip at Redfish University now!! Staying very busy and quite booked all...
Read MoreRedfish University in Destin-October 14, 2010
Guided Mr. Morris Monroe this morning over in Destin, FL. Morris is the proud owner of a brand new 22 Pathfinder/Yamaha 150 decked out with a Power-Pole, Minnkota TM, Garmin Color GPS/Map and a kickin’ sound system purchased from The Ships Chandler in Destin, FL. Morris wanted to learn about the inshore redfish and trout fishery in Choctawhatchee Bay, particularly with the use of artificial baits. Started at first light with some great speckled trout action on topwater baits. We concentrated on protected banks filled with mullet and bait over broken grass/sand bottom. Lots of trout but also some undesirables including big bluefish, Spanish mackerel, medium bonito and ladyfish. As soon as the sun was high enough to sight fish we took off to some very productive banks filled up medium to upper length redfish. Switched over to Johnson 1/4oz. Gold Spoons and looked for redfish amongst the hords of mullet. Since the tide was falling rapidly, we predictably found our redfish laying in relatively deeper troughs in 2-3 feet of water. Caught fish blindcasting to troughs and sight fished some as well. Morris, being primarily an offshore angler, got off to a bit of a slow start before really coming into his own to produce some small-medium redfish. I helped to catch his “redfish dinner” quite a few times over while also demonstrating the correct techniques in the process. Next time, Morris’ bounty will be his own! For an added challenged, we decided to make a run to some areas Redfish University has never fished before. Many times, replicating banks in terms of broken bottom, troughs and bait will produce results over and over again. This experiment was no exception as we found more redfish and even schools of great quality fish in packs of 20-30 fish. Stick-fest! Morris had the great opportunity to watch a beautiful redfish inhale his bait in very shallow water. Anyway, Morris now is very, very familiar and confident in some new areas around Destin to break in his new Pathfinder. Great numbers of redfish and trout this morning and Morris kept some fish for the grill. Book now to experience Redfish University! Please click an image to enlarge and view...
Read MoreDay 2 Redfish and Speckled trout at Redfish University-October 7, 2010
For Day 2, I guided Mr. Keith Jones in Pensacola Bay and over in Santa Rosa Sound. Started at first-light and tagged many fish on topwater baits. Redfish and trout were together off the bank during the low-tide but just outside the schools of bait and mullet. Found large schools of bigger redfish in the shallows enticing them with topwaters and sub-surface baits although it took a little while to get into a groove. After catching most the fish along that bank, we trailer the boat to the Sound. Low water had the fish pulled way off the banks so we pitched Johnson Gold Spoons outside huge schools of mullet to produce a few good redfish. After a great morning of shallow water fishing, we set course for McGuire’s for some late morning brews and a hefty lunch, the Thursday Pot Roast Special. Impressive indeed! All fish released. Last trip of the week tomorrow with the Pure Fishing/Walmart execs from Bentonville. Looks like I’ll be heading up to Bentonville, AR. again soon. Please click an image to enlarge and view slideshow....
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