Since I was scheduled to perform a seminar for the Emerald Coast Redfish Club at The Lucky Snapper tonight(which was a fantastic event!), I decided to make a day of it and trailer the Hewes down to do some shallow water redfishing in some of my favorite West Bay spots. Picked up Peter Wright, Jr. and fellow Hewes owner, Mr. Tom Crawford, and arrived at the ramp at 830am. Although the weather conditions this morning were absolutely ideal for our purposes of sightfishing, we knew the extreme tide conditions and moon phase was going to be challenging. The water was very, very low and the fish were very, very shallow. To say we saw 200 redfish in a few hour period would be a conservative estimate and to say they were extremely uncooperative would be an unstatement. Cruising fish, sitting fish and even tailing fish were nearly impossible to entice. Finally started sticking them by spotting fish just inside the longest cast you could make and they had to be facing away from the boat. Seeing them early and a perfect, long cast was the key. Very difficult fish today!! Should be better next week. The fish ran at approxiately 90mph from all baits except the Gulp! 5″ Jerkshad in camo. Found some heavy 7-8# fish. All redfish released.  ...
Read MoreFlorida Sportsman Magazine with Redfish University- December 31, 2008
Florida Sportsman Magazine contacted me to highlight the shallow water redfish secrets of NW Florida. There’s no photos with this report, but will be soon available in FL. Sportsman in the coming months. After a few wind and rain delays, we finally got our opportunity to hit the water yesterday. Armed with trusty, redfish master Brant Peacher as my co-angler, we set out into Blackwater with less than ideal conditions, but as always, we figured it out and produced some quality redfish. After a carefully calculated milkrun dictated by tide and wind conditions, we found the redfish were going to be inconveniently difficult on this most important of outings. Cameras on a boat are sometimes a curse. A very recent, private and timely report from fellow PFF member and Redfish University graduate, Jeff Russell, clued me in on a classic shallow water flat near deeper water with large bottom lumps. This is a scenerio that held true in other areas as well. This was the ticket and thank you Jeff!! All redfish were caught on Berkley Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads in camo and 3″ Gulp! Shrimp in Lime Tiger rigged weedless. All redfish released. Anyway, I think this will be an excellent article and represent the sometimes forgotten Panhandle well. It will also show that redfish can be sightfished in NW Florida and that we have some fantastic areas to target them in very shallow water. *An interesting sidenote- After reviving and releasing one of the redfish, the fish swam about eight feet and stopped. Making sure that the redfish was okay, I flipped the same 3″ Gulp! Shrimp in front of him to urge him along and he inhaled it again. Not the first time that has happened, and I’m sure not the last. All the more reason to use Berkley Gulp! These fish are hungry if you can find...
Read MoreRedfish Seminar Outline-July 14, 2008 Pensacola, FL
Redfish Seminar  Blindcasting  I leave no detail overlooked when blindcasting and sightfishing for redfish. Meticulous preparation and research. I believe this dramatically increases my odds at catching good numbers of redfish.  Areas:  –        Summer/early Fall- Santa Rosa Sound on the north side. Between broken down docks. High tide closer to the bank and on low tide off the bank from the middle to the end of the docks. –        Southside of sound near Opal Beach and grass flats in the surrounding areas. –        Big Lagoon- on the south around Redfish Pt. and behind Ft. McRae in the no-motor pond. –        Late fall/winter- Northern bay systems of Escambia, Blackwater and East. These are the best redfish habitats in our area. Great on low tides.  Look for large schools of larger mullet which disturb the bottom. Redfish will follow the mullet and look for shrimp and crabs kicked up by these mullet.  Average depths are between 1-3 feet of water.  Approach your area very quietly shutting off your large engine well ahead of your destination. No noise inside boat, turn off baitwell, bottomfinder and secure lose cans and everything that may hit the deck. Walk quietly and off the hatches. The noise is amplified 100x’s underwater and will alert fish within 500 yds of your presence.  Try to set up with the wind and sun. Less bow slap and better ability to see redfish and mullet. Casting with the wind will produce larger casts and, in turn, more redfish.  Top artificial baits including Gulp 5†Jerkshads, Gulp 3’ Shrimp in any color, Zoom 4†Baby Bass, slow rolled Johnson Gold Spoons in 1/8-1/4oz., Mirrodine 17-MR #18 and #21 with green and black backs, sometimes small inline spinnerbaits slowly rolled as well.  Not much action with topwater or hard subsurface plugs. If you do want to use topwater, small Skitterwalks are my choice. Work them slowly(slower than for trout.)  Long 10-20# fluorocarbon leaders connected directly to my mainline. I like leaders between 3-4.5 feet long. The farther away from the braid or mono the better. Often times the braid is actually...
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