Solid day at Redfish University! March 30, 2009

Guided Mr. R.J. McDermott today and found very clear water, decent amounts of bait and mullet but very difficult redfish. Some usually outstanding areas today were painfully unproductive. Found some solid consistency and replicated it over and over. Found quite a few redfish in the 20-30″ range along some sand/grass ledges. We saw some and blindcasted others. Pretty tough day but we popped 8-9 good redfish with a few more coming unbuttoned. Also some very nice trout and a good flounder were also in the mix. All fish caught on Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads in camo and all fish released. RJ got his personal best, a 36″ 14# redfish on artificial today and we also saw a naked person on the shore.

Redfish University quicktrip-March 18, 2009

Fished with friend and tackle rep., Brant Peacher, this morning and found very good quality redfish. The water was as clear as a swimming pool and the redfish were incredibly aggressive and could be sightfished with ease. Ended up catching over a dozen fish in a few hours with some massive upper slot fish. All fish caught on Berkley Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads in sardine this time(forgot my camos) and Johnson 1/4oz. Gold Spoons. All fish released.

Great afternoon at Redfish University-March 17, 2008

Guided Mr. Aaron Sago today. Aaron is the owner of a new 22 Pathfinder and wanted to get comfortable with the boat and find some productive areas to catch some fish. We ended up with 14-15 Redfish, 12 Trout and one nice flounder. We fished some shallow water areas where we found plenty of milling mullet. All fish caught on 5″ Gulp! Jerkshads in camo and all fish released.

High production at Redfish University- March, 13 2009

Lots of great trips lately, although I don’t report all trips, the redfish are extremely predictable and very cooperative. Look for them in very shallow water around bait and schools of mullet.

Guided Mr. Patrick St. Romaine this morning on the Maverick 17HPXV and found lots and lots of redfish. Steady action all morning on the very shallow flats and fish were, as predicted, following large schools of mullet.  Ended up sticking around 25 quality redfish with some impressive trout mixed in. Could have been more but we both had an alarming amount of fish come unbuttoned. Short bites with the full moon maybe? Probably not, but a great excuse!! Perfect morning, cooperative redfish and great company. All fish caught on Johnson 1/4oz. Gold Spoons and all fish released healthy.

Important Announcement regarding upcoming Redfish University trips-March 2, 2009

Dear Clients and scheduled anglers,

Thanks to everyone who has enrolled and graduated from Redfish University. We continue to stay very busy with 3-5 Redfish U. classes per week. Thank you everyone.

The month of March is typically a boat transition period for me and this March is no exception. With several Redfish University trips tentatively booked in the coming weeks, I have contacted several of you to reschedule if possible. Today, I cleaned out my 2008 Hewes 21 Redfisher to take delivery of my brand new 2009 Hewes Redfisher. Unfortunately, I will be personally boatless for a few weeks. But never fear!! For those that have the flexibility to reschedule have done so, those that would like a Redfish University session on their OWN boat(insurance and waiver) are very welcome to here locally. For those who wish to experience a Redfish University trip on a 2009 Maverick/Hewes flats boat, trips will be available in Destin and Panama City ONLY for the next few weeks. A 2009 Maverick  17  HPX with a Yamaha F90 will be my temporary redfish catching machine. My apologies for the short inconvience and see everyone at Redfish U. soon. Eric

Redfish University and Nearshore-February 6, 2009

Guided Bill Palmer of Atlanta and a few friends from Conn. and South Carolina today. Because there were three anglers, we used Bill’s 20 Century CC. The day started very funny with all of us wading to the boat because of the low tide. Got some very nice redfish and trout, and then headed to the beach to catch some bonita. All fish caught on Gulp! 5″ Jerkshad.

Another great day at Redfish U.- 1/23/09

Guided Mr. Tom Crawford of Destin today in the Blackwater area. Found plenty of large trout first thing, then went to whack on the redfish as the water started moving. Found a group of nice redfish in two reliable areas. Quite a few fish around today but they were tough. All fish caught on Gulp! 5″ Jerkshads in camo. All fish released.

Redfish U. West Bay!!! 1/09/09

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.

June 12, 2008-Redfish Homework in Santa Rosa Sound, Pensacola,FL

Finally got a day off from my new guiding adventures and decided to fish by myself and go do a little homework. My goal was to find some good concentrations of redfish for some upcoming Redfish University students. It was a very difficult day. Not many fish and very spread out with the high water. The two fish that I did catch were sitting on shallow sandy areas between docks(right on the bank) and one on the south side of the sound. Both fish were sightfished which was nice. “Viewed” a handful of redfish on the grass in 1-2′ water between the docks, but they were not interested in anything I threw. That’s frustrating. 

 

 

Got 2 fish, 6# and 7#. Caught on 5″ Gulp Jerkshads in camo. Fished hard.