Tails in the Mist-November, 26, 2008

Got out very early this morning with my friend Jeff. Wanted to do some scouting for a bunch of Redfish University trips next week. Very cold and very foggy in East Bay this morning. Found redfish tailing in super shallow water with grass bottom. It was an unbelievable sight. Must have seen 40-50 single tails and backs on a 300 yd. bank. Fun, fun, fun!! All fish caught on Johnson 1/8oz. Gold Spoons and released. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Redfish University Santa Rosa Sound-November 20, 2008

Fished this morning with Ron Fairbanks on his Ranger bass boat.It skips along at 75mph so we got to the areas very, very, very quickly. With some warmer weather upon us, we concentrated on the very shallow flats near Soundside. Lots of mullet and saw an average amount of redfish. Got some nice fish on Gulp! Jerkshads in camo and 1/4oz Johnson Gold Spoons. Long distance spotting and long distance casts are the key. Those fish in there are a wreck and very uncooperative. All fish released.

Redfish University-November 10,11 2008

Monday morning, fished with Jason Harris in East Bay. Found out that I need to charge my camera battery every once in a while, so no photos. Sightfished 8 decent redfish in very shallow water with Gulp! 3″ Shrimp rigged weedless. All fish released.Today was another story. Fished with Mike Webb and son, Conner, in Blackwater. Mike and Conner were October’s HLS Seminar Series raffle winners and wanted to catch some trout and redfish. Started up river with some speckled trout(12-17″) action while we waited for some water movement in BW Bay. Headed to BW Bay around 8am and found very little fish, almost none. Managed to stick 4-5 small fish on Johnson Gold Spoons blindcasting in 3-4′ of water. I actually sightfished a very nice 27″ or over redfish on the bow only to have the hook pull. That’s how the day went!! Lost a few more fish that I hooked and lost in transition to young Conner. Seems I need to set a better hook. Sorry Conner!! Also, got a small black drum on a spoon. A very slow day, but we had tons of fun and hopefully Mike and Conner learned alot. Mike, Conner and I will redeem ourselves in the spring near their home in Navarre on a “make up” trip. All fish released.

Redfish University with Capt. Bob Quarles-November 9, 2008

Bobby Q(Capt. Bob Quarles) wanted to sightfish for redfish this morning in Escambia and announced that just one fish would make his Sunday! Even with very high water, a neap tide, bluebird skies, high pressure, very windy conditions and dropping temperatures, I figured no problem, since we’ve been hammering them elsewhere so we went into our Redfish U. session with great confidence. The conditions really mixed things up and the fish were extremely difficult today and we had to bring the “A” game to entice 4 or 5 nice redfish. Eagle eyes and long, accurate casts with Gulp! Jerkshads in camo and Gulp! 3″ Shrimp in new penny both rigged weedless was the key to success. We had some epic strikes while sightfishing these very uncooperative redfish. Poor to below average day but always fun to fish with Bobby Q and we both enjoyed the challenge.

Redfish University research in East Bay!!-November 7, 2008

Had a well deserved day off at Redfish University today, so I fished with Brant P. and Eric M. this morning to check out some areas that I thought may be productive on high water. No tailers today as the water was pretty high so we threw at mullet, bait and wakes. Caught good fish at all the spots we fished with some trout mixed in. Eric M. brought some fantastic donuts from his bakery which we hammered in between areas. All together, we stuck 14 redfish and all on Johnson 1/4oz. Gold Spoons. Slow-rolled retrieve proved deadly as the fish were milling around mullet and bait. The fish are there but low water makes it so much better!! All fish released, including this fat 26.5″ fish. 

Sightfishing Excellence at Redfish University-November 5, 2008

Fished with Jeff Russell this morning in East Bay. Jeff’s girlfriend secretly booked a Redfish U. session for his birthday so I wanted to make his experience extra special with some shallow water sightfishing. Started out with a quick milkrun through East Bay on some shallow muddy bottoms and picked off several very nice fish. As the water dropped, we made our way to some very shallow grass areas where we found 25-30 tailing redfish along a 500 yd stretch of bank. As I quietly poled, orange tails were flopping everywhere and Jeff made some awesome presentations with weedless Gulp! Shrimp and Jerkshads which resulted in some classic hookups. I even got to back up Jeff a few times on the rare occasions that he didn’t stick a fish!! Ended up with about 25 quality fish which were all released healthy.

West Bay shallow water redfish-October 29, 2008

Fished this morning with friend Mike Tindal. Fished the West Bay area in Panama City in search of some shallow water redfish action. Found plenty of cold and uncooperative fish in very shallow water. Long casts and excellent vision were the keys to success. Caught 23 fish between 5-7.5 pounds on Gulp 5″ Jerkshads in camo rigged with weedless Mission Fishin 5/0 Hitch Hooks. The redfish will cooperate better as it warms during the day with this cool weather.

Prefishing for Redfish U.- October 28, 2008

Prefished for some upcoming trips at Redfish University with my friend Jeff Russell this morning over in East Bay. Didn’t find good concentrations of mullet but did find something better, small shrimp and crabs. Found that the fish were very comfortable lying on the bottom. I know this because we made several fan-casts in a usually very productive area and the fish were there but not feeding. Moved up and found lots of blowouts and muds.Changed plans and started to sightfish. Sightfishing would insure that I could get a bait on their noses. Found fish tailing, waking and was delighted by some very clear water and some fantastic visuals on artificial bait eating redfish. The fish were difficult because of the low, clear and cold water, but the Gulp 3″ Shrimp and small gold spoons did the trick. Extremely accurate casts and silence were a must! Found fish all over the slot, but lots of smaller fish. All fish released.

Tarpon and Redfish Extravaganza!!! Sept. 7, 2008

Brant Peacher and I got out this morning from 6am-10am for some fun-fishing. Found massive concentrations of 23-27″ redfish on some shallow flats. Probably got around 25 solid redfish. Also found some nice tarpon gulping outside the schools of redfish and Brant actually sightfished a 30# fish with 10# class light tackle and a 15# fluoro leader in 3′ of water. Got 6-7 very nice jumps out of the fish and several bullish runs. Saw a few more tarpon and then focused on the redfish. All fish caught on 1/4 Johnson Gold Spoons and all fish released. The festivities ended with a lovely brunch and “make your own bloodys” at the Hilton. What an epic morning!!!

Redfish in the Sound-Sept. 5, 2008

Fished with Todd and his buddy from Mobile this morning in Santa Rosa Sound. Todd wanted to learn more about the Hewes Redfisher 21 and I figured what a better way to accomplish this than by taking him out for some redfish action and showing him how many fish it catches. Got on some very nice fish (6-7#) immediately and then fished singles and doubles the rest of the morning with some trout mixed in. They weren’t too cooperative but cooperative enough. All fish caught on Gulp and one on spinnerbait. All fish released.