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Fall 2015 arrived with cooler temperatures and clear water. It's a wonderful time for fishing along Florida's Emerald Coast. This year we continued having an unusual run of mahi-mahi, Spanish mackerel and pompano became very active on the inside grass beds, and the "running of the bull redfish" came off right on time. The false albacore even showed up every now and then, undependable but thrilling when it happened. Here are the photos from our fall season. Double-click on the thumbnails for full-screen photos. For photos from previous seasons, click on the links to these additional galleries:Summer 2015, Spring 2015, Winter 2015, Fall 2014, Summer 2014, Spring 2014, Winter 2014, :Fall 2013, Summer 2013, Spring 2013, Winter 2013, Fall 2012, Spring 2012, Winter 2012, Fall 2011, Summer 2011, Spring 2011, Winter 2011, Fall 2010, Summer 2010, Spring 2010, Winter 2010, Fall 2009,Summer 2009, Spring 2009, Winter 2009, Fall 2008, Summer 2008, Spring 2008, Winter 2008, Fall 2007, Summer 2007, Spring 2007, Winter 2007, Fall 2006, Summer 2006, Spring 2006, Winter 2006, Spring 2005, Summer 2005, Fall 2005. Use the back button on your browser to return to this page.
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Wade
Knight, Tigertown, TX, kicks off the fall 2015 gallery with a
very fine mahi-mahi landed September
22 a couple miles from Pensacola Pass. We had a good push of blue
water from the SE, and the mahi arrived in big numbers for a short
period
of time. Sure was fun while it lasted! Must admit Wade's John Deere
T shirt had the perfect mahi colors. Excellent choice, Wade. |
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Wade's fishing buddy Tom Moodie also had a
big time with the mahi-mahi. Pretty hard to find them up in Kentucky... |
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John and Betty Evans had a blast with the big
Spanish mackerel on fly September 25. That's a nice fish, John... |
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...but not quite as nice as Betty's.
We blind-cast clouser minnows for these bad-to-the-bone Spanish,
and they hit with such velocity that they'll yank the rod out of
your hand. |
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Steve Duecker felt the Spanish Mackerel
rush on September 25. |
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Wounded
warrior Kent Reagan on a glassy-calm September 30. Kent's a professional
fly-tier specializing in patterns
that work locally. You can find his flies at www.usmcflyguy.com.
This trip was sponsored by Project Healing Waters and arranged
by the Flyfishers of Northwest Florida (FFNWF). |
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FFNWF
President Cliff Newton was aboard to be sure the guide put in
a full day... |
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Bernie Smelstoys in town October 1 with an
impressive Pensacola Bay red snapper. |
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Jake
Tessler and Heather Trumbull wanted to find the false albacore
on a cool October 2, and we ran all the
way to Perdido Key before hitting paydirt. Jake shown here with
a 6-7 pounder. |
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Heather with one of many FAs landed on ultra-light
spinning tackle. Nice photobomb, Jake. |
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There's nothing more enjoyable than spending
a day on the water with Hobart McWhorter and Andy Sherrill. October
3 was just such a day, and the indomitable Hobart McWhorter struck
first with this 3+ pound ladyfish. |
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Of
course the targeted species were false albacore, and Andy was
very pleased to boat one before his old buddy. Don't think
he didn't let Hobart know about it either... |
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The air was expletive-filled as Hobart missed
numerous false albacore takes, but he finally brought the biggest
FA of the day to the boat. What you're seeing here is a look
of extreme satisfaction as Hobart
once again accomplished his mission. |
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October 7 was a fun day for Kent Gilliland
starting with the big Spanish mackerel... |
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...and
ending with his first mahi-mahi on fly. Nice job, Kent! |
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Okay, it's not huge, but it sure is pretty.
Terry McCormick with his first-ever mahi on fly October 9. |
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But
the day belonged to the Queen! Alicia McCormick with an 8 1/2
pound Spanish mackerel...biggest of the year. That's a centerfold
photo if I ever saw one... |
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October
11 was Eric Mullis' birthday, and his dad Odell decided to take
him fishing. We were catching cigar minnows
in the current line on the Caucas Shoal when a school of redfish
started crashing bait on the surface. Odell hooked up immediately
but got cut off....quickly tied on another jig and landed the first
fish. Here's a 20 second video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4_GSypbgvs |
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My
childhood friend Snead Finch was in town just in time for the
hot action with the Mullis boys. Looking good, Big Snead! Timing
is everything. |
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Here's the birthday boy Eric Mullis with another
beautiful redfish landed before the school disappeared. |
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But
the catch of the day definitely went to Eric with this monster
snapper in Pensacola Bay. Happy Birthday, my man. Incredibly snapper
season was open, and we released this beauty to the cooler... |
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Greg Hawley had a big day October 16 starting with some fun with
the Spanish mackerel. |
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We
ran out to the shoal and had a school of a hundred redfish a
foot below the surface and all to ourselves...a rare treat for
October. Greg landed these three
beauties
before the school drifted out of sight. |
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A
rare spotless redfish. Greg switched to a floating line with
a tan/white clouser minnow for this catch.
Double click for a nice shot of the release. |
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The grand finale in the Gulf on a fine October day. We tucked the
rods away and enjoyed the beautiful scenery while having lunch. |
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Greg wasn't quite finished. We stopped again at the Spanish mackerel
spot and he landed and released the first fall pompano. |
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The
Gulf was blown out on October 21, so Steve Deeg and I poled some
flats in the Intracoastal Waterway east of Portofino. It was
very "technical" fishing, the redfish were wary, and we couldn't
get them to take the fly. We took a lunch break and were idling
out into deeper water when we noticed significant splashing out
in the
ICW. Incredibly it was a school of brightly-colored redfish crashing
bait on the surface. By the time we got there the fish had dropped
into deeper water, and Steve put the sinking line to work landing
this gorgeous 30" 12-14# fish... |
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Mike Youkee was in town for a week starting October 30, and we
ran straight to the Gulf hoping the big SE blow from the previous
week had moved false albacore close to shore. We ran a 10 mile
circle without seeing anything. On the way back in
we found schools of these "lookdowns" in the neighborhood of the
USS Massachusetts. They were eager to eat the gummy minnow, and Mike
landed several before we gave up on the Gulf and headed for the inside. |
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Our next stop was our favorite Spanish mackerel spot where Mike
landed this fish on the old-faithful tan/white clouser. This photo
provides a nice view of the Spanish mackerel's "sooty-black" dorsal
fin. A
juvenile
king
mackerel
closely
resembles a Spanish but has a clear-gray dorsal... |
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We
moved a little closer to shore hoping for Mike's first pompano
on fly and bingo! Love it when a plan comes together. |
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There
were rumors of redfish in the neighborhood of the Port of Pensacola,
so we ran over there to check it out. The water had glassed
off, and we saw a "river" of nervous water a few hundred
yards away. Idling closer we realized it was hundreds of huge
jack crevalle cruising along with their dorsal fins and tails breaking
the surface of the water. We quickly put a big popper on Mike's
11wt and eased into position. Mike made the cast and started the
popper
popping, but the jacks wouldn't eat it. They curiously swam all
around it but weren't sure what it was. In a semi-panic we switched
to this
big chartreuse/white streamer, and the jacks crushed it! This first
fish weighed 26 pounds and gave Mike all he wanted... Double
click for a nice side view. |
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Of course Mike had to have another go at them
resulting in this 24 pounder. But with a pompano and jack crevalle
in the "bag" all we needed was a redfish for the Emerald Coast
Grand Slam...a feat accomplished only once in 13 years. But it wasn't
to be. We looked for them on the surface until dark and never
even saw a pelican. |
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The next day was a different story. We ran
east to where Steve Deeg caught his fish the previous week, and
Mike landed five redfish of this quality... |
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Another
simply beautiful brightly-colored redfish...
|
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The redfish hunting started in earnest on November
2, but we only found one school of fish. Mike Shields saved the
day with this redfish landed on spinning tackle. |
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It
was a whole different story the following day. A giant school
of redfish found the millions of menhaden between
the Bob Sikes Bridge and the EPA
island, and all hell broke loose. We saw 20 pound redfish completely
airborne chasing the menhaden. There were just a few boats in the
area, and the fish fed constantly for a couple hours. By the time it
ended Mike Shields and TJ Carnes had landed over 50 bull redfish...that's
over 1000 pounds of redfish! Here's TJ with a "typical" catch... |
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Mike
Shields with one of the biggest redfish of the day. That's a
belly chock full of menhaden! |
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The
big redfish didn't feed again on the surface for a week, so we
resorted to looking for them in Pensacola Pass.
All my good friend Bob Parker wanted on November 5 was for his sons
to catch a big redfish, but it was Bob who got all the strikes.
Here he is with son David helping him hold fish #1. Double click
and son Robert shows up in the photo... |
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Rob scored the following day when he and his
dad landed this bull redfish "double" in Pensacola Pass. This turned
out to be Bob's last redfish, as he passed away a few months later.
We had many great times over the years, and I will truly miss him.
Bob Parker defined the term "class act". RIP my friend. |
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The
"Walters Luck" continued into 2015. For the second year
in a row Dave Walters was on the boat The Day the
schools of redfish came
into
the bay
from the Gulf. This year Dave had first-time saltwater fly-fisherman
Scott Aitken, his son-in-law, with him to experience the melee.
When the smoke settled they had landed 12 "doubles" and a dozen
more fish
each on poppers, streamers, floating lines, sinking lines, whatever
they put in the water. It was our all-time best day of bull redfish
fishing on fly. Here's Dave on November 10 with the first redfish
of the day. |
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Scott Aitken with his first redfish. Double click for a full view. |
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Dave and Scott with their first "double". Here's a video of the
hot action... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Uuht73XHVQ |
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That,
ladies and gentlemen, is what the fathometer looks like when
there's a school of redfish directly under the boat. Double
click and look
at the depth on the right side of the fathometer screen. The fish
are right down on the bottom below 20'. This is when you need
the
sinking
line to get the fly down there fast! |
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Scott with another beautiful bright-colored redfish |
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The
following day Daniel Walters joined the group, and once again
the fish were actively feeding. Here's Dave Walters with the first
fish of the day. |
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A nice double by Daniel (spinning tackle) and Scott (fly)... |
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A rare bull redfish "triple". All fish safely revived and released
unharmed. |
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Terrific
shot of Daniel Walters and friend on a spectacular November 11.
Photo taken by Dave Walters. |
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Ditto for Scott... |
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Pam and Sandy Loveless came to town November 12 hoping for some
redfish action, and everything worked out as planned. Here's Pam
with a bona fide monster... |
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Sandy's looking pretty darn happy, too. Sunshine, mild temperatures,
cooperative redfish... What's not to like. |
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What a difference a couple days makes! The weather blew in for
Edd Hill and Dwaine Mays who were here for 5 days on an Eastern Fly
Outfitters
trip.
We had
to
cancel
one
day and cut another short because of wind and rain, but the guys
from Tennessee hung in there and caught some nice bull reds on fly.
The man behind the mask is Edd Hill on a cold November 15. |
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Dwaine
Mays November 15 with his biggest-ever redfish on fly. |
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By
the end of the week the weather was beautiful, just in time for
Bob Jenkins on November 20. The Gulf was flat so we spent a
few hours chasing some very elusive redfish in stained water on
the Caucas
Shoal. Jenkins
finally got a decent shot and put the steel to this fish. We tried
unsuccessfully for another hour or so, and then decided to declare
victory and leave. |
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On the way back we stopped in the middle of Pensacola Bay
to celebrate the spectacular day with a cold beverage. Which we did.
It was around 3pm, the water was glassy, and we could see clearly
all the way to the Three Mile Bridge. As we drank our Dogfish Head
90 minute IPAs we noticed some boat action a few miles away close
to the bridge. Fortified by the IPA we
decided to run over there and check it out. To our delight the water
erupted with a big school of bull reds just as we got there, and
Jenkins proceeded to land five fish of this quality over the next
hour or so. |
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Bob's
biggest fish of the day weighed 29 pounds, and he landed it on
a TFO "Mangrove Series" 9wt with a green/white go-meaux. Another
incredible day on the water with Jenkins. |
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Things
were tough November 24 for Kent Gilliland. We
fished hard and finally got "first shot" at some fish that popped
up
in
the middle of the bay. Before the other boats arrived Kent used
his hand-made 10wt to put
the fly right on the money, and this fish slammed it. |
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Thanksgiving weekend was out-of-control with a hundred boats in
Pensacola Bay all charging around at high speed looking for schools
of redfish. When they converged on a school of feeding fish it was
dangerous at best. We managed to pull one fish from a school without
getting
rammed or cut off by the inconsiderate amateur boaters. Here's Jo
Pease with that gorgeous redfish with a little help from yours truly.
We'll be leaving Thanksgiving weekend to the other boaters from now
on... |
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Jake Tessler and Heather Trumbull were back in town December 1
and caught a perfect, warm, sunny day complete with bull redfish.
That's a seriously big fish, Jake. |
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And
the always photogenic Heather in a great photo of a fine catch. Double
click for the rest of the story... |
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Bruce Trumbull, fly rod in hand, put his
old System 2 reel to the test with this lovely redfish. |
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Auburn's Perry Oaks and John Slupecki, Tallahassee, followed
suit on December 2 with a double-digit day. Here's Perry with his
first redfish. |
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Talk about a well-fed redfish! John Slupechi with a hog... |
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And here's "Slupes" with his fish of the day...a monster on fly!
Double click for the side view of this impressive redfish. |
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New England guides Tom Rapone and Rob Morrison came down to see
what all the fuss was about. Too bad December 3 was a cold, overcast,
end-of-the-season day with few fish. But these guys are professionals
and knew the
job was dangerous when they took it. Before lunch by the Port of
Pensacola a small school of redfish popped up in casting range...which
is 100 feet
for
these
guys...and they both landed fish.
It
was beautiful
to watch
their double-handed
stripping technique and the action on their hand-tied menhaden
flies. After that pod of fish disappeared we stayed in the general
area for an hour or so until I couldn't stand it anymore. So I suggested
we run to the Gulf and head east looking for false albacore. Which
we did with no success. We finally anchored 15 miles from the Port
just east of the beach pier to have a sandwich, and the cell phone
rang.
A
guide
buddy
called
to
say the schools of redfish back at the Port were feeding on top...right
where we'd left! Tom, shown here, had the quote of
the year regarding my decision to leave the Port: "If it hadn't seemed
like a good idea at the time we wouldn't have done it". Truer words
were never spoken... |
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Rob Morrison with his first redfish... |
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...and
another. Photo by Tom Rapone. |
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We ran back to the Port after lunch. As we arrived the other
boats were leaving with the report "they went down about a
half hour
ago, and we haven't seen them since." Being professionals we stayed
in the general area until sunset, and never saw a fish. The ride
home was nice, though... Photo by Tom Rapone. |
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Tom and Robbie were back on the boat December 7, but this time
we stayed away from the undependable waters of Pensacola Bay and
went to a flat close to Pensacola Pass that I knew held some big
fish. It was difficult, technical fishing as suspected but Rob finally
got this bruiser to eat the fly. That's a 30 pounder, my man! Great
job! |
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Fellow guide Mel Rojko from Fairplay, Colorado, brought her 88
year old dad Art on the boat December 9. On the way to pick them
up I ran a circle around the bay looking for birds. There was another
boat out there who said he'd seen some redfish on the surface. So
after picking them we made a beeline back to that spot, and sure
enough a nice school of fish popped up. It all happened fast, but
both Mel and Art were ready. She laid a nice cast into the fish and
was immediately hooked up. I flipped a bucktail jig in the general
direction of the school, handed the rod to Art, and he came tight
to a fish. We landed Mel's redfish, got the photo, and released it
while Art held on for dear life. |
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With Mel's fish out of the way it was a treat to watch Art fight
and land his redfish. An 88 year old man moving around an 18' skiff
while fighting a 20 pound redfish is inspirational to say the least.
Here he is with his trophies...the biggest catch of his life and
his loving, caring daughter. |
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Those
fish disappeared as they do, and we headed out to the flat where
Rob caught his big redfish a couple days before. We poled as
quitely as possible hunting for the school and started seeing fish.
Mel had a number of shots and made good casts, but the fish had
lockjaw...wouldn't eat. I suggested she try a different stripping
technique...anything...to
make the tan/white clouser more appealing. On the next shot she
hooked into this 30 pounder. Her trick was a long, slow strip
followed by
a couple short, quick strips. Takes a pro to
figure that one out... So here she is: Mel Rojko showing off her
trophy redfish and her new Nautilus reel. Ought to end up on the
Nautilus website. Double click for a full view. |
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Mel reviving and releasing her fish. |
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How's
that for a black drum on fly! Stephen Miller and his biggest
saltwater fish yet on fly landed and released December 10. |
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Chico
Fernandez was on the boat December 19, and we went back to the
same spot hoping the black drum were still there. And they were.
The water was clear, and we could see them milling around the wreck
of
an old sailing ship in 10' of water. We tried numerous flies without
success, when
Chico said "I've been fishing for these guys for over 50 years,
and I've always had my best luck on black. You got anything black
in
your fly box?" So I dug around and found an ancient all-black clouser
minnow that I tied 15 years ago. Chico tied it on and landed this
22 pound black drum on his first cast. Goes to show it's always
best to listen to the master... Photo by Steve Jordan. |
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And
so that brings us to the close of yet another year, boys and
girls. Thanks to all of you for coming, and I hope to
see you again next year or sometime down the road. |
It’s always a great day on the water with Gulf Breeze Guide Service!
Gulf
Breeze Guide Service
P.O. Box 251
Gulf Breeze, Florida 32562-0251 (USA)
Tel: 850.934.3292 or 850.261.9035 (cell)
Email: gbgsfishing@aol.com
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