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Summer 2015 arrived with beautiful weather and water clear enough for our specialty...sight-fishing! Until July 15 most of the other guides focused on red snapper bottom-fishing which left us virtually alone for three weeks of great redfish and jack crevalle fishing close to shore. Our fly casters had some incredible experiences blind-casting poppers over nearshore structure for amberjacks up to 20 pounds. The false albacore were here off-and-on throughout the summer, and we had our best-ever September for mahi-mahi. Throughout the summer there were good numbers of Spanish mackerel in Santa Rosa Sound and redfish on the inside sand flats. Here are the photos from our summer season. Double-click on the thumbnails for full-screen photos. For photos from previous seasons, click on the links to these additional galleries: 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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Rob
Parker opens up the summer gallery with a bona fide whopper Spanish
mackerel on June 22. Rob landed this fish on light spinning
tackle and an Acme sidewinder spoon. |
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Will
Parker on June 22 with an impressive redfish caught while sight-fishing
with light-tackle close to shore in the Gulf Islands National
Seashore. |
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David Wages on June 23 with the first jack
crevalle of the summer. This fish crushed a big topwater "Chug
Bug" and was off to the races. Topwater sight-fishing at its best. |
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The jacks weren't the only species cruising
the shore on June 23. Here's Virginia Wages with a fine redfish
landed on a SPRO prime bucktail jig. |
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Rob
Parker came back for more on June 24 and landed this monster
jack crevalle |
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Roger
Ostrander and Brent Scott were on the boat July 3, and we headed
east looking for false albacore. We
finally found some fish around the Tex Edwards wreck, and both
Roger and Brent landed their first FA on fly. Here's Roger
with his biggest fish which ate a #6 clear gummy minnow... |
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...and Brent Scott with his first false albacore
landed on a #6 Cowen's albie anchovy. |
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The Gulf of Mexico was blown out on July 6,
so we moved inside where Rick Lutkus landed this gorgeous red snapper. |
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Speaking of nice red snappers! How about this
giant landed in Pensacola Bay by Tammy Langley on July 7! |
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Jonas Magnusson was on the boat July 9 fly
rod in hand, and we investigated some near-shore wrecks looking
for amberjacks. We found the fish, and they were eager to eat
big poppers blind-casted over the wreck. The water was 78' deep,
and the main issue was stopping the fish before they ran into the
wreck cutting the fly line... |
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Somebody
let this guy fish, and he landed a fine AJ which was 31" to the fork...1" short
of the boat record.
That's a Sage Xi2 12wt and Tibor Gulfstream with the drag so
tight it took two people to pull line off the spool. Double click
for
a shot of the bent rod as an AJ bolts for the wreck. |
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Duke Goeddel felt the amberjack tug on July
10 with this 12 pounder. Hard to believe how hard these "reef
donkeys" fight, especially on fly. |
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We moved close to shore and found a nice school
of big redfish milling around in 3-4' of water. The fish were spooky,
and it took Duke 25-30 long casts to finally get this 26 pounder
to eat his tan/white clouser minnow. Nice to have Duke and Alena,
Hillsborough, CA, on the boat again. |
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Birmingham's
Greg Hawley had a blast with the false albacore on July 13. The
fish showed up in decent numbers, and these were the 6-8 pounders
that run a couple hundred feet into your backing in about ten
seconds. Doesn't get much better on an 8wt fly rod. |
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Greg
with another beauty. Check out the girth on that fish! |
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We finished the day poling a favorite inside
flat, and Greg coaxed this redfish to eat an EP gray/white baitfish. |
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Our
very favorite meeting spot...Pegleg Pete's on Pensacola Beach!
Great people, great food, a nice marina, and plenty
of on-the-street parking for our clients. Best grouper sandwich
you've ever eaten (The Grouper Supreme)...guaranteed by Capt
Baz |
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Mike
Bailey on July 20 with a nice, fat redfish landed while drifting
live pinfish through Pensacola Pass. |
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A few days later this
gorgeous redfish took young Jake Story's live bait and gave him
the fight of a lifetime.
Way to go, Jake! Jake's dad Feather-craft's Bob Story was happy
to help Jake handle the fish. |
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13 year old Cole Winston, Tyler, TX, with a
pretty bluefish on August 6. Cole was blind-casting for
Spanish mackerel when this bad little dude hit his spoon. |
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Carlos Sandoval on August 10 with a very fine
pompano landed in Santa Rosa Sound. |
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Later
we ran out to the Gulf and found a school of redfish feeding
along the beach. We had perfect conditions
for sight-fishing, and Carlos landed this fish on light-tackle
and a SPRO bucktail jig. That's
brother
Simon
joining
in the fun. |
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Here's Carlos with yet another bull red...his
biggest of the day! |
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Margaritaville's
Brad Schwaeble with a Santa Rosa Sound redfish caught on a topwater
Mirrolure "Top Pup" and released August 12. We mash the barbs
down on the plugs to facilitate an easy release. Check out the
blue in the tail... |
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Chicago
master-chef Stephen Miller had a ton of fun with the ladyfish
on fly August 13. These weren't your average sized ladyfish either...most
fish were in the 2-3# range with some pushing 4 pounds. |
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Later
in the afternoon we poled a lovely stretch of beach, and Stephen
experienced the thrill of redfish sight-fishing. Here he
is with his first-ever redfish on fly caught on
an EP gray/white baitfish pattern. |
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Our
next trip wasn't for a few days, and Stephen spent some of his
spare time visiting Bass Pro in Destin. While there he picked
up some flies including an EP Mangrove Pinfish, sz 2/0, and it
was
that fly that did the trick for this very fine redfish. The fish
charged the fly without hesitation, and Stephen fought it like
a pro. A few casts after landing and releasing the redfish Stephen
lost his Mangrove Pinfish to a big bluefish, and that was it for
the day... |
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Sandy
Loveless on August 27 with his first badass Spanish mackerel
on fly. |
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Peter Petruzzi and Sam Lewis started off September 3 blind-casting
clouser minnows for Spanish mackerel. Here's Peter with a nice one... |
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Then we headed out to some FADs (Fish Attracting
Devices) in the Gulf hoping to find mahi-mahi.
Peter and Sam were both rigged with poppers, and as we approached
the first FAD a mahi jumped a hundred feet in front of the boat.
Talk about excitement! Peter was first to get his fly in the water,
and this mahi crushed it and exploded all over the surface. The
current pulled us away from the FAD as Peter fought his fish and
Sam casted over-and-over with no takes. After landing and releasing
his fish Peter suggested Sam try a Crystal Minnow that
Peter had tied. |
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We
eased back withing casting range of the FAD, and Sam dropped
his fly in the water preparing to cast. A
mahi shot out from under the boat and inhaled the fly before Sam
could even strip it! Peter quickly changed to one of his barbless
Crystal Minnows, and the two of them had a field day landing
and releasing
fifteen mahi in the next
hour. It was our all-time best day of mahi-mahi fishing. Here's
a great shot of Peter and Sam with a rare mahi-mahi double on fly.
Gorgeous fish that we released unharmed to fight again... |
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John Weber on a spectacular September 4 with his first redfish
on fly... |
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A
surreal photo on September 5 of Icelandic Surgeon Jonas Magnusson
blind-casting for Spanish mackerel at our
favorite "honey
hole". |
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Jeanie Torchio was thrilled September 8 when
this huge Spanish mackerel slammed her Sidewinder spoon and headed
for
Cuba! |
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How about a lovely pompano on fly! Nice work
by Paolo Torchio on September 8. |
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Jeff Nall has a knack for being in the right place at the right
time. For the second year in a row Jeff was on the boat the first
day schools of redfish appeared on the Caucas Shoal. We had them
all to ourselves for a while, and Jeff landed this brightly-colored
fish on fly. |
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A couple other boats saw Jeff fighting the fish and came over to
investigate. One of them had 5 anglers throwing big lead jigs
right in the middle of the school, and the fish disappeared. We stayed
there after the other boats left and found the fish in deeper water
where Jeff landed this beauty on light spinning tackle. |
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A happy Tom Halbrooks on September 17 with his first Spanish mackerel
on fly |
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USCG's
Pete Melnick, Sitka, Alaska, was in town September 19 for some
training and took the opportunity to wet a fly. Pete was
blown
away by
the
speed of this Spanish mackerel which left him with a nice line
burn on his stripping finger. A little souvenir to take back
home... |
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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