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Spring 2015 arrived with beautiful emerald green waters and mild conditions. The shallow water redfish sight-fishing was outstanding in both the Gulf of Mexico and the inland waters. Schools of jack crevalle arrived right on time in late-March, and the pompano showed up a little later. Poling the inside flats in April and May provided some terrific excitement for our fly-anglers, and when conditions were right we introduced our more experienced anglers to amberjacks on fly...poppers to be exact! As we got into June the red snapper season kicked in, and most of our clients "limited out". Here are the photos from our spring season. Double-click on the thumbnails for full-screen photos. For photos from previous seasons, click on the links to these additional galleries: 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.
 |
Greg
Sharp, Little Rock, Arkansas, kicks off the spring gallery on
March 22 with a couple outstanding redfish
caught on fly while sight-fishing in shallow water along the Gulf
Islands National Seashore. In late-winter and early-spring schools
of the
big fish feed in pockets along the beach in as little as 2' of
water. We pole the skiff and sneak up on the schools, drop anchor
when we get close, and wait until a fish moves into casting
range. The fish can weigh up to 30#, and we use 8 and 9wt tackle. |
 |
Greg's
second fish was similar in size... 40" and 24-25 pounds.
The light tan/silver color of these redfish
helps to camouflage them on the sugar-white sandy bottom. They
look like submarines in 3' of water but can "disappear" by
moving fifty feet out and sitting on the bottom in water that's
8-10' deep. Stealth is the key to getting close enough to
land one of
these trophies. Fire up the motor, and they're gone... |
|
Dennis Farkas and Tom Gutierrez were on the
boat the following day and got after the redfish with ultra-light
spinning tackle. Here's Tom with the first fish of the day. |
 |
Dennis Farkas with a 27-28 pound beauty. That's
a lot of redfish on a little St Croix 7' "Avid series" AS70MF rod,
Shimano Stradic 2500FJ reel, and 15# PowerPro braid! |
 |
Dennis and Tom "doubled up" with about 40 pounds
of redfish. The big reds are our breeding stock and are all carefully
handled and released unharmed. |
 |
The Gulf was blown out for Greg Sharp on
March 25, so we fished the inland waters.
This
fine
speckled
trout hammered Greg's tan/white clouser minnow in the channel leading
into one of our local bayous. |
 |
Here's a shot of Michael Harris with his first-ever
redfish on fly caught on a spectacular March 27. You'd
have to go to the Bahamas to find water this pretty... |
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Michael doing a fine job resuscitating his
fish after a hard fight and photo session. |
 |
Icelandic
surgeon Jonas Magnusson with the first jack crevalle landed on
fly since 2013. Jonas finally broke
the 2014 jinx on March 31 by coaxing this 16-18 pounder to eat
one of Ben Walters' big white poppers. Getting the fly in the
right
place
in front
of the jacks is 50% of the battle. The other 50% is getting the
hookset when the fish crushes the popper. Then there's the
most important 50% that's staying "tight" to the
fish at all times after the hookset. And of course there's the
50% that the
knots hold and the rod doesn't explode. You get the picture. Our
jack crevalle fly-fishing is hardcore... similar to fishing for
the giant trevally. It's big-game adrenaline-rush action that's
not for the weak-at-heart. Ben Walters sells his custom-tied poppers
at Eastern Fly Outfitters, Johnson City, TN. |
 |
The
Gulf was again too rough on April 3, so we poled some of our
favorite flats in Santa Rosa Sound looking
for 4-8# "slot-sized" redfish. Imagine our surprise when we found
a school of a dozen monster reds along the edge of a sandbar in
5' of water! Steve Lindeman was using his 8wt and got this 25 pound
fish to eat an olive/white EP clouser minnow. Goes to show that
amazing things can happen on the inside if you know where to
look... |
 |
Paul Legge was on the boat April 8, and we
naturally went back to that same area looking for the big fish.
Instead we found schools of perfect-sized redfish of this
quality
with numerous big trout mixed in. |
 |
Jay Lanier and Dave Harding were in town on
April 14, and we started off the day trying to sight-fish in the
fog. Of course we went back to the same spot and silently poled
the
flats
in a
couple
feet of water. It was very difficult
to see the fish sitting motionless on the sand, but they couldn't
see
us either.
Once they sensed our presence; however, the fish started milling
around, and
we had
a hard
time getting
one to
eat
the
fly. Jay
finally
made
it happen with the "old faithful" gray/white EP baitfish. Dave
took over and made numerous perfect casts with zero results, and
the phone rang. It was good friend and fellow guide Capt Eddie
Woodall alerting us that he'd found a big school of jack crevalle
in the Gulf right up on the beach, and that we might consider heading
out there. Which we did... |
 |
Dave
was on deck with the 10wt rigged and ready with a big white popper,
and we headed east of Pensacola Pass looking
for Capt Eddie's red Blazer Bay. His client was hooked up and
had been for about 15 minutes, so Capt Eddie pointed us in the
direction of
the school of jacks. We looked hard but couldn't find them, but
we did see some unusual reddish-brown color in a section of breaking
waves just outside the inner sandbar. There were 3' waves as
we got close enough to see that the coloration was a school of
redfish. We
maneuvered
the
skiff
close to the breakers, and Dave heaved the popper out over the
fish and made it dance. It was exactly what the redfish wanted,
and they all tried to get to the fly at the same time. This fish
took it away from the others, and Dave deftly brought it to the
net. Jay took over, and we tried again to get to the fish, but
all the commotion caused them to move closer to shore and out of
reach. We finally declared victory and left... |
 |
On
April 16, Lt Cmdr Kris Hemery of the French Navy took a break
from his flight instructor duties in Meridian,
MS,
for a little piscatorial R&R. Kris is a "big fish" guy and had
his sights set on jack crevalle, but a nice school of redfish came
first. We found the fish where we had found them a couple days
earlier...just outside the bar in solid 3' breakers. Kris
was using spinning tackle with terrific casting range, so we stopped
a safe distance from the breakers and he launched the big topwater
plug over the waves and to the fish. This fish immediately crushed
the popper, but as Kris was fighting it through the breakers his
rod
exploded. Accustomed to functioning in panic situations, Kris grabbed
the braided line and
"handlined"
the redfish to the boat. |
 |
A little later we found a school of jack crevalle,
and Kris accomplished his mission by landing his first jack. |
 |
Ellen Marsh kept the family from starving on April 21 by landing
this black drum on a live shrimp in Santa Rosa Sound. |
 |
After
which we headed to the Gulf where husband Tim boated this 20
pound jack crevalle on a topwater plug... |
 |
Boston's Bruce Trumbull on April 22 with the first fly-caught false
albacore of 2015. The fish were only 3-4 pounds, but each one took
Bruce into his backing. |
 |
Heather
Trumbull with a nice FA caught on spinning tackle as her dad
Bruce's fly rod is doubled-over in the background. Way to go,
Heathrow! |
 |
A couple days later Greg Trumbull landed and released this slot-sized
redfish in a rain-stained Santa Rosa Sound. Sight-fishing was impossible,
so we resorted to "free-lining" live shrimp over some very productive
grass beds. |
 |
Greg's fishing buddy Shauna Menard landed and released some beautiful
trout in the same general area... |
 |
Jim
Himmelwright on April 28 with a fine cobia landed on a live pinfish
while catch-and-release red snapper fishing on a nearshore
reef. We didn't have a cooler large enough to accommodate the fish,
so Capt Eddie once again came to the rescue and put the fish on
ice for us. Shortly afterwards Jim's fishing partner John Boles
brought
another similar-sized cobia to the boat, but we lost it at the
net. We were going to release it anyway, but it sure would've
beem nice
to get the photo. Sorry about that, John. |
 |
The stained water made its way into the Gulf on April 30, but it
was still clear enough to see a huge school of big redfish feeding
on the inner sandbar in 2-4' of water. As we poled into range the
fish started crashing baitfish on the surface all around the boat.
It was like the fall "running of the bulls" for a few minutes, and
Tommy Philtgen put the fly right in the middle of the melee. This
26 pounder grabbed the chartreuse/white "half and half" as it was
sinking and was off to the races. Tommy's an expert light-tackle
angler,
but
this
was
his
first
big
redfish on fly...and he fought it like a pro on his 8wt. |
 |
Bryce Merrill and Trevor Trumbull, from Colorado, were here May
1 looking for some fun with the fly rods. We caught a perfect day
for sight-fishing along the edge of the Gulf Islands National Seashore,
and both Bryce and Trevor landed and released their first pompano
on fly. Here's a cool shot of Bryce after he laid out a nice
cast and was getting ready for the strip... |
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And
voilà...a lovely pompano. |
 |
This
pompano charged in and ate Trevor's redfish fly before the redfish
had a chance to react. Sometimes you just have to take what
comes your way... Excellent photobomb by Bryce Merrill. |
 |
Birmingham
dentist George Andrews was on the boat May 2 for the best jack
crevalle fly-fishing in two years. The fish weren't interested
in the big white popper, so we switched to a large mullet pattern
that drove the fish crazy. George shown here with his first jack
crevalle on fly...landed and released unharmed. |
 |
George
definitely "Knows Jack" after his second fish. With a jack crevalle
"in the bag" we headed east to a pompano spot hoping for
the second leg of the Emerald Coast Grand Slam, but the pompano
didn't cooperate. We had a few shots but no takes. Had we landed
a pompano
we would've moved inside to a redfish flat and tried for the third
and final leg of the slam. But it wasn't to be... |
 |
The following day the Gulf was blown out, so we poled some inside
flats where George landed and released this healthy speckled trout. |
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Brothers Don and Butch Joyner enjoyed red snapper fishing in Pensacola
Bay on May 8. Here's Don with a beauty. |
 |
Butch
followed suit with another healthy bay snapper. |
 |
LOCALTAILS,
Jacksonville, FL, owner Rich Cuenta with an unusually spotted
redfish landed May 11 on a tan/white clouser minnow and released
unharmed in Santa Rosa Sound. Check out Rich's company for good
fishing
stories and very nice technical outerwear. Here's a link: http://localtails.com/ |
 |
Glenn
Perry on May 12 with a 5 pound speckled trout. We had had a tough
day in the Gulf and decided to stop at one inside flat before
heading to the boat ramp. The flat was loaded with 4-5" green-backed
"sardines", and there were schools of catfish(!), redfish,
trout, ladyfish, and sharks feeding on them. It was insane for
an hour and
a half as the flats totally came alive in
a feeding frenzy. We dropped anchor and Glenn landed numerous catfish,
countless ladyfish, and 7 trout over 4# before dolphins showed
up and everything
shut
down. The fly of choice was a #2 tan/white clouser minnow with
red eyes and copper-colored flash. It was strange that we never
landed
a redfish, as there were plenty of them swimming around the boat.
It was like everything else beat the redfish to Glenn's fly... |
 |
"Here's looking at you, kid"!
Project Healing Waters sponsored a trip on May 15 for some of
our Wounded Warriors. Professional fly-tier
Kent
Reagan
is
show
here
with a ladyfish that ate one of his clouser minnows. Kent sells
his flies online at http://store.usmcflyguy.com/. Anyone needing locals
flies can pick up "Capt Baz's favorite dozen" from Kent's shop. |
 |
Wounded Warrior Oleta Webb with a ladyfish caught on a rod she
built and fly she tied. Good job, Oleta! |
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Mike
Youkee, London, was back in May and started off the week by hammering
the redfish May 18 in Santa Rosa Sound. As you can see
these are big, healthy fish, and they were more than willing to
crush Mike's EP baitfish. Mike is a terrific caster who can throw
90' of
line in seconds. Plus, he has mastered the "fleeing baitfish" strip
which drives the trout and redfish crazy. They have to
eat it because it's getting away... It's fun to watch. |
 |
Mike
again with his second redfish of the day... |
 |
These first three redfish were so beautiful we had to include all
of them... Of course all fish were released unharmed. |
 |
The
following day Bob Jenkins, Woody Creek, CO, joined Mike, and
we ran out to the Gulf searching
for jack crevalle. Jenkins had come
close but never landed a jack on fly. He had his 10wt ready to
rock 'n roll with new, killer mullet fly from a few weeks before.
We ran east of Pensacola Pass and within a mile spotted a
big
school
of jacks
moving westbound.
The fish were "high and happy"...a good sign that they
hadn't been bombarded by 2 oz cobia jigs. We cut the motor
a couple hundred yards ahead of the fish, and used the push pole
to keep the bow pointed in the direction of the oncoming school.
Jenkins got ready with a full cast of line coiled on the deck and
the mullet in his hand. SHOWTIME! The
school came into casting range, and Bob dropped the mullet perfectly
in their path, but to our surprise the fish swam all around the
fly totally uninterested. We couldn't believe it, ran ahead of the
school, set up as before, and Jenkins made another perfect cast...
nada! The third time we switched to the big white popper, and this
time Jenkins hit paydirt! They could probably hear him yelling all
the way to Colorado!! Check that one off your dance card, dude... |
 |
We stopped on the way back at a redfish flat, and Bob added this
beauty to the day's tally. What a day! |
 |
On
May 21 we decided to give the redfish and trout a break and headed
back to the Gulf. It was a beautiful morning with a light
breeze and a tiny 2" chop. The first stop was a nearshore
wreck where
Mike blind-casted a big popper hoping to bring an amberjack to
the top. He was armed to the teeth with a 12wt rod and big Bauer
reel
with the drag so tight you could barely pull out line. We knew
if Mike hooked a big AJ it would charge straight back into
the
wreck
78' below. If he couldn't stop it we would most likely
lose the fly line. Sure enough, after a few casts amberjacks started
coming up to check out the fly. After a few short-strikes this
fish crushed the popper and bolted for the bottom. With the
engine fired up and the boat backing away from
the
wreck Mike held on for dear life. His rod was bowed
up under the boat, and even with the drag at max
the amberjack was taking
line. We both expected the rod to explode, but after a few minutes
Mike started to make some progress. After about 15 minutes he brought
the fish to the net, and we photographed, resuscitated, and released
it unharmed. The amberjack set the boat record at 32" to the
fork. We estimated the weight at around 20 pounds. Incredible power...
You've gotta feel it to believe it! |
 |
After the amberjack experience we spent the rest of our time playing
with false albacore. These were smaller than usual fish but a lot
of fun on an 8wt. |
 |
Mike
finished out the week on Saturday, May 23, by landing this 6
1/2 pound trout with pleasure boaters and swimmers all around
us.
A fitting finish to a good week on the water... Double-click for
a nice view of the big trout's trademark yellow mouth. |
 |
Dave Walters, Johnson City, TN, brought son Mark for a couple days
during the opening week of red snapper season. Problem was we had
a hard time getting away from the groupers in Pensacola Bay! Here's
Dave and friend on May 26. |
 |
Same problem for Mark...another gag grouper caught and released.
Grouper season didn't open until July 1. |
 |
The red snapper fishing was good as always during week 1. Dave
and Mark limited out both days and took plenty of snapper fillets
back to the Walters Clan in Tennessee. |
 |
Of course it wouldn't be right if we didn't do a little redfish
sight-fishing before and after chasing the snappers. Here's Mark
Walters with a fine specimen...released unharmed. Why kill a redfish
when you have the box full of snappers?! |
 |
On June 2 we took the skiff back to the same flat that came "alive"
three weeks earlier, and Jason Porter had a blast with the redfish
and
trout. This pompano came out of nowhere and inhaled Jason's tan/white
clouser. |
 |
Jason
landed numerous trout, but we only took the time to photograph
this one...a 3-4 pound beauty |
 |
Michael Brasher on June 3 with a gorgeous red snapper while fishing
with his dad John and Darrell Bobe. |
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Darrell answered the challenge with another hefty snapper headed
for the cooler... |
 |
How
about a blowfish on fly! Double-click for a closeup of this cool
marine creature...Clay Foreman's first saltwater fish on fly landed
June 10. |
 |
Blake
Butler on June 10 with the first big Spanish mackerel of
the year landed on ultra-light spinning tackle and an Acme "Sidewinder"
spoon. Double click on the photo to check out the teeth on this
beast! The big Spanish will be
on the grass beds in increasing numbers and sizes through October
and into early-November. They will yank the rod out of your hands
on the strike, spool you on light tackle, or bloody your knuckles
on fly gear. We've caught them over 30" long and up to 9 pounds.
They are fabulous gamefish and wonderful table fare. |
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John Boles saved the day June 15 by landing the red snapper he
and his dad John Boles had for dinner that night at the Aegean Breeze
restaurant in Gulf Breeze. Whew! Way to go, John! |
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Ted Calcaterra, St Louis, had never caught a redfish on fly until
June 16 when he landed 7! Here's Ted's #1...small but meaningful. |
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Now that's more like it, Ted. Perfect sized flats redfish... |
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Ted rounded out the day with a nice, fat speckled trout. |
 |
Will Prascher finishes up the spring gallery with his first-ever
redfish on fly on a beautiful June 17. |
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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