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Winter 2011 was in a word fabulous, especially if you like redfish. The false albacore run that normally happens in January came early this year. By December 21 it was almost over. But the redfish fishing was the best we've seen in many years, and it continued strong through March. The jack crevalle arrived a month early, and our clients had a ball with them starting March 11...the earliest we've ever landed a jack. For our spin-fishing clients the sheepshead spawned earlier than normal, and the red snapper and grouper fishing was dependable throughout the winter. Here are the photos from the winter season. For photos from previous seasons, check out these additional galleries: 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. Click on any of the small images below to see the full size photos. Use the back button on your browser to return to this page.
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Jim
Williams, Austin, TX, starts off the winter gallery with the
first redfish of the season...a beauty landed while sight-fishing
along the Gulf Islands National Seashore on December 27. |
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On
December 28 Jeremy Church had the pleasure of fighting his first
redfish on his new fly outfit. It was a typically beautiful winter
day with dead-flat, crystal-clear water and lots of fish. Check
out all the boat traffic in the background... |
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Jeremy with his prized catch. The redfish ate a tan/white sz 2 Clouser minnow. |
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Dennis
Farkas and well-fed 43" redfish on December 29. |
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It
was totally overcast with rain threatening on December 30, but
Keith Tucker, Reno, NV, wanted to try to catch his first redfish
on fly...which he did. We poled some grass/sand flats in the
Intracoastal Waterway and found enough fish to keep things interesting. |
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Keith,
who's a trout guide in Truckee, CA, landed and released this
beauty a little later. Double click on the photo to get a better
view of perfect redfish habitat. Even though there was no sun
we could easily spot the redfish holding in the sandy channels
between grass beds. Water was 2-3' deep. |
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Jeff
Tanner, Waco, TX, and a hard-fighting red snapper caught and
released January 7. |
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On
January 8 we were drifting toward the pass on a strong incoming
tide when a school of about 50 redfish appeared just outside
the inner
bar.
Geoff Brodersen had the presence of mind to wait until the fish
passed under the boat before making a nice "going away" shot
to the unsuspecting redfish. Good job, Geoff! |
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Geoff's
dad Mark Brodersen with a fat, female speckled trout landed and
released late in the day January 8. There are always big
trout roaming the shallows during the winter months. |
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Rhad
Hayden, Baton Rouge, LA, spent the morning trying to coax redfish
to eat the fly on January 13, but they
just wouldn't cooperate. We gained the upper hand by switching
to light spinning tackle and a SPRO prime bucktail jig a little
later in the day. |
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The
following day Rhad nailed (and released) this black drum on a
tan/white Clouser. He used a 240gr sink-tip line to get the fly
down to the fish. |
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Once
again on January 14 the big redfish were not interested in the
fly, but a bucktail jig did the trick. |
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Steve Taylor and Randy Knutson came over from
Fairhope, AL, for some outstanding redfish sight-fishing on January
19. Here's Steve with the first fish of the day. |
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Randy
Knutson with a cool triple-spotted redfish which turned out to
be the biggest fish that day. |
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Randy
and Steve ended the morning trip with a fine "double" along the
inner bar in the vicinity of Battery Langdon. |
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Ed
Cox, Birmingham AL, with his hands full of redfish on January
20. |
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Atlantic
Southeast Airlines pilot Allen Cox took a break from the cockpit
and landed his biggest redfish to date January 20 while fishing
with his dad. |
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Patsy
Vargo Joyner and husband Don, Great Falls, MT, were in
town January 27, and the redfish were hungry. Here's a nice shot
of
Patsy
with
her first fish of the day. Check out the water. The Gulf of Mexico
was like a lake that day. |
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Don
Joyner followed suit with this smaller male redfish. It's amazing
how silvery these winter fish can be. |
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Bob
Blain from Gulf Breeze on January 28 with what may be the biggest
redfish we've ever landed. This fish was a bona fide monster,
and Bob landed it on a St Croix AS70MF rod, Shimano Stradic
2500 and 15# PowerPro braid. |
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John
Vacca learned
a lot about redfish power on January 28. |
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It was a tough day redfish-wise for Rick Roth
while fishing with Bob and John on January 28. Rick had his
bucktail jig in school after school of redfish but was relegated
to watching his buddies get the hookups. This beautiful red snapper
saved the day for Rick. |
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Brian Whitman and daughter Ashton, Alpharetta,
GA, had a ball catching and releasing red snappers on January 29. |
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An
artsy shot of Pensacola's Roger Orth "bowed up" on a balmy February
19. |
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Life
is Good! Roger Orth and friend on February 19. |
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Roger
Orth and partner Wayne Adkisson ended the trip with a major league
double... |
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Ben
Raines, Fairhope, AL, with an impressive redfish on fly February
22. Double click on the photo for a good look at the fly...a
custom tied "go-meaux" from Deep South Outfitters, Birmingham,
AL. |
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Now
THAT's what I'm talking about! Howell Raines with a monster redfish
in shallow water February 22. |
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How's
this for a first-ever redfish on fly? Joe Lucero and son Cade,
Fox Island, WA, with another monster redfish caught February
23 on Joe's first cast. We found this fish in crystal-clear water
about
3'
deep. |
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Richard
VanSant and his finest redfish to date landed and released February
24. |
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March
11 was a breakthrough day for Matthew Vann of Pensacola. We rounded
Pickens Point heading east and immediately ran up on a school
of a hundred redfish. Matthew landed his first-ever bull red
on fly...one of four landed that morning. |
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A
little later in the day Matthew landed another beauty. |
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For
those who've never seen a really big school of redfish the dark
mass is solid redfish...about five hundred of them. |
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We pulled into the beach and picked up Keith
Konen from Colorado who had just landed a big redfish from shore.
Keith and Matthew got this "double" from the school shown above. |
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We
dropped Keith off and were heading back to the big school of
redfish when a small school
of jack
crevalle
appeared a hundred feet away and closing fast. Matthew had just
enough time to grab the 10wt and make a perfect cast. Here he
is with his first jack on fly. After landing this fish we spent
the last half hour of the trip trying for a pompano to complete
the Emerald Coast Slam, but it wasn't to be... |
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Colin Michael Reilly had the hot hand March
13 while fishing with his dad and brother. We found a small group
of jack crevalle feeding inside the inner bar, and this fish crushed
a chartreuse "chug bug". |
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A
little later in the day Colin added this redfish to his tally... |
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Trevor Farkas and a fine sheepshead landed March 14 while fishing
with his cousin Derek and Uncle Dennis. |
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Dennis Farkas had the fish of the day...for a while. |
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Trevor Farkas took the top honors with this
redfish landed close to the beach in the Gulf Islands
National Seashore. |
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Jim
Palmer, Jackson, MS, and a trophy redfish on March 15. |
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Jim's
grandson Palmer Duckworth on March 15 with his first redfish. |
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Walter
Kirkland and Howell Raines came over from Fairhope, AL, on March
16, the day the big schools of redfish showed up on the Caucus
Shoal. Here's Walter with a typically beautiful fish landed on
a "go-meaux" from Deep South Outfitters, Birmingham. |
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After landing numerous fish each on the
shoal we moved inside to a sandbar where Howell Raines
caught
this monster...the boat record redfish on fly. The fish followed
the fly so close to the boat that Howell's leader was in the
guides. He wiggled the rod tip from side-to-side, and
the big fish ate the fly. It was indeed poetry in motion... |
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But
Howell wasn't quite finished. At the end of the day we ran east
of the pass to look for
jack crevalle and immediately came up on a small school of about
a dozen fish. Howell put the 3/0 popper in front
of them, and this fish attacked it. The jack
turned out to be the boat record at 28 1/2#
beating the previous record by a half pound. Two records in one
day and it was Miller Time... or was that Makers Mark... |
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Timing
is everything. Francis
Crockard and Hobart McWhorter hit the redfish jackpot the following
day on March 17. There must've been a thousand redfish on the
shoal, and we were the only boat out there. This
is one of numerous fish Francis landed on his 9wt. |
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A
little later we moved in to the same sandbar where we found the
fish the day before, and Hobart McWhorter
landed this 42" redfish on a 10wt, sinking line, and a white go-meaux. |
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By the time Glenn Perry got here on Saturday,
March 19, all the other guides and recreational fisherman had heard
about the redfish on the shoal. Glenn landed fish of this quality
until we tired of the mayhem and moved inside. |
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We
end the winter gallery with a terrific father/son trip for Keith
and Holden Tate from Athens, GA. Let the good times
roll, gentlemen! |
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Keith and Holden with the final redfish of
the trip...and the season. It was a fitting end to the best winter
redfishing in memory. |
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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