Bulls On Parade

When the fall window for giant redfish opens, let the mayhem blow in

- Joe Cermele

All good things come to those who wait, but when you’ve been waiting six hours, that gets hard to remember. I’d been out on Capt. Chris Williams’ boat since 8 A.M., bobbing around Florida’s Pensacola Bay in November 2017. We’d seen zero signs of life. As bored as we were, Williams assured me that the switch would flip, and there would be tidal waves of giant bull redfish in every direction. What’s hard to predict is exactly when it will happen, so you go early to avoid a bad case of FOMO.

At 2 P.M. some boats waiting nearby jumped on plane and made a beeline south. We joined the race, and in a few minutes, acres of diving pelicans came into focus. Williams drove right into them and stopped. Barreling at us was a wall of copper and froth. “This is what we’ve been waiting for,” he said.

WORTH THE WEIGHT