Catching an amazing variety in 3 days of fishing Islamorada

 Cliff Fox and his good buddy Freddy DuPreez are in town this week and had a great 3 days of fishing.

On Day 1 we fished on the oceanside starting on the reef patches. Plenty of tasty Yellowtail Snapper were kept for dinner and lots of Grouper were released. All were caught using Fox Ultralight Rage rods and Bonefish Trek rods fitted with Diablo 350 spinning reels. After spending the morning catching all sorts of fish including a Hogfish by Cliff we decided to try the outer reef edges. I threw the castnet before we left the shallow reef and caught a dozen or so ballyhoo just in case we saw a Saifish.

Cliff Fox with a Black Grouper caught using
the Rage Ultralight Diablo 350 combo

On the outer reef we anchored the boat and began catching King Mackerel up to 15 lbs. All of these were caught on bucktail leadheaded jigs tipped with a live shrimp. Using the Permit Trek rods fitted with Diablo 550 spinning reels was a perfect combo for this action.

King Macks were fun on the Permit Trek Diablo 550 combos

 I put a ballyhoo out on the right outrigger in  hopes of a Sail and we also flew the kite baited with a live Blue Runner.  Cliff hooked a nice King and Freddy grabbed the right outrigger rod and was onto a 50lb Sailfish. We had to toss the anchor buoy and give chase. Twenty minutes later we released the beautiful Sailfish. The Diablo 750 reel was loaded with 20lb Horizon Braid so we had plenty of line and we needed it. congrats Freddy.

Cliff with a nice King Mackerel

Fred caught  his Sailfish on the
Sailfish Trek Diablo 750 combo

boatside release of Freddy's Sailfish

Day 2 we decided to use Cliff's boat Foxy Lady and we headed out into Florida Bayside. A morning was spent catching lots of Spanish Mackerel and even a nice Cobia. We kept a few Mackerel for bait. The weather the last week had been warm and the winds had dropped so I suggested we give Tarpon a try even though it is the middle of winter.

Freddy caught and released this Cobia on a
Rage Ultralight Diablo 350 combo

We set up in  a channel further back in the bay and first off caught and released 3 Blacktip sharks in the 80lb class.

Cliff does battle with a Blacktip Shark using the
EOS trolling reel and Trek XT Boatrod

a hefty Blacktip Shark

 We could see a rain squall making up and we were about to reel in when Freddy hooked into a big fish. We battled this fish using a Diablo 750 spinning reel and a Sailfish Trek rod. The reel was loaded with 50 lb Horizon braid and 20 feet of 80lb leader with 3 feet of 100lb at the hook end. After an hour the fish got up on the edge of the flat and we got a good look. It was a Sawfish over 300lbs. Also swimming alongside the Sawfish were a few Cobia. Well I knew we would be extremely lucky to this fish up. After having the leader on the rod dozens of time and enduring a white-out rain squall I finally finger tipped the big fish up. At this point the Sawfish came loose. Oh well. The Sailfish Trek rod did an incredible job for over 2 hours with 50lb braid on this fish. Freddy held up very well. Nice effort.

Freddy DuPreez spent well over 2 hours battling a
Sawfish on the Sailfish Trek rod and Diablo 750 spinning reel

The rain came but did not stop Freddy

at the 2 hour mark Freddy battling his Sawfish

Day 3 dawned slick calm and we brought the big sticks. Thinking we would go back to the same area wiith Fox XT Boatrods and EOS 50 Trolling reels with 65lb Horizon braid and get the job done properly. After deploying 2 baits we were surprised as Cliff jumped a huge Tarpon that threw the big hook and bait.

Well I wasted no time rigging up 2 Sailfish Trek rods fittted with Diablo 750 spinning reels. In the next 4 hours Cliff Fox and Freddy DuPreez had the time of their fishing lives battling big Tarpon up to 150lbs. The slick calm conditions with a water temperature of 76 degrees had brought these big fish out of their winter slumber and they were hungry.

Cliff had 3 releases and Freddy had 1 and another 4 went jumping away.

After taking some incredibe photos I took another picture of a big Lemon Shark that Freddy had up and my old digital camera went away. The strap had broken off a year earlier so no pictures. All those jumping Tarpon will be etched in my mind for a long time.

Way to go Cliff and Freddy.

Captain Skip Nielsen