Spring Break In Islamorada

Its Spring Break here in Islamorada and the town is full. We started out with cool temps and as the week flew by it warmed up to 85F yesterday. The last 2 days herds of Tarpon showed up in the backcountry and in what we call the Lakes. Fly fisherman have had good success as well as the bait fisherman for the Silver Kings. I have had a whole cast of families and friends and we targeted a little of everything. Here are just a few pictures of the catches this past week.

Captain Skip Nielsen

George Witts used Bonefish Trek Diablo 350 combo on a
number of big Grouper. Great light tackle challenges

Grandpa John Tedesco getting an assist from Grandson Trevor

Lance Schillizi used the Permit Trek,
Diablo 550 on this Gag Grouper

Roy Tedesco caught his first Tarpon on the
Fox Sport Fishing Sailfish Trek Diablo 750 combo

Roy thinks the lucky cigar got the bite but he sure loved
catching his Tarpon on Sailfish Trek Diablo 750 combos

The Tedesco family had excellent spring weather

Trevor Tedesco's Sawfish was a big catch
on the Sailfish Trek Diablo 750 combo

here's me and Kenny with his Gag Grouper on a cold March day

Big battle wore out Trevor Tedesco

Craig Balsam caught his second Sawfish on day 2
on the Sailfish Trek Diablo 750 combo.

3 Sawfish in 3 days

Craig Balsam's massive Sawfish finally comes to the boat

Craig Balsam spent 3 hours fighting a Huge Sawfish
Fox sport fishing Boat rod XT Trek rod and EOS 50 Trolling reel
spooled with Horizon braid

Roy released this Gag Grouper using the Bonefish Trek Diablo 350 combo

Craig loved the challenge of using  light tackle Bonefish Trek Diablo 350
combos to try and succeed in catching Grouper on shallow waters

Josh Barco with another Blacktip Shark release.

Ian Applebaum using Rage ultralight Diablo 350 combos
on fun light tackle action with the macks

Wil Balsam sight casted to catch this Triple tail using
Bonefish Trek Diablo 350 combo

Scott Barco used Rage ultralight Diablo 350 combos to land 2 Blacktip sharks

Spanish Mackerel bite was red hot for Marty Applebaum

Chilly Back-country Tarpon

We left the dock at 8am and it was blowing 20 knots from the North. Christine and Jeff Thompson said they could handle it so after stopping halfway across the bay to regroup we pushed on towards the far backcountry. They really wanted a go at a Tarpon and since the cold wind had begun during the early morning hours the water temp was still in the high 60's F. Well the cold wet ride paid off. Christine caught an estimated 140lb Tarpon that really put on a wild show. Jeff had another jump and spit the hook.  Jeff did catch a Lemon Shark and a couple of Blacktips. We used Fox Sport Fishing Sailfish Trek travel rod and a Diablo 750 for these captures.

Christine Thompson catches huge Tarpon on a very cold morning

moments like this is what makes a cold ride worthwhile

Christine's Tarpon

Jeff spent some time fighting the Lemon Shark

Jeff caught this hefty Lemon Shark

Plenty of action was had later in the day with Seatrout, Spanish Macks and Mangrove Snapper.

Jeff holds a Spanish Mackerel for Christine

Day 2 was really tough. COLD..... water temp was down to 61F. No Tarpon sightings much less a take. We did spend some time catching a mess of snapper for another dinner at Lazy Days. As we finished up late in the afternoon balls of mullet were coming in from the ocean. As soon as it warms up the Tarpon fishing should go off.

Captain Skip Nielsen

What a difference a day makes

On Monday March 11 my wife Cyd and her brother Larry (visiting from Ohio) spent the morning on the water. Windy was the word. With plenty of fresh caught mullet we fished local channels. On the first 2 hours of an outgoing tide we watched literally hundreds of Tarpon rolling and cavorting. Nothing we tried would get them to open their mouths. Frustrating to say the least. Luckily we did put a bend in the Fox Sport Fishing Sailfish Trek rod a couple times. Cyd and Larry each caught a big shark.

Cyd Nielsen puts the heat on a Shark

Larry Toth fights a big Shark on the
Sailfish Trek Diablo 750 combo

Larry checks out his Shark

On Tuesday the wind had died down and I had saved our mullet from yesterday. After a fun filled morning catching all kinds of snapper, mackerel, ladyfish ect.. with the Bonefish Trek rod and Diablo 350 spinning reel we headed north west far out into Florida Bay.

I had father Chip and sons Andrew and John with me. Using my favourite 8 foot Sailfish Trek rod fitted with Diablo 750 spinning reel we set up in a channel near First National Bank. John hooked up within 15 minutes to a Tarpon I estimated at 115 lbs. A great fight, lots of jumps and we were able to get a DNA sample before the release.

John, Chip and Andrew all caught movie stars
on the Sailfish Trek Diablo 750 combo

John's Tarpon goes airbourne

love to watch them jump

Next it was Chip's turn. This was a very large Tarpon over 130 easily. Very broad girth. She put on a spectacular show ending the battle almost jumping in the boat.

Chip Freund  big Tarpon

Round 3 was Andrew doing battle with a Hammerhead Shark. I spool the Diablo 750 spinning reel with 30 and 50 lb Horizon Braid line. You need it to beat these big fish. The Sailfish Trek rods are 4 pieces but you would never know it battling a big fish. Being 8 foot long makes it easy to clear the bow and stern of the boat. This is nice because with 3 anglers plus me on an 18' skiff the long rod saves plenty of fish from breaking off.

Great Hammerhead has huge dorsal fin

Now this morning as I write the wind has switched to the north once again and that will put the Tarpon down for a few days. But in the meantime I am sure we can find something to catch here in the Florida keys.

Captain Skip Nielsen

First Tarpon Of The Season

Well it is Great to again be fishing in Islamorada, Florida Keys. It is springtime but we are getting cold fronts on a weekly basis. The Tarpon showed up during a warm spell a couple weeks ago but now that the water has cooled down to the low 60's F it is a chore to get them to feed.

On Friday March 8 I had Dick Alt and Bob Leef aboard and we spent the morning light tackle fishing for Snapper for dinnner but caught quite a few other species as well. We used Bonefish Trek and Rage rods fitted with Diablo 350 spinning reels. The 2 days previous were so cold and windy that very few guides left the dock. On this day it was calm and the fish were really hungry. We limited out by 10:30 and made our way back towards Islamorada searching for Mullet on the way. We finally found a nice mullet "mud". These muds are formed by the mullet feeding and grubbing along the bottom. After more throws of the castnet than I intended we had a couple dozen frisky live mullet.

the wind was down but the temp was  64 degrees F.
The boys had fun catching Snapper for dinner

Two days before the cold front I had been out scouting  and had found a bunch of Tarpon in one of the local channels. So there we headed and within 15 minutes of fishing Dick hooked a 100lb Tarpon on a Sailfish Trek rod fitted with a Diablo 750 spinning reel. I was pretty surprised as the water temp was 61 degrees F.

Dick Alt really enjoyed catching this 100lb Tarpon

Fox sport fishing's Sailfish Trek rod and
Diablo 750 spinning reel was used on this Tarpon

Dick had a blast catching this fish. He loves using spinning tackle on big fish.(fixed spool). It was the first Tarpon of the season on my boat and I was really happy. After the big fight we gave it another hour and Bob Leef caught a big Blacktip Shark around 75lbs using the same outfit. We saw some Tarpon rolling but no interest.

Got out March 10th with Anna and Paul Timmerburg. A great father daughter bonding day on the water. We again fished the Bonefish Trek and Rage rods and Diablo 350 spinning reels most of the day. Fishing was excellent. A limit of Mangrove Snapper were caught for dinnner and many Spanish Mackerel,Ladyfish and Bluefish were released.

Anna used the Bonefish Trek Diablo 350 to catch fish all day long

Paul was Snapper King and loved using a
Rage Ultralight rod fitted with a Diablo 350 reel

Anna with a nice Spanish

We then spent 2 hours near Sandy Key trying for a Tarpon. No bites, cold water but Anna managed a nice Blacktip Shark. To finish we tried a small spot casting large shrimp on jigheads. 4 Snook and a Redfish to end the day.

We tried for Tarpon and got a Spinner Shark

Paul ended the day with this Snook on a
Rage rod and Diablo 350 spin reel

It is great to be back fishing in some of the most productive water anywhere.

Captain Skip Nielsen