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