A Fun 3 days of fishing culminates with a West Coast Florida Grand Slam!

We mixed it up these past 3 days. Cliff and Cathy Fox are in town fishing on their boat Foxy Lady. The Spanish Mackerel bite has been on so  the first day we headed to the western reaches of Florida Bay. Many Mackerel were caught along with Seatrout and jumping Ladyfish.

Cathy caught lots of Spanish Mackerel on her
Bonefish Trek rod and Diablo 350 reel

Cliff had loads of fun using the Fox Rage Ultralight rod and
Diablo 350 spinning reel on the hot Spanish Mackerel action

Cathy also managed a really toothy Blacknose Shark. Cliff used the new Cellmax Flyreel paired with a Bonefish Trek 8 weight flyrod to take the Mackerel and Ladyfish as well.

Cathy Fox used the EOS 30
conventional reel and a Tarpon Trek
rod to catch a Blacknose Shark

After a few hours of fast action the seas had gone flat. I decided on a bit of Gulf Wreck exploring and we ran out another 9 miles into the Gulf of  Mexico. Cathy's first cast put her on a splendid Cobia. But we could not get another bait out without a Blacktip Shark taking it. Cliff put the flyrod back to work and released 3 Blacktip Sharks.

Cathy Fox with a big Cobia caught on a
Permit Trek rod and Diablo 550 reel

Cliff used the new Cellmax flyreel paired with a
9 weight Fox Trek Fly rod to catch 3 Blacktip Shark on the fly

Cliff says to me "lets try some big baits". So I deployed whole mackerel baits on the EOS 30 reels paired with the Tarpon Trek conventional rods. It wasn't long before Cathy and Cliff were hooked up to a double header of Big Ones...

Large Lemon Shark that Cliff caught on a Nylon trace

We threw the anchor buoy and gave chase. Cliff managed to get his 200lb Lemon Shark boatside first after a grueling battle. Then we went after Cathys'. This monster turned out to be a Bull Shark in the 300lb class. What a catch. At one time over 350 meters of Horizon Fox Braid 50lb test was stretched out. Lots of cranking and a tiring catch.

On day 2 we caught live mullet and gave the bridges a try for Tarpon. No luck at all. But near the bridge we did release 2 nice Snook. To further salvage the day we eased our way out to some patch reefs. The seas were somewhat swelly so made a tactical strike and caught over 15 assorted Grouper. We kept one nice Red Grouper for dinner.

Cathy gets a helping hand from Cliff on her nice Snook

Cliff Fox puts maximum pressure on a Red Grouper
using the Bonefish Trek spinning rod

Cathy puts the Permit Trek rod and
Diablo 550 to work on Red Groupers

using Bonefish Trek spinning rods and
Diablo 350 reels some nice Mangrove Snapper
were landed for dinner

Day 3 we still wanted to try for a late season Tarpon. Seas were slick calm and the temp was in the high 80's. In fact it was a hi temp record in Miami this day. Well Cathy caught a huge Snook. Cliff caught a big Gag Grouper. Some shark action but no Tarpon to be had. I guess we can officially close Tarpon season til Springtime.

Cathy caught and released this Huge Snook

We moved over to the flats near Sandy Key. A very low tide as we idled up a flats drain. Cathy and Cliff each caught a half dozen Redfish on light tackle. Lots of Ladyfish as well.

Cliff with a nice Redfish on a
Bonefish Trek rod and Diablo 350 reel

Cliff with a spotless Redfish caught on the
Rage Ultralight rod and Diablo 350 spinning reel

Cathy holds one of a dozen Redfish
caught on the backcountry flats

So now Cathy needed a Tarpon to complete a backcountry grand slam. I remembered a canal where I had seen a few while castnetting bait. We ran back to give it a try.

Using a Fox Bonefish Trek rod paired with a Diablo 350 spooled with 10lb Horizon braid and a live pilchard for bait we patiently waited. After half an hour a Tarpon took Cathy's bait and she expertly hooked and landed it.

Cathy had lots of jumps catching this Tarpon

Cathy Fox completed a  Backcountry Grand Slam
 with her release of this Tarpon at the very end of the day

Congratulations Cathy Fox on your Grand Slam

Captain Skip Nielsen