Fishing with the family is the best!

In the early 70's when I was just a deckhand I first met Gerald Cohen, he was 7 then and fishing with his brothers and sisters. Since those early fishing trips when he was just a teenager he and his family have continued through the years coming down to Islamorada to fish with me. Last Wednesday Gerald brought his family, Wife Liz, daughter's Hannah and Liat and son, Benjamin.

The girls wanted to fish in flat calm seas. I understood perfectly. So we took my 28' First Growth to the backcountry in search of action for the youngsters where we could stay in the protected calm waters of the bay rather than venturing out to the open seas and the swells. Fishing the transition zone where Florida Bay meets the Gulf of Mexico we had plenty of action. Spanish Mackerel, Mangrove Snapper and Grouper were caught. Snapper were kept for dinner. Everyone had fun using the Fox Bonefish Trek and Fox Rage Ultralight rods fitted with Diablo 350 reels.

How 'Bout It was my offshore
charterboat back in the 80's and 90's

no way I am going to hold that fish

Ben and Liat  used the Fox Rage Ultralight Diablo 350 combos

Gerald and Liz Cohen with a Spanish Mackerel

Hannah Cohen took this of an Osprey

Hannah, Gerald, Ben and Liat all caught
Spanish Macks on Bonefish Trek Diablo 350 combos

I had chummed the kids up telling them we might be able to catch a shark or two and now they couldn't wait so off we went to some channels to set up. With a nice incoming tide it did not take long for the Sharks to sniff us out. In fact they swarmed us. Blacktip Sharks were perfect for these young kids to catch and learn how to hook and manage the tackle properly.

Ben had caught his first Sailfish back in December with me and now wanted something bigger than the 25lb Blacktips.  It wasn't long before Ben had a big fish steadily taking line. We dropped the anchor buoy and gave chase. It turned out to be a 150 lb Lemon Shark. Ben was now a happy angler. Ben and his Sisters used the Sailfish Trek Diablo 750 combos to do the fishing today. The Sailfish Trek travel rod is eight feet long and allowed the kids to clear the outboard motors and move around the boat easily without letting the line touch anything to cause broken lines.

I am a firm believer in these 8' rods. And as usual the Diablo 750's never missed a turn.

12 year old Ben Cohen does battle with a big Lemon Shark.

Liat never stopped fishing. a hardcore young angler

the 8' Sailfish Trek rod gives young anglers and
old an easy way around the boat with the long reach

Ben's Lemon Shark

Hannah Cohen with her Blacktip

After about 30 sharks the kids were still going strong. And now 9 year old Liat was hooked up with an 85lb Tarpon. Had to toss the anchor buoy and give chase again. Liat did a great job and dad held onto her back. She was really excited. Great job Liat!!!

Liat used a Fox Sailfish Trek Diablo 750
combo to catch her Tarpon

Gerald touches the trace for daughter
Liats first ever Tarpon release

congrads to Liat

In the end even Hannah,14, who seemed not to interested in fishing, got into the act and released a few of the hungry Sharks. We finished up with a few more sharks then everybody took naps on the ride back.

Captain Skip Nielsen

Fishing Was On Fire!

Michele Wall and her twelve year old son Turley had booked me to go Sailfishing. I did not have any trouble convincing them to try the backcountry for Tarpon as the seas were flat and poor conditions for Sails. One thing about fishing the keys you have to be flexible and go with what you think is best. We cast netted a live well full of mullet for bait on the way back to Everglades National Park where we planned to fish for the day. Arriving at the "spot" we immediately saw a free jumping Tarpon. A great sign.

Turley started out catching 2 Blacktip Sharks then Michele was into a large Tarpon. What a jumper! This was one tough Tarpon, Michelle spent 45 minutes working hard to land her very first Tarpon. Meanwhile young Turley was getting restless and wanted to put his bait back in the water. Michele brought her fish boatside and we released it after doing a DNA scrape for research.

Michelle's high jumping Tarpon

while Michelle does battle with her Tarpon
young Turley asks me if he can fish

a DNA sample was scraped off the jaw
of Michelles' first ever Tarpon

After another 5 Blacktip Sharks Turley hooked into something large. After a 20 minute battle we were able to leader up an eight foot long Sawfish. This is still considered a rare catch but we are seeing more and more of these protected prehistoric fish. Turley was stoked and we took pictures and carefully released his catch.
We were inundated with sharks so moved a few miles to another channel where I had seen Tarpon the day before but had no luck feeding them.

Turly uses the 8' Fox Trek Travel rod fitted with a
Diablo 750 to catch a 200lb Sawfish

Turley's Sawfish comes up from the depths

we carefully released this accidetal rare catch

you can see the length underwater

Michele hooked up first and it was a Hammerhead Shark. Not a common catch either but with spring like conditions the channels were holding all kinds of hungry fish. Next it was Turley's turn. He hooked a Tarpon over 100lbs.It was his first Tarpon ever. Turley has grown up fishing and really handled the tackle expertly. He used the Sailfish Trek Diablo 750 combo on his Tarpon and his Sawfish.

Greyhounding jumps

the Sailfish Trek travel rod and Diablo 750 spinning reel
was the ticket for Turley catching his first Tarpon

Turley bows his rod to keep his Tarpon from jumping off

I really enjoy seeing the young ones out here fishing. It took Turley half an hour to land his Tarpon. Well done !

Now the tide was slacking and the bite was over. We headed back about halfway and set up on one of the Bomb Craters. Just small snapper here so we moved to another one. Good fishing here and we finished the day keeping a limit of Mangrove Snapper for dinner and released Groupers and Mackerel. We used the Rage Ultralight Diablo 350 combos for this action. Michele had an outstanding Black Grouper catch on the Rage Ultralight rod of 26 inches.

Michelle Wall did an excellent job landing this
Black Grouper on a Rage Ultralight rod fitted with a Diablo 350 reel

fishing one of the bomb craters Turley caught the
largest Mangrove Snapper of the day

Turley had a blast using Rage Ultralight
tackle catching Cero Mackerels

What a day. Still flat calm and the water temp had risen to 75 degrees F by the end of the day.

On Sunday the wind turned  Southwest and today changed to NW. So until it gets back into the east the Tarpon fishing will slow. This time of year you need just the right weather and wind directions to score Tarpon. But if you hit it right the fishing can be outstanding like it was for young Turley and Michele.

Captain Skip Nielsen

Warming Up!

Chester Brandis and Brad Coughlin had originally scheduled me to take them Sailfishing offshore. With flat calm and wam conditions I told the boys that Sailfishing would be slow and we might have a chance at a Tarpon and some big Sharks. On the way out we found diving pelicans and I threw the cast net coming up with 40 frisky Mullet. Great bait and a good start.

Chester Brandis used the Fox Rage Ultralight
Diablo 350 combo on this Spotted Seatrout

Brad Coughlin with a Bluefish

Anchoring up in a backcountry channel we set up with butterflied mullet for bait and it wasn't long before the Blacktip Sharks found us. In the 2 days we fished we must have released 25 of these critters. The water temp had  warmed up to 69F on the first day and we jumped a big Tarpon off at the end of the day. But throughout the day Chester and Brad fought Hammerhead Sharks and Blacktip Sharks and Brad spent an hour battling a big Sawfish to the boat.

Blacktip Sharks were on a Spring feeding binge

Chester released this Hammerhead Shark

Sawfish at the boat for release

Brad Coughlin used the Sailfish Trek travel rod and
Diablo 750 spinning reel to catch  Tarpon,
Hammerheads and a 250lb Sawfish

Chester battles a 150lb Hammerhead on the
Diablo 750 Sailfish Trek combo

Chester Brandis released 2 Hammerhead Sharks

 My Diablo 750 spinning reels continue to hold up fish after fish and take incredible punishment while doing battle with Sawfish and Sharks and Tarpon as do the incredible 8 foot Sailfish Trek travel rods.

The next day was just as flat and the water kept warming up. The water temp rose to 73F today.We missed 3 Tarpon and caught a lot more sharks. But early in the afternoon Brad hooked a really big Tarpon that stayed on. What a great fight. Lots of jumps. Early springtime Tarpon fishing has begun. At least until the next coldfront shuts it down again.

blow up

Brad catching his big Tarpon using the
Sailfish Trek Diablo 750 combo

Brads 125lb Tarpon

Brads Tarpon

Brads Tarpon was an estimated 125lbs. What a thrill to watch this fish jump. Brad is now hooked on Tarpon fishing.

Captain Skip Nielsen

Weekend cold front lowered water temps for a few days.

But we had no problem catching fish. Just have to find fish that don't mind feeding in the cooler water. So with George Witts and Lance Schillizi on board we headed into Everglades Creeks for the day. The water temp was in the low 60's F. Sheepshead, Black Drum and Redfish were bitting well. We kept enough Sheepshead for dinner and released 25 Black Drum and Redfish.

George and Lance used Rage Ultralight rods and
Diablo 350 spinning reels to catch Black Drum and Sheepshead

a dozen Pompano were caught on the ultralight tackle

Lance Schillizi with a nice Redfish caught on the
Fox Rage Ultralight rod and Diablo 350 spinning reel

Croc sunning himself on a warm afternoon

In the afternoon the wind dropped so we stopped at a deep hole to try and catch a big fish. Water was too cool but we did manage a Bull Shark. We finished this day using the Ultralight Rage rods and Diablo 350 spinning reels jigging some run off in the mid backcountry. Pompano and Seatrout were a fun way to end the day.

The next day dawned slick calm. Dick Ault and Tom Hilbert were my guests today. We decided to give the Gulf of Mexico a try. We ran 30 miles out to a wreck and set up. Hoping for Shark, Cobia and Goliath Grouper and possibly some big Redfish. It started out well. Tom caugth 2 Goliath Grouper around 80lbs each and Dick caught one around 25lbs.

Dick and Goliath

Dick Ault caught this TripleTail casting
with a Bonefish Trek Diablo 350 combo

Dick Ault nabbed this Goliath on a
Sailfish Trek Diablo 750 combo

due to cold water temps this
was our only shark bite, a Bull

Tom Hilbert used a Fox Trek XT boat rod
with a EOS 30 reel to catch 2 Goliath Grouper

No sharks and Cobia but plenty of Bluefish and Jacks on the light tackle kept us busy.

Later we scanned Stonecrab trap buoys for Triple tail. They like to lie under the floats in the current. Dick caught a beauty and we took him home for dinner. At another spot we tried for sharks but the water was still on the cold side.

The forecast for the next few days is warm and calm. Hopefully this will turn the fish on and get them feeding actively again.


Captain Skip Nielsen

Summerlike weather continues

Lots of options lately as the warm weather continues. First of the week we did some reef patch fishing with George Witts and Lance Schillizzi. George has been fishing with me for 38 years. Amazing how the time flies. We had a banner day releasing over 50 Grouper and assorted snappers ect. We used Bonefish Trek and Rage Ultralight rods fitted with Diablo 350 spinning reels. The boys commented that it was so much fun and challenging using light tackle. Of course a lot of the bigger Grouper got away but since it is catch and release only its all fun.. Plenty of good eating fish were put in the box also such as Hogfish, Yellowtail Snapper and Mangrove Snapper.

George Witts and Lance Schillizzi released over
50 Grouper using Fox Bonefish Trek rods fitted
with Diablo 350 spinning reels.

Hogfish

George puts the heat on a Grouper with the
incredible Bonefish Trek Travel rod

Bruce Beardmore and a Hogfish

Also this week in the backcountry we are enjoying a run of Pompano. These hard fighting cousins of the Permit are scrappy tough fighters. Using Fox Rage 185 Ultralight rods on them was a blast. Lots of Seatrout and Ladyfish were along with the Pompano. We had friends Marsha and Sam Ohler down from Indiana visiting and along with my wife Cyd spent the day in the backcountry backcountry birdwatching and fishing. Over 30 Pompano were released.

Marsh K and Cyd got into a hot Pompano bite

Pompano are smaller cousins of the Permit and were
great sport on the Fox Rage Ultralight 185 Diablo 350 combo

Sam and a fat Seatrout  with the
Bonefish Trek Diablo 350 combo

Another morning was spent on the flats fishing for Redfish. I had 8 year old Beck on this day and he fine tuned his casting and caught 3 Reds and a lot Seatrout and Ladyfish.

Dr. Hugh Dennis with a decent Redfish

8 year old Beck caught the
biggest Seatrout of the day

after the big catch young Beck wanted some more action

Beck caught on to a nice Redfish casting
with the Bonefish Trek Diablo 350 combo

It calmed off and I thought we might give the Tarpon a go so we anchored in a channel to give them a try. By the time I deployed the second bait Dad Dan was hooked into something very large. After an hour battle expertly using the Fox Sailfish Trek rod and Diablo 750 spinning reel loaded with 50lb test Horizon braid Dan had an estimated 300lb twelve foot long Sawfish alongside the boat. A rare catch 15 years ago but since gill netting was outlawed in Florida coastal waters this fish has made an incredible comeback.

Dan , Beck's dad, used a Diablo 750 Sailfish Trek combo to
catch and release the fish of the week. 300lbs Sawfish !

is this a hedgeclipper or what?

 

catching this raylike creature on a Sailfish Trek rod and
Diablo 750 spinning reel is a once
in a lifetime catch for angler Dan

carefully releasing this rare catch

We very carefully released this Sea monster after taking a few pictures. Most of the time when one of these big fish are hooked we just can't get them up. Dan did a really nice job and the Fox Tackle really held up.

Today as I am writing a strong cold front is passing through and temps were in the low 50's this morning. This will put the fish back into the winter mode for a few days.

Captain Skip Nielsen