First Timer catches a fish of a lifetime!

Fishing report for Thursday March 1

Jeff Thompson and his bride to be, Christina , had the perfect day of fishing. Christina had never ever fished before. It was a fun morning as she learned the basics of casting, retrieving and giving the lure the right action.  She used a Fox Rage Ultralight 185 rod and Diablo 350 spinning reel. After 10 minutes of fumbling around she started doing well and landed her first fish ever, a Spanish Mackerel. From there on she became very competitive and landed Pompano, Grouper, Ladyfish, Bluefish and Mangrove Snapper.

this Mutton Snapper was fun on the Rage Ultralight tackle

Christina with her first ever fish on rod and reel

Jeff caught this huge Ladyfish on the Rage
 185 Ultralight Diablo 350 combo

Now it was time to move to where the big ones live. The tide and conditions were perfect. Water temp was 77 degrees and I had high hopes for some Tarpon action. Jeff is a very experienced angler and it wasn't long before he was hooked into a fish well over 100lbs. A tough fish but Jeff had him to the boat in 20 minutes and I was able to swipe a DNA sample.

In the next 2 hours Christina had 2 Tarpon on and both jumped off. She was really pouting and I told her lets try another channel and give it a half hour before we head home. That turned into an hour but it was well worth the wait. As I was cleaning up and getting ready to go Christina hooked up. What a jumper. After a 30 minute battle she had her Tarpon swimming alongside the boat tired. I estimated ths Tarpon at around 140lbs, It had jumped a lot and that had helped to tire it. Pretty amazing day for Christina. One of her comments was "I had no idea this was so exciting". Her husband to be Jeff has found a fishing partner for life.

Blacktip Sharks kept us busy

Christina caught her Tarpon as we were
about to reel in and head home

Christina found that Tarpon do not give in easily

Christina learned quickly today how to put pressure on
her rolling Tarpon. It only took her 30 minutes to tire this est.
140lber using the Fox Sailfish Trek Diablo 750 combo

Christina's first ever Tarpon was an estimated 140lbs.

Jeff caught the first Tarpon of the day
on the Sailfish Trek Diablo 750 combo

Jeff Thompson gets a high jump

We used the Sailfish Trek Diablo 750 combos for our Tarpon and Shark fishing spooled with Fox 30lb Horizon Braid. These outfits have landed hundreds of big game fish with no maintenance other than oiling and cleaning. Amazing tackle.

Captain Skip Nielsen