The Liverpool Invasion

Bernard and Paul Pielow spent 5 days on the water with me this past week. Lots of great fishing was had. On day one we spent the morning using Fox Bonefish Trek rods fitted with Diablo 350 spinning reels to warm up. Ladyfish, Seatrout, Spanish Mackerel, Mangrove Snapper and a 40lb Blacknose Shark were caught on the light tackle. I knew we had a good tide so we quit the light tackle action and went looking for live mullet, We scored with the castnet and headed to the bridge channels with 2 dozen livies.

Plenty of Seatrout were caught on the Bonefish Trek Diablo 350 combos

Bernard caught this world class Ladyfish aka Poor Man's Tarpon

Launching

Paul Pielow had a great time battling Tarpon on the Fox sport fishing tackle

Bernard getting some nice jumps from this Tarpon. custom sunhat

Bernard got his Tarpon after a tough hour long battle.
We ended up 3 miles away from where the battle started

Bernard Pielow uses the Fox sport fishing Sailfish Trek rod fitted
with the Diablo 750 spinning reel on this Tarpon

We ended up fishing til 6pm. The bite was on. Paul and Bernard each released 2 Tarpon. Both Sailfish Trek rods fitted with Diablo 750 spinning reels and Tarpon Trek rods fitted with EOS Trolling reels were used. The live mullet were getting blasted out of the water. This is very exciting fishing indeed!

Day 2 we went for the "Big Stuff". Five Goliath Grouper, 8 Sharks and a couple of big Stingrays. We used the Fox Sport Fishing Boat rod XT fitted with EOS 50 Trolling reels. This boat rod is super tough and travels very well being a 5 piece rod.

the boys doubled up on the Goliath Groupers.

Bring em on! The bigger the better. Fox sport fishing Boat rod XT can take them all!

Fishing for Big Stuff with the Fox sport fishing Boat rod XT fitted with the EOS 30's and 50's

On day 3 we went Snook fishing way back around Cape Sable. We saw 5 crocs laying up on the beaches and fresh turtle nesting activity. Snook fishing was great. Snook catching was a little tough. I got caught off guard and started out using too light of gear. The Snook are very strong and were taking us into the trees and cutting our leaders. Well we put an end to that, Using the Fox Sport Fishing Permit Trek rods fitted with Diablo 550 spinning reels and Horizon 30lb braid we started catching. The fish averaged 10lbs. We spent the afternoon battling big Lemon Sharks in a river mouth.

Paul muscled this Snook out of the trees with the 8 foot Sailfish Trek rod

Some really big Snook were released using the Permit Trek rod fitted with the Diablo 550 spinning reels

Day 4 we just had to go Tarpon fishing again. To hit the tide right we left the dock at 1 pm. Spent quite a bit of time locating live mullet for bait but as I always say "Its all about the BAIT", Anyway we found plenty of mullet and headed back in to Channel 2.

It was a repeat performance. Fishing in late June at the bridges is so different. There is nobody else Tarpon fishing! We had it all to ourselves and the bite was wide open. The Pielows each released 2 more Tarpon and had numerous "cheap shots". That is Tarpon blasting the live mullet 3 or 4 times and missing the bait. That gets the heart pumping for sure. At sunset we headed home with a very happy crew.

is there anything better than being bowed up with a big Tarpon

The 5 piece Tarpon Spincast rod fitted with an EOS reel in action

boatside release

The boys took the weekend off and resumed fishing on Monday. Now we had Tropical Storm Debbie churning the water up. Winds were blowing 25 plus out of the south and squalls were numerous. Bernard and Paul said this was pretty normal conditions (the wet anyway) and at least it was warm rain. Well we spent the morning in the backcountry of Everglades National Park tucked behind mangrove islands. We used the Bonefish Trek rods and 350 Diablo spinning reels and put together a nice catch of Mangrove Snapper for a meal on the last night before heading home. We also caught ladyfish and pinfish which I put in the livewell. We looked for mullet and with the frothy water and wind none were to be had. 

Paul Pielow gets a farewell jump with the last fish of the trip

The Tarpon rolls and the battle is far from over

This Tarpon thought he could clear the bridge

On the way back in I saw a rolling Tarpon and almost stopped to fish. We went down to Channel 2 where we had such great action and nothing was happening. So we went back to the channel where I saw the roller and set out baits. One on the bottom and 1 a live ladyfish on the surface. Paul went 2 for 2 on 100lb Tarpon in the next hour. What a great finish for my crew from Liverpool ,England.

Captain Skip Nielsen