Cliff and Cathy Fox with Freddy DuPreez - A Squally Fishing Report

This past week has been very tropical. Like in tropical moisture (rain) and also our first named storm of the year, Andrea. Cliff and Cathy Fox along with best friend Freddy DuPreez got very wet at times but we had good to excellent fishing for Tarpon. We were using the Diablo and EOS fishing reels and pulling hard on the Trek Travel Rod series, It was all good. Countless Sharks , 20 or so Tarpon and even a Cobia or 2 were released. Because of the off and on squalls we spent a few days fishing locally around the bridges. Catching the resident Tarpons was tough. The fish would head immediately around the pilings and weave in and out. Nerve racking for the boat driver and angler. Using the power of the Trek rods and my anglers fishing experience we lost very few fish to the bridge pilings.

We also had good action with 12 to 15lb Crevalle Jacks. Even had a large Barracuda demolish a Jack right next to the boat. On the nice days we fished over by Cape Sable. Lately a school of medium sized Tarpon have moved into that area and these fish were so much fun to catch. They jump a lot more than the bridge fish and since being mostly in the 50lb range we were able to take DNA samples for scientific research as well.

But over at the Cape there are many big Sharks. Bulls, Lemons, Spinners, Blacktips, Hammerheads and Nurse were brought alongside the boat for release. A couple big Sawfish were hooked but lost(maybe that was the plan), also Cathy had 2 Cobia released. They follow along with Sawfish and Rays much like Remoras do. We had memorable Tarpon fishing and the Fox Sport Fishing Trek Travel Rods and the bullet proof Diablo and EOS reels held up to all the big fish we could test them with.

Out of a couple hundred pictures I've sorted out a few of the good ones.

Captain Skip Nielsen

Cathy Fox really likes to use the 5 piece
Tarpon Spincast rod fitted with an EOS 30 Trolling reel
to catch her Tarpon

Cliff battles his 140lb Tarpon on the last morning

Cliff gets his Tarpon in for a DNA sample and picture

Cliff took this great picture of one of Cathy's Tarpons

Cliff using the Sailfish Trek Diablo 750 combo on a high jumper

Cliff's last Tarpon of the trip put on a great show

Cliff's Tarpon wove in and out of the bridge pilings forever

Freddy and a Shovelnose Shark

Freddy and Cliff each caught a big Tarpon using
Sailfish Trek Diablo 750 combos on a morning trip

Freddy battling a Tarpon hooked a mile out in the bay.
It made a beeline for bridge arches

Freddy brought this Tarpon alongside for a
picture and a DNA sample

Freddy DuPreez aka Sharkman with a Bull Shark

Freddy DuPreez using the 8 foot 4 piece Sailfish Trek rod
and Diablo 750 spin reel on this Tarpon

Freddy put excellent pressure on this Tarpon using the
lighter Permit Trek Diablo 550 combo

Freddy released this high dorsal Hammerhead that was
8' long on the Sailfish Trek Diablo750 combo

interesting view

medium sized Tarpon were extremely acrobatic jumpers

my fearless crew got very wet shortly
after this picture was taken

nice Tarpon for Cathy boatside

On this day Cliff went 4 for 4

one of Freddy's Bullsharks

Rainy weather but the Tarpon were biting for Cliff

Sailfish Trek Diablo 750 combo does the job

the Sailfish Trek Diablo 750 combo takes another big Tarpon for Freddy

this Cuda appeared from under the boat and devoured this Crevalle Jack

triple header of Sharks over at Cape Sable

airborne

another beauty

Cathy caught 2 big Lemon Sharks on her Tarpon Spincast EOS30 combo

Cathy caught this Crevalle Jack

Cathy enjoying a big Lemon Shark battle

Cathy fights a Tarpon in the drizzle