Backcountry And Blue Water

It was hot and calm this week. All the options were open...

Richie Silver and Ira Kanarick fished with me last Thursday and Friday. Day 1 we took a ride over to Cape Sable. Small pilchards are swarming right now which is making for plenty of great fishing. Using  4 piece Bonefish Trek rods fitted with Diablo 350 spinning reels the boys released 25 Snook, 4 Redfish and countless Seatrout and Crevalle Jacks. Finally a large Bull Shark showed up and ate a Redfish which is when we moved on to another spot where Ira landed a Tarpon. Nice job on the backcountry slam for Ira. Snook, Tarpon and Redfish.

Snook action was red hot as was the temp

Richie Silver with a Redfish

Richie and Susan with a beauty

Day 2 it was slick calm again. The offshore report was lots of Dolphin fish so we decided to check it out. At 10 miles offshore we hit the edge of the Gulf stream. Even though the wind was very light the hard running current made for some choppy rips.

Fifteen miles out we started running into schools of Mahi-Mahi. What fun on the light Bonefish Trek and Permit Trek rods. We kept 15 for the table and released another 20 or so. We finished the day at the 409 seamount. Trolling a couple small ballyhoo on the Sailfish Trek rods and Diablo 750's Richie caught 2 Slammer Dolphin. Rest of my crew was worn out. 

Ira Kanarick with one Snook of many

great jumpers great fighters and great eating

fishing close to the beaches of Cape Sable

Ira and Richie with 2 Slammer Dolphins.
Sailfish Trek rods fitted with Diablo 750 spinning reels were used

On Saturday  Doctor Frank Eismont and son Austin fished with me. After hearing yesterday's report they wanted to try Dolphin fishing. It was slick calm once again so off we went. On the way out we stopped in a school of pilchards inside the reef and loaded the livewell with 2 inch baits. We got out to 20 miles before finding the right set of birds. By this I mean 5 or 6 birds feeding on baitfish that a school of dolphin fish were pushing to the surface.

This was an incredible school of fish. There must have been 75 Dolphin. Dr. Frank had heard about this but this was a first for him and Austin. We used the Bonefish Trek and Rage Ultralight rods fitted with Diablo 350 spinning reels. We drifted for 2 hours.. Every once and awhile I would toss a netful of pilchards to keep the school around the boat. It was a sight seeing these colorful fish all around the boat. We kept enough to feed family and released the rest.

On the way in we did a little deep dropping in 450 feet of water. Young Austin cranked up a nice Tilefish. The Fox Sport Fishing Boatrod XT fitted with an EOS Trolling reel was perfect for this action.

450 feet of water

after plenty of dolphin we did some deep
dropping in 450 feet of water.
EOS Trolling reel and XT Boatrod was perfect for this

Austin Eismont with his first Dolphin of the day.

Its amazing to be able to fish 30 miles into the backcountry and then run 20 miles offshore into the Gulfstream the next day. Fishing in the Florida Keys is the best.

Captain Skip Nielsen