Fishing Report November 11-15

With some cooler weather behind us and now a stretch of very calm winds the Reef fishing has been on Fire!

Cliff and Cathy Fox and Freddy DuPreez have been enjoying excellent "action fishing" the past few days. To make things even more fun the crew used a very light rod made by FOX Rage. As you will see in a few of the pictures these rods can take incredible punishment while pumping up big Red Groupers.

FOX Sport Fishing Diablo spinning reels are the toughest reels out there and I can not say enough of how well they hold up. We spent 2 days on the reef patches catching all sorts of species and one day in the backcountry on the gulf side enjoying a "hot" bite of Spanish Mackerel and Blacktip Sharks.

Here are some pictures of the variety we have been catching here in the Florida Keys using FOX Sport Fishing Tackle

Captain Skip Nielsen

Blacktip Shark

Cathy and Cliff had a great time fishing the reefs of Islamorada

Cathy catches a Blacktip Shark on her Special EOS 50 reel

Cathy with a Black Grouper

Cliff did an incredible job of keeping Groupers
out of the rocks with ultralight tackle

Cliff really put the pressure on 

Cliff used a Rage Ultralight rod and Diablo 350
to subdue some huge Red Groupers

Cliff with one of many Spanish Mackerel on very light tackle

for Ira and Richie it was Snapper City on the reef.

Freddy DuPreez caught his Red Grouper on
Fox Rage Ultralight rod and Diablo 350 spin reel

Freddy with a fine Spanish on the Rage rod and
Fox Sport Fishing Diablo 350 spinning reel

giant Cero Mackerel

Incredible strength (the Rage rod)

Ira Kanarich has fished with me since 1971. We are Old fishing buddies

Lane Snapper

multiples , once the action began it was non-stop

Mutton and Yellowtail Snapper on the dinner menu

say aghh

Spanish Mackerel season has begun

the eight foot long Sailfish Trek rod hard at work on another Blacktip Shark

Unique custom EOS 50 looks magnificent in Pink!

this Porgy matches the color scheme

we were surrounded by Blacktip Sharks after catching the mackerels

This is a world class Cero Mackerel.
It weighed 12 lbs and was captured by Richie Silver
on a Fox Bonefish Trek rod and Diablo

A Great Week Of Fishing

Great fishing this past week, Tarpon continued to give my Fox Sport Fishing Diablo spinning reels a workout. On March 4 I had youngsters Dick Alt and Frank Vecella. Two very amazing men. Both are in incredible physical shape. Frank is a young 82 and caught an estimated 150lb Tarpon and a Sawfish around 200lbs. He used a Tarpon Trek travel rod fitted with a Diablo 750 spinning reel. Dick is a tad younger but he caught a couple big Bull Sharks and a nice Tarpon. He used the 8 foot Sailfish Trek travel rod fitted with a Diablo 750 spin reel. Nice job fellas.

Dick Alt with a lot of Bull Shark

A nice Tarpon for Dick Alt on the 8 foot
4 piece Sailfish Trek travel rod fitted with a Diablo 750 spin reel

Frank Vecella captured this est. 150lb Tarpon using a
7 foot 4 piece Tarpon Trek travel rod fitted with a Diablo 750 spin reel

Frank Vecella with his big Tarpon

this critter took a Tarpon bait. nice catch on a spinning rod

Yesterday was a pretty amazing day as well. Scott Barco and Steve Arch each caught and released big Permit. We were patch reef fishing for the table but I saw the tell tale flashing of Permit and rigged up our Permit Trek rod and Diablo 550 spinning reel. We cast out the bait and it was quickly inhaled both times. Big battles on the light tackle. The Diablo reels have amazing drags(clutch) and these fish took runs of over 150 meters. On Steve's Permit we had to give chase as there were numerous lobster trap buoys around. I was very impressed to say the least. Plenty of nice eating fish were caught as well.

A new specie for the Diablo 350 spin reel 
and Rage ultralight combo

Black Grouper release for Scott Barcon
using a Bonefish Trek Diablo 350 combo

Scott Barco quickly released this Permit he caught using
a 4 piece Permit Trek rod and Diablo 550 spin reel

Steve Arch caught this world class Permit on a
Fox Sport Fishing Permit Trek travel rod and Diablo 550 spin reel

Hogfish, Mangrove Snapper and Yellowtails...
good eats

Also during the week we fished the Gulf of Mexico and had good action with Spanish Mackerel and Mangrove Snapper using Bonefish Trek travel rods fitted with Diablo 350 spinning reels.
Diablo spinning reels are just plain tough. I use them day in and day out with hardly any maintenance. Love 'em.

Captain Skip Nielsen

Spanish Mack Move Into The Bay

Since the recent cold snap the weather has warmed and the winds have been light. The fishing has gone off, Spanish Mackerel have moved into Florida Bay in droves and even the Tarpon are feeding. Yesterday I heard of a couple large Tarpon caught on fly tackle.

I had Dr.Frank Eismont and his sons Austin and Adam last Saturday. Spent the day in the bay catching all sorts of fish on light tackle.

Adam Eismont Rage Ultralight Diablo 350 combo and Dinner

Adam Eismont with a nice Pompano he caught

Austin,Frank and Adam caught a little of everything on
Rage ultralight and Bonefish trek rods

Frank Eismont and son Austin with a Bluefish and Lizardfish

You have to love watching kids catching fish

Wednesday I took Diane Barkow and her husband Dick out to the Mackerel grounds and it was slick calm. Everything was biting, we limited out on Mangrove Snapper for the table and had a blast using FOX Bonefish Trek rods and Diablo 350 spinning reels on Spanish Macks, Bluefish and Seatrout as well.

Diane Barkow is really happy about this Mangrove Snapper
she landed using the Bonefish Trek Diablo 350 combo

Diane Barkow with a gator Seatrout
on the Bonefish Trek Diablo 350 combo

on Wednesday it was glass calm and the
Spanish Mack bite was on fire.
Diane Barkow kept a few and released a bunch

Doctors Liz and Mark Harris are visiting this week as well. They hail from the Isle of Man. And they are so glad to be here this week as strong gales are pummeling their island home. They love fishing way back in the Everglades creeks. They did pay somewhat with the no-seeums swarming early and late. But the Snook, baby Tarpon and Redfish were really on this week. Mark and Liz both caught Redfish, Snook and Tarpon on day one for Backcountry Grand Slams. Yesterday Mark got yet another slam with 12 snook a tarpon and 2 reds. Liz released 3 Tarpon yesterday.

a quick shot and release for Mark on his Bonefish Trek rod

another Snook for Liz Harris

catching small Tarpon in the creeks on
Fox Rage ultralight rods was wild action

close quarters

how bout this Redfish

how much fun is this

incoming... Rage Ultralight rod and Diablo 350

Liz and Mark had great Snook fishing

Liz had the touch to hook and release Sheepshead

Liz Harris got in on the Redfish

Liz Harris with one of the many Snook she caught this week

Liz used the Bonefish Trek Diablo 350
on this Everglades Creek Tarpon

Mark with a Red and Liz fights a Snook

now thats a Seatrout

we had so much fun catching these small Tarpon

What great fishing this week.

We used FOX Sport Fishing Bonefish Trek rods fitted with Diablo 350 spinning reels and Fox Rage Ultralight rods to catch all of our fish this week.

Captain Skip Nielsen