Captain Skip's Fox Sport Fishing Blog: sailfish

Showing posts with label sailfish. Show all posts

Tuesday, 18 February 2014

Using Fox Sport Fishing Trek Travel Rods & Diablo Combos

Fishing in the Florida Keys offers so many options. During the last couple of weeks we have gone from fishing the Gulf Stream, Florida Bay, the Creeks and back bays of Everglades National Park by canoe, and the Gulf of Mexico wrecks to the Patch Reefs of Hawks Channel.

Meanwhile we have had a prolonged stretch of unseasonably warm weather which has brought early migrating schools of big Tarpon into the lakes and channels. Fly fisherman enjoyed excellent Tarpon fish the last week. A 154 lber was taken on fly by a lady angler. It is a pending IGFA record for 12lb tippet.

But that may be changing this morning. Winds have shifted to the north west and temps will be dropping the next few days. So it isn't quite springtime yet. Fishing last week with friends Rick Peper, John Morrell, my doctor, Joanne Mahoney and my wife, Cyd, we fished offshore for Sailfish. We caught some nice Blackfin Tuna's, Little Tunny and a Sailfish. Usually we fish heavier tackle but this season I have been using the Permit Trek 4 piece travel rods and Diablo 550 spinning reels. Using center console boats its easy to turn and go after the fish if losing too much line. The Permit Trek rods are amazingly light but super tough. I spool the Diablo 550's with 20lb Horizon super braid and there is plenty of line being the diameter of the braid is so thin.

Rick Peper and Skip with a Little Tunny about to be released.
Permit Trek Diablo 550 combo was the tackle it was caught on

Rick Peper about to release a Sailfish using
Fox Sport Fishing Permit Trek 4 piece travel rod
and Diablo 350 spin reel

John Morrell with a Blackfin Tuna he
caught on the Permit Trek 4 piece travel rod
fitted with a Diablo 550 spin reel

John Morrell fighting a Blackfin Tuna on the
Permit Trek Diablo 550 combo

beautiful colors in this Sailfish along side the boat

We fished a one day charity tournament and Cyd caught the heaviest Tuna, 18.2lbs, using the Permit Trek/Diablo 550 combo and received a beautiful hand carved jewellery box as a prize.

Dr.Joanne Mahoney and Cyd Nielsen
admire the winning Tuna

Dr. Joanne Mahoney fighting a Blackfin Tuna on light
tackle Permit Trek rod and Diablo 550 spin reel

On one of the cooler days Dr. Hugh Dennis and I took a canoe piggy backed on the skiff over to Cape Sable for the day. We unloaded the canoe and paddled deep into the swamp following tidal creeks. Using a Bonefish Trek travel rod fitted with a Diablo 350 spinning reel Hugh released 18 Snook to 9 lbs and a Tarpon. We saw loads of baby Tarpon but they were not feeding on this day. Lots of Crocodiles and incredible bird life. We never saw another boat all day.

Hugh catching a young Tarpon from the canoe on the
Bonefish Trek Diablo 350 combo

Dr.Hugh Dennis had a fantastic day releasing 18 Snook
and a Tarpon on Bonefish Trek travel rods and Diablo 350 spin reels

big snook for Dr. Hugh Dennis while canoe fishing deep in the 'glades

Then day before yesterday Dick Alt and Bob Leef joined me for the day. Dick wanted some big Sharks and since the seas were flat we headed out to the Gulf of Mexico after loading up with live bait.

Arriving at the spot we saw schools of herring getting busted up. We started catching Spanish Mackerel right away then Bob hooked a fish that almost dumped the Diablo 350 of line. That turned out to be a 20lb King Mackerel. Nice catch on the Bonefish Trek rod. We switch up to Permit Trek rods and live pilchards for bait and ended up catching 4 more of the over sized King Macks. The biggest was 35lbs. In between Dick caught and released 2 big Bull Sharks using the 7' Tarpon Trek spinning rod and Diablo 750 reel. He told me, "you've made me a very happy man today". Bob also released a nice Cobia that had been following one of the Bulls.

Bob Leef used a Bonefish Trek and Diablo 350 spin reel
to catch a hefty King Mackerel

Bull Shark for Dick Alt on a Tarpon Trek travel rod
and Diablo 750 spin reel

Bull Shark

Dick Alt and Bob Leef fished the gulf today with Fox Sport Fishing tackle
and caught 5 smoker King macks with captain Skip Nielsen

Yesterday Dr. Hugh was back out with me and we hit the Patch Reefs and had excellent action with Yellowtail Snapper and Mangrove Snapper. Hugh also had some big battles with Grouper on the Bonefish Trek/Diablo 350 combos.

using Bonefish Trek travel rods and Diablo 350 spin reels
Dr.Hugh Dennis caught a dozen Yellowtail and
6 Mangrove Snapper and more

Dr. Hugh will be eating plenty of Mangrove Snappers

a colourful Nassau Grouper from the patch reefs with Hugh Dennis

We spent a couple hours after that trying for a Sailfish. We had a couple sightings but no hook-ups.

Soon I'll be fishing every day and chasing Tarpon. At the end of this week we are off to the Exuma's in the Bahamas for some Fly Bonefishing. I'll be taking my Fox Sport Fishing 9 weight fly rods with me for sure and a Bonefish Trek travel rod to catch a little dinner on the reefs.

Captain Skip Nielsen

Monday, 20 January 2014

Mid Winter here in the Keys

Yes, we here in the Florida Keys think when the temps are 55 degrees F its winter. We are in a 2 week stretch of back to back cold fronts. Fishing is still very good though. The Patch Reef fishing is excellent as is the Sailfishing. In the Backcountry fish that don't mind the cooler water temps are targeted such as Redfish, Blackdrum and Seatrout. Snook perk up in the afternoons as watertemps rise.

I've even had a few reports of Bonefish and Permit being caught on the patch reefs the last few days. My guests have had great action the last couple weeks oceanside and bayside using light tackle. Fox Sport Fishing Diablo 550 and 350 spinning reels and Bonefish Trek and Permit Trek travel rods is the tackle I'm using lately. These outfits are 4-piece and extremely easy to pack and travel anywhere with.

Here are a few pictures from fishing trips these past 2 weeks.

Captain Skip Nielsen

Brian Fiacco with a fat Seatrout caught on the Fox Sport Fishing
Bonefish Trek travel rod and Diablo 350 spin reel

Brian, Rob and Carmine with a Little Tunny from the reef's edge

Carmine and Brian with a Sheepshead

Carmine with a nice Black Drum on the
Bonefish Trek Diablo 350 combo

Fishing backcountry creeks in Everglades
Park Jeffrey Thompson caught Redfish .
He used the Bonefish Trek Diablo 350

Rainbow Runner on the Permit Trek Diablo 550 combo .
This was a large Rainbow and an uncommon catch here in the Keys

Rob with a Redfish

we finished the day oceanside on patch reefs
where Jeffrey Thompson caught this Black Grouper
on the Bonefish Trek Diablo 350

..by the way. Last Tuesday I invited Rick Peper and my wife, Cyd, to go Sailfishing. It was an incredible day. Rough seas but the Sails were everywhere and hungry. Using the Permit Trek travel rods fitted with Diablo 550 spin reels we released 6 Sailfish. We spooled the Diablos with 20lb braid and the Permit Trek rods being so light really made this fishing fun.

Brian Fiacco and Carmine enjoyed excellent
catch and release grouper fishing action .

Cyd really enjoyed using light tackle to catch Sailfish.
Fox Sport fishing Permit Trek travel rods are 4 piece and feather light

Cyd using the Permit Trek 4 piece on one 3 Sailfish she released

head shaking

lit up Sailfish release at boat

Rick Peper released 2 Sails using the Permit Trek Diablo 550 combo

SAILfish

Tony fighting Bonitos with the Permit Trek Diablo 550 combo

Thursday, 14 November 2013

Back In The Keys!

Been very busy since getting back in the keys. Boat maintenance mostly.But I have gotten to do a little fishing.

Yesterday I fished with long time friend Rick Peper. We went out early and cast-netted live pilchards then headed out towards Conch Reef.

Rick has plenty of nice fishing tackle but I brought along a Permit Trek Diablo 550 combo, which was a much lighter rod than what was on the boat. We had a great morning, catching a double header of Sailfish and 2 fat Mahi-Mahi.

Rick loved the action of the Permit Trek.

I have been back in the keys for a week now and starting this Sunday will be fishing full time again. Its great to be fishing in the Florida Keys again with Fox Sport Fishing rods and reels.

Captain Skip Nielsen

Permit Trek Diablo 550 combo does the job on pelagic

Rick enjoyed catching Mahi-Mahi and Sailfish on the lighter tackle

Rick Peper with a couple nice Mahi

Sailfish release

Skip catching a Sailfish with the 4 piece
Permit Trek travel rod fitted with a Diablo 550 reel

We had a double header of Sails

Monday, 1 July 2013

Summertime Action Heats Up In Everglades Park

David Kubert and his 2 sons, Joe and John had an exciting 3 days of fishing last week. Lots of big fish and big action out at the Gulf of Mexico wrecks. Goliath Grouper, Bull Sharks, Lemons were caught on every drop. Surface action was good as well. On a slick calm day Permit were waking about. John Kubert casted a crab using the Fox Sport Fishing Permit Trek rod and Diablo 550 spin reel to catch a beautiful Permit. Great job John. Also John caught his first ever Tarpon. Joe released a Hammerhead Shark. Many jumping Spinner Sharks were caught also.

After his sons went home David was joined by friend Steve Kost. We fished for Snook and Redfish on day 1 and released 14 Snook and 3 Reds. All were caught on Bonefish Trek Diablo 350 combos.

On day 2 we spent the morning fishing 9 weight Fox Sport Fishing Bonefish fly rod. Using red and white flies we had a blast catching Seatrout, Mangrove Snapper, Crevalle Jacks, Ladyfish and Spanish Mackerel. We used diced Ballyhoo to chum the fish in and both fly anglers got bites on almost every cast.

That afternoon I moved to Cape Sable and we had 3 incredible hours of Tarpon fishing. We should have rigged the fly rods for this action but the wind was up and the big incoming tide was hard into the wind. Casting straight into 15 to 20 mph was not doable So Fox Sport Fishing Sailfish Trek rod fitted with Diablo 750 spin reels were used. David and Steve jumped over 20 Tarpon and released 11 of them. Most of these fish were in the 50 lb range. This was so much fun. Medium sized Tarpon are jumpers. I was also able to get DNA samples for the database Mote Marine laboratory is keeping.

Next morning we came back to the spot on an outgoing tide and the wind was down and we could cast fly rods downwind. Each of my anglers jumped a Tarpon off on fly but it was slow. That's fishing for you.
Tarpon fishing is crazy good one day and tough the next. But so much is going on in the backcountry there is always fish to catch.

Captain Skip Nielsen