Sport Fishing Articles
Piece by Piece
by M.B. Roberts
Skip Nielsen has been a Florida Keys-based fishing guide for nearly forty years.
As an offshore charter boat captain operating from the legendary Bud N’ Mary’s Marina, he’s logged countless hours on the ocean targeting blue marlin, sailfish, snapper and tuna. As a backcountry guide, he’s piloted his skiff across the shallow water of the flats literally hundreds of times in search of bonefish, permit, tarpon and snook.
So, what does he do on his day off?
He goes fishing. “I need to have my fun, too,” laughs Nielsen.
To that end, Nielsen recently headed to Xcalak, Mexico, a sleepy fishing village (population: 350), located on the southernmost tip of the Yucatan Peninsula, just north of Belize. Since Xcalak is a five-hour drive from Cancun and boasts not a single grocery store, (although a fresh produce truck stops in town twice weekly), Nielsen and his wife, Cyd, packed in plenty of supplies. They also brought their own fishing gear, which for Nielsen, always includes his Fox Sport Fishing travel rods.
“These things are wonderful!” he says. “I can take them apart, pack them in one small tube, wrap clothes around it and carry it right in my bag. Then when I get where I’m going, they are re-assembled in seconds.” |
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In this era of excess baggage charges, the compact nature of the rods is welcome. Plus, as Nielsen points out, when he gets off the plane at his destination, the rods are actually there.
“So many times traveling, I’ve had my rod tips not show up,” he says. “Or after you land you’re waiting forever for this enormous, oversize bag. This way, you keep them with you and they arrive in good condition.”
During his recent Mexican adventure, not only did Nielsen’s rods show up, (and pass inspection through three military checkpoints along the way), even more importantly, they held up.
“I brought an 8-weight, 9-weight and two 12-weights with me on this trip,” says Nielsen. “We caught five permit on the fly, eighty bonefish…it was so much fun!” |
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As far as travel rods go, Nielsen wasn’t always a believer. Then, nearly four years ago, he met Cliff Fox, Chairman of Fox International, who was in the Florida Keys doing what he does on his day off – fishing. Nielsen took Fox and his son out for three days of backcountry angling, where among other species, they landed nine tarpon, several of them on custom tarpon rods that Fox brought along on the trip.
Soon, Nielsen was using Fox gear. Then, when prototypes for the Sport Fishing Series became available, he added those to his saltwater kit.
“I was skeptical of multi-piece rods at first because I’ve never seen them hold up,” remembers Nielsen. “But I was pleasantly surprised when these stayed together. We put heavy line on these rods, too. The specifications say from 20 – 30, but we put 50-pound power pro on them and abuse them horribly! I’ve been trying to break them ever since.”
Nielsen also had to be persuaded to keep an open mind regarding the size of some of the fully-assembled rods.
“At first, Fox gave me some eight-footers,” he says. “I said, ‘Eight-footers?’ We don’t use eight-foot rods. They’re too long! But as it turns out, these rods save so many fish, just because of the length. Now I choose them over my seven-footers all the time.” |
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Although he always uses them while traveling, Nielsen mostly fishes with his Sport Fishing rods while on the job in Islamorada, Florida, which is coincidentally known as the Sportfishing Capital of the World.
“I’ve caught everything on these rods from tarpon and blue marlin, to sharks and sawfish,” he says. “I use them interchangeably, too. I use the tarpon rod for tarpon and sailfish, but you can use them for anything offshore. I even use them as kite rods for sailfishing.”
For instance, a while back, Nielsen and a friend were using several of the lighter, multi-piece rods to catch some small tuna. After boating more than enough tuna to fillet that night, they rigged some for bait and began trolling for sailfish. Soon, they had a 75-pound sailfish on the line. They released the fish and before long came up with another feisty 75-80 pound jumper. Then, after releasing the second fish, Nielsen and his friend saw a big bolt from the blue.
“We had a blue marlin come up and eat!” he says. “He was over 450 pounds. We got three releases on him in an hour before the fish finally started going down.”
The rod bent, but it never broke. And what’s not fun about that? |
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Multi-part Mahseer1
Taming the fish of legends with Fox Trek Rods
By Ian Welch
The globetrotting angler has enough to worry about without having concerns about getting their kit to their destination and for most travellers the concerns are usually centred on rods because, just like skis, they are not the most aircraft-friendly of items!
There was a time when most airlines had a decent policy for outsized sporting goods but in these times of increased cost awareness and squeezing every last penny from every last passenger the days of getting a rod tube into a hold free of charge are numbered. British Airways are still OK with it – although I suspect it will not last – but other carriers have largely introduced charges; indeed when I made enquiries with a certain low-cost operator about getting a rod tube on board for a catfishing trip to the Ebro I realised it would actually cost me a lot more than I had paid for the flight in the first place!
Given that many trips overseas these days are guided and tackle is usually provided a lot of travelling anglers will question why they need to bring rods with them but having seen the quality of kit offered by many operators I can assure you that a rod, and indeed reel, you know and trust is invaluable as much of the gear provided can leave a lot to be desired. For me a rod is a very personal item – I know just what I can do with ‘my’ rods and I know how they will perform when the going gets tough! |
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For some trips you have no option but to bring your own rods and I was faced with this for my first trip to India’s Cauvery River in search of Mahseer last December. I was told I’d need a couple of uptide rods and a rod tube to house them but uncertain that this was really the best way of tackling the problem I phoned a friend...
At the time the Fox Trek range was at the advanced prototype stage and having returned from a successful trip with them Andy Little reckoned his Sailfish Trek Spin models would be up to the job so I headed into the unknown armed with Andy and his wife, Jeanie’s rods!
Being 4-piece, eight foot models, they proved an absolute Godsend for travelling as they fitted in my case and I had none of the problems the other lads encountered with their full-size rod tubes. It’s not just aircraft holds which pose problems but customs officials too and the rest of the party were pulled and had all of their luggage opened up at Bangalore Airport whilst I walked straight through! |
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On the Cauvery the rods really proved their worth as mahseer tools too. The length was absolutely perfect for coracle fishing and they could chuck an 8 oz lead and a crab, livebait or big ball of Ragi paste a surprisingly long way; they also had a nice soft tip which was perfect for bite indication. I just hoped they would be up to taming a seriously big mahseer...
In the end I found out with two big fish and my diary describes the fight with one of them perfectly:
‘The force with which the bait was taken almost pulled my arm from its socket and it was all I could do to prevent myself being dragged out of the coracle. The rod bucked over and within seconds the spool emptied of 50 m of line against a locked-up clutch.
I thought of Andy Little telling me he ‘thought’ the new Trek Sailfish rods would cope and I thought of the rocks all around. |
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The rod felt good, bags of power low down and, although I had no control straight away, I could feel there was enough there for me to deliver some serious stick when the fish eased up... if it eased up! When my chance came some ten minutes into the fight I heaved and waited for the crunch of a snapped blank but the rod held and I started to get line back.
Another five minutes and the fish finally did what I was dreading and hit the fast water but rather than surge downstream it somehow had the power to swim upstream still taking line – and towards the rock at the head of the pool. Now was the time for extreme measures and I gave it everything, incredibly the rod had the balls to turn the fish and it finally dropped back and kited. Another four or five powerful runs and she was at the coracle.
“Big fish, sir big fish” whispered my guide, Muttiah but I didn’t need telling.
It took three attempts to get the stringer positioned and with a surging run between each attempt I was at the edge of my nerves but Muttiah stayed calm and we got there in the end...’
When I arrived on the Cauvery with two tiny rod tubes housing multi-part rods the regular mahseer anglers were not just dubious but were really taking the Mickey; when I left they were asking where they could get hold of them! I think that sums up just how good the Trek rods really are! |
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