Learning more about fishing

• What awesome weather to get back to - summer is properly here now. Out come the shorts !! I love my trips overseas, but nothing beats getting home and seeing the family. I had a great trip to the Keys and I learnt more than I could possibly imagine - one of the real advantages to travelling for my work is the chance to see so many different kinds of fishing and fishing methods. I like to and need to keep learning all the time. This trip to the Keys has really made me think hard about the different kinds of rods and reels we use for our fishing, and especially the strength of modern spinning (fixed spool) reels. What we can do with these kinds of reels now is amazing, indeed here in the UK I reckon we have a lot to learn about where to use them.

• Take the reels in the photo above. The new Fin-Nor Offshore Spinning reels are only around $160, yet they offer insane levels of power and huge line capacities. Plenty of guys use them for smashing huge tarpon and also various kinds of big fish sport both inshore and offshore. Don't get me wrong, I love using multipliers (called conventional reels in the US), but more so I am seeing just how stable and efficient it is to fight big fish with a decent spinning reel. The kinds of spinning and conventional inshore and offshore rods you can get in the US cover a huge range of fishing, from the largemouth bass up to and beyond species like amberjack and tuna. I reckon the Fin-Nor 65 Offshore reel is an incredible bit of kit for the money. Simple, strong, reliable and designed to beast big fish.

• If I simply stood still and did the same things all the time, I would get nowhere with my working in fishing, and my own interest would begin to wane. I don't care if it happens to be on my doorstep or thousands of miles away - doing different things in fishing is vital to me and I am going to keep embracing change and adaptation as much as I can. Take the two guys I was out in Florida with, Scott and John - both of them think nothing of going bass fishing one day, then trout fishing the next, and then say barbel fishing after that. True all rounders, very good anglers as a result, and a complete blast to spend time with. I hear they have been catching some more big tarpon, Goliath groupers, wahoo and amberjack after I left, so well done guys. Rodney Goodship of Fish the Dream is a true gent and puts his clients over some outrageous fishing. Get out there as soon as you can. You would be surprised at just how cost effective this world class fishing can be.

• Here is Rodney with that tarpon I photographed the other day. Words really can not do justice to how special these fish are, but you would be surprised at how relatively light you can fish for them. It is not only the power of the fish that tends to smash you up, rather the places you fish for them - big fish around bridges and structure are a handful, plain and simple. We were using mainly US style spinning rods, rated for lines up to 30lbs, with those Fin-Nor Offshore 65 spinning reels and 0.50mm/30lb line. Next time I am going to change over to 50lb braid for them - my dream would be to use a Shimano Stella 8000FA for this kind of fishing, but we shall see. I did meet a local guide who uses a Stella 5000 and a light kind of inshore spinning rod for his tarpon fishing, but he has been doing it all his life. I'm not quite there yet !!

• And another good thing about going away is that I usually come back to a CD or two that I have ordered - if metal is your thing (and it should be !!), you seriously need to check out the new album from the Greek band Septic Flesh, called Communion. Listen to a few tracks here. This is awesome metal, nearly up to the standards of the other mighty Greek band, Rotting Christ - naturally you have noted that they released my favourite album of last year, see here.

• If you have been into extreme metal for ages, you will have known all about an incredible old band called Exhorder - they released two outstanding albums, "Slaughter in the Vatican" and "The Law", and then promptly spilt up. I personally reckon Exhorder were a better band than Pantera ever were, so it is with great joy that I recently heard about Exhorder getting back together to tour and record. This is seriously exciting news. But not quite as monumental as the mighty Immortal reforming last year - you don't know how much I am looking forward to them releasing another CD, although how they could possibly better one of my top five albums of all time is going to be tough. "Sons of Northern Darkness" should be in every single metal fan's collection.

• I have just heard that the winds have shifted around in Norway, and that has put the pike down a bit - if it all comes right, I head over to take photos, and if it doesn't, then there is always next year......

Goliath grouper - awesome fish

• We had a good flight out to Miami and got down to the Keys yesterday evening, after stopping at the vast Bass Pro store in Islamorada of course - all anglers love monster tackle shops, whether we like to admit it or not. I was actually very restrained. The fishing has been good out here, and it was great to catch up with Rodney and Helen Goodship of Fish the Dream. Rodney runs a fantastic guiding operation out here and he is heavily booked up with returning clients. His boat is always immaculate and I really enjoy fishing with him.

• I am fishing and photographing with two thoroughly nice guys from the west country, John Aplin and Scott Rice - Scott got married only a couple of weeks ago, so well done him for going fishing so soon !! These guys have caught some really large tarpon between them, so it should be a blast.

• Anyway, the fishing today has been pretty good - but quiet on the tarpon first thing when we headed out at 5am to fish until just after first light down at Seven Mile bridge. We saw a few guys hooked into some nice tarpon, but we got skunked. But after that we headed out into the gulf and anchored a small wreck in only four metres of water, and proceeded to smash a few of these awesome goliath groupers. Above you can see the kind of grief you have to give these fish if you are going to stand any chance of pulling them away from sanctuary. They are immense, and I can't get over the fact that so many fish like this can live in such shallow water.

• We got goliaths to about 80lbs to the side of the boat, but a couple of fish were simply too powerful and managed to reach the wreck. Great fun for us, but bear in mind that these are small fish - these monster grouper can weigh many hundreds of pounds, and whilst you are allowed to fish for them, they must all be released. These magnificent fish were close to being wiped out some time ago, but the US authorities brought in very serious recovery measures to protect them and the stocks are now flourishing. How cool is that ? I only wish these kinds of measures would be taken for our own bass stocks........

• Above you can see Rodney tackling with one of the groupers as he works on getting the big 20/0 circle hook out of the scissors - yes, you read that right, a 20/0 circle hook !! Big fish, big hooks, and big baits - stand up rods and 80lb braid as well. You have to give these fish proper grief on heavy gear.

• Look at the mouth below, and feel for any poor fish coming too close to the wreck we fished - it's like looking into an abyss when you stare down their throats. Imagine one of these fish at over 500lbs. We are heading out very early tomorrow morning to catch a different tide for the tarpon and I can't wait. Drifting live crabs back between the bridge gaps is seriously exciting, especially when you get hit. They are explosive fish, and there are few better places in the world to smash large tarpon than out here in the Keys. It really gets to me every time I come out here just how many people fish down here, and just how the whole local economy is essentially based around sport fishing. Give anglers lots of good fish to catch and they will spend what it takes to do it.