by MB 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.”



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!”



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.”



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?