FTR in the Field with Pure Fishing

Key West, Florida, is an angler’s dream destination. From tarpon to a variety of tuna, and both inshore and offshore fisheries within a short ride of nearly every boat dock, it offers everything and more for anglers of every skill level. Further, not a single person I had ever spoken to who had gone there to fish had come back with anything aside from a glowing report. Even on the rare chance that fishing was poor, island life so heavily trumped the negatives that it felt as if there was no way to have a bad trip to Key West. Due to this, it has always been on my list of places I’d like to visit but the opportunity never presented itself. Well, that was, until this past March when I received a “Save the Date” email from Pure Fishing’s PR company, Gunpowder Inc. Pure Fishing had some new products they wanted to show off to a select group of media representatives, and I was lucky enough to be amongst the chosen few. I jumped at the opportunity and quickly began counting down the days until I was to board my plane in May.

Pure Fishing spared no expense, putting us up at the Oceans Edge Marina & Resort where the character of the Florida Keys plays out across 20 acres of palm trees, swimming pools, and luxurious guest rooms, creating a destination resort in lockstep with Stock Island’s laid-back vibe. They also assembled an A⁺⁺ team of local captains with Rush Maltz, Chris Trosset, Anthony Solmo, and Pepe Gonzalez leading the way. While there were no short straws to be drawn with the captains, I was more than a little excited to be fishing with Captain Chris Trosset on day one, followed on day two by Captain Pepe Gonzalez. I was joined by several members of the Pure Fishing and Gun Powder teams, as well as both a familiar face (Jim Hutchinson, Jr. of The Fisherman Magazine) and an industry veteran whom I had never met before, but I was extremely familiar with (John Brownlee, currently with In The Bite).

Over the course of two days, we targeted—and caught—basically every species that was in season at the time including too many different types of grouper and snapper to list, loads of giant false albacore (locally referred to as bonito), some monstrous jack crevalle, hefty blackfin tuna, and of course what might be considered the top gamefish in local waters, tarpon. We also saw a bunch of sharks, barracuda, and permit circling one of the wrecks that we checked out on day one, and while I tried my best to hook into an amberjack, those pesky jack crevalle and false albacore kept jumping on my baits and lures (I had bruises on my stomach and inner thigh for weeks following the trip!).

The primary focus gear-wise for the trip was to put some new rods and reels into our hands. On the reel side two new offerings from PENN were front and center in the Battle IV spinning reel and the Fathom Electric which ended up winning not only Best New Saltwater Reel in the ICAST 2024 New Product Showcase, but also the highly coveted Best of Show award as well!

While I didn’t get a chance to put the Fathom Electrics to work on either of my days, I walked away so impressed at the performance of the Battle IV reels that I am still raving about them all these months later. Tuna, jacks, false albacore/bonito, and tarpon are possibly the best species one could devise to test the abilities of a saltwater spinning reel. They all fight extremely hard, make blistering runs, and refuse to quit from hook-up to eventual release. I fished reels from size 3000 to 5000, and they performed flawlessly. I was perhaps most impressed when on day two we hooked into a pair of 150-pound-class tarpon on 3000 size reels and we felt like we had a chance at landing them both. Unfortunately, my silver king gained its premature freedom thanks to the careless wandering of a mindless jet skier, and the other eventually severed the leader on a channel marker, but neither loss could be credited in any way, shape, or form to reel failure.

For rods we had both Fenwick Inshore (World Class, Elite, HMG) for the anglers working the flats, and the new PENN Ally II series for those of us working bigger game inshore and as we hopped the offshore reefs and wrecks. Again, I was extremely impressed with the feel, actions, and power of both rod series.

Check with your local Pure Fishing rep as you are going to want to add all these new products to your inventory today!

Editor’s Note – This originally appeared in the September/October 2024 edition of Fishing Tackle Retailer.