For better details click here!

MARCH 12 – 14, 2010
Registration, Friday, March 12th, 6 to 8 pm
At the DoubleTree Grand Key Resort
3990 S. Roosevelt Blvd., Key West, FL
BOAT ENTRY FEE OF $200.00
Fishing, Saturday & Sunday, March 13 & 14
Lines In at 8:30 am & Out at 3 pm each day
Awards Dinner on Sunday, March 14th, 7 pm
At the DoubleTree Grand Key Resort
Awards Dinner, $25.00 per person
WIN $5,000.00 in Cash Prizes
For 15 Different Species
Win $500.00 cash for:
Heaviest Dolphin,
Most Releases of:
Marlin, Sailfi sh & Tarpon
Win $300.00 cash for:
Heaviest Kingfi sh, Cobia
Blackfi n Tuna, Mackerel,
Mutton Snapper, Wahoo
Most Releases of: Permit,
Bonefi sh & Barracuda
Win $150.00 cash for:
Heaviest Mangrove Snapper & Grunt
Junior Division Heaviest Catch
(Anglers under 15 yrs. old)
KEY WEST FISHING TOURNAMENT
KICKOFF 2010 with
CONCHY JOE’S MARINE & TACKLE
1. I.G.F.A. rules and Key West Fishing Tournament rules
will apply. Rod and reel only.
2. All Marlin or Sailfi sh releases must deploy non-offset
circle hooks when using natural baits or a natural
bait artifi cial/lure combination.
3. All catches must be unassisted. Professional
captains and/or mates are ineligible as anglers.
4. NEW~‘Most Releases’ will be scored by registered
boat.
5. Entries will only be accepted from anglers fi shing on
a boat that is registered in the KICKOFF.
6. A maximum of 6 anglers may fi sh from a registered
boat on each day. This rule does not apply to
registered party boats.
7. Anglers wishing to compete for marlin or sailfi sh
releases must purchase a camera at registration
to photo the release. Cost is $5.00. Anglers do not
have to call in releases to the committee boat.
8. Fishing begins with lines in at 8:30 am each day and
will conclude at lines out at 3:00 pm each day. Lines
in and out will be called by the committee boat over
VHF 78.
9. All fi sh must be weighed in at one of the following
offi cial K.W.F.T. weighstations: King’s Pointe Marina,
Sunset Marina, Murray Marine, Sugarloaf Marina,
Cudjoe Gardens Marina and Dolphin Marina.
10. Anglers MUST complete an offi cial K.W.F.T. entry
form for weighed and released catches and deliver
the entry to a tournament offi cial at King’s Pointe
Marina, or fax entry to 305-292-4995. Entries MUST
be received by an offi cial no later than 5:30 pm each
day. Weighed catches can be transported by vehicle
to a weighstation for entry.
KICKOFF TOURNAMENT GENERAL RULES
FINAL RULES WILL BE DISTRIBUTED AT
REGISTRATION ON MARCH 12, 2010
AT DOUBLETREE GRAND KEY RESORT
KEY WEST FISHING TOURNAMENT
KICKOFF 2010 ENTRY
ANGLER’S FIRST & LAST NAME,
ADDRESS, CITY, STATE AND ZIP CODE
Boat Name: ______________________________
Captain: ________________________________
Address: ________________________________
City, ST, Zip: _____________________________
Home Phone: ___________________________
Cell Phone: _____________________________
PLEASE PRINT CLEARLY
To pre-register, complete entry form and mail to the
K. W. F. T., P. O. Box 2154, Key West, FL 33045.
Include registration fee of $200.00 payable to
the Key West Fishing Tournament.
PICK UP THE FINAL TOURNAMENT RULES AND CAMERA
FOR SAILFISH & MARLIN RELEASES AT THE REGISTRATION,
FRIDAY, MARCH 12th AT THE DOUBLETREE GRAND RESORT
1. _______________________________________
___________________________________________
2. _______________________________________
___________________________________________
3. _______________________________________
___________________________________________
4. _______________________________________
___________________________________________
5. _______________________________________
___________________________________________
6. _______________________________________
___________________________________________

Well charter or no charter when the temperature is 78 and the wind is calm and the skies are blue bird clear we can’t just sit at the dock – life is too short. So we took a break and went fishing for a few hours. Randy caught this Dolphin near a palette and a couple of nice Tunas under birds. That all was just a bonus , because the weather was what really made the afternoon in Key West.

Randy's Dolphin Key West

Nicest day you could ask for. The wind was light,  the sun is getting tolerable and  the fish must be feeding at night on the full moon. Beautiful debris ,  clumps and lines of Sargasso weed gave up only four small Dolphin. After it finally sunk in that we weren’t  going to limit out on Dolphin today we went to Plan B. Out came the deep drop rigs and up came Snowy groupers to 25 lbs and Tile fish.  With the box showing a  much more respectable catch we trolled in catching small bonitos that will make excellent bait tomorrow.

These last few days of September have been blessedly calm with no impending doom on the horizon – yet. However the fish could care less . Bait is thick on the reefs and more Ballyhoo than we have later in the season. This is setting up some great Tuna and Sailfish action  in the coming weeks . Blackfins are being caught deep already and a few Sailfish that got the memo on the Ballyhoo are moving in on the reef already. The Gulfstream despite what NOAA says is in close (10 miles) and is producing Dolphin and Wahoo, especially around debris for the hoo’s.

Fishing this July for Dolphin has been a little hit and miss offshore in Key West. At the first of the month a lot of small summer schoolies were everywhere, then by mid-month bigger fish showed up and I guess ran off the small dolphin. Patience was the most important tactic and as you can see these nice fish caught by Ashley, Tracey and Greg made for some fun fishing in Key West.

Key West Dolphin Fun

My friends Darlene and Joe and associates fished with us this last week. Fishing in Key West for them has always been fantastic. Whenever they come down for fishing we catch lots of big fish. This year the pressure was really on and the main theme was ” Yeah it’s Fun to catch them , But it is even more fun to EAT them”.  The big fish were very wary and we were having a time trying to find a trophy for every one , or anyone for that matter. This was when Darlene reminded me about the eating fish part of our theme and we got to work catching a limit of perfect size eating fish. All in all the the charter was perfect, with clam sunny skies , good friends and lots of fish to eat.

Summer may not be official but the temperature and the fishing sure feel like summer. The water temperature inside the reef is over 90 degrees and in the Gulfstream it is about 86. The fishing around Key West has been a lot less big Dolphin and a whole lot of schooling Dolphin in the just legal range. The really calm summer weather lets you see all the free jumping billfish and there are a lot. We have not caught any this week but other charter boats have. Swordfish are being caught at sundown and this makes for a nice trip that beats the midday heat . Leaving late in the afternoon and returning long before last call on Duval.

Fishing yesterday was a test of patience,  several hours of searching the waters off Key West with a Skip Jack Tuna and a Deep Sea Barracuda to show for our diligence. Then a slow day turned into a great day when we found a piece of debris in otherwise unblemished Bluewater. We threw  a marker and proceeded to make a fine days catch including this nice bull caught by Mark, his personal best so far.

A lot of people come to Key West to party, A lot of people come to Key West to fish, and I guess there are people who come to Key West for some other reason , but I don’t know any of those reasons.

Well these guys came to party and fish . The fishing was great and the party was so good that I am bound by the code of the sea and responsible Key West charter captain ethics to not divulge details. I will say I was impressed .

But I can go on about the Big Dolphin and nice Wahoo we brought in and I can go on and on about fishing and catching all day.

Here is Rusty and some kind of ritual fish blessing.

and then there is the mandatory Key West group fishing shot

and the trophy  shot, thanks guys it was a blast.

This is truly a great time of year to be fishing offshore in Key West. We picked up Kent , James and Brian early Tuesday at Sunset Key and took off for the deep sea. Right off these California guys were impressed that the ocean actually gets up to 85 degrees. For some reason they thought 65 was warm water. We planned on catching dinner and were actually given instructions not to come back without  “fish for dinner”. We started slow and about two hours into the day we found dinner in a small school of Dolphin . Having accomplished the basic task of fishing for dinner we settled into the serious business of catching some Key West trophy Dolphin. We found our first over 20 pound Dolphin as we skirted a thunder storm along “The Wall” we missed the bull that left a wake like a submarine. It was time now to start fishing towards the house , but not in a hurry because the thunder storm just settled on Key West while we watched from offshore. Then the tree showed up. It even had a piece of plastic flying from a limb like a flag. How no one had fished it amazes me . We took two fish well over thirty pounds and another in the twenties. The 8 – 10 lb schoolies were thick. No Wahoo down deep that we could get to, as the Dolphin ate everything we had.

These pictures speak for the fun we had.