John and Ann having been coming down to Key West fishing for some time. They chartered Sea-Clusion for a honeymoon trip and I remember telling them that it was a charter FISHING boat, and they said yes that was what they were looking for. We have fished several times and I have always considered them to be good luck, and this time was no different . With a limit of Dolphin and a couple of coolers full of filets, I’m betting on a lot of fish tacos and big fish stories.

This may not be the biggest Dolphin , but it was the biggest on our boat that day. This Bull Dolphin tripped the scales at 36 pounds and his girlfriend weighed in at 20 pounds. Both ate together and with one angler and a mate yours truly had to run the boat clear lines and deftly gaff the first fish in. Including the two freespool accidents it was meant to be for this guy to be fine dining in Key West.

When it is time for big fish , plenty of sunshine, and a lot of fun out of town, these guys from Oslo chose Key West. Espen and his crew had there hands full with big Wahoo and Dolphin fishing along The Wall and in the Ups & Downs . The official weights are secret and you will just have to ask them how big they really were.

Oh, I almost forgot  there secret weapon “Sweetie”

Every once in a while a fish I am not exactly sure of comes over the side of the boat down here in Key West.. Usually it is when you are off shore deep dropping with the electric reel and bringing finny monsters from the other side of the world . So I have looked around and found these great illustrations at the Florida Wildlife Commission . Click on the link and check out the one you were not quite sure of . And see if you can figure this one out. Good luck and good fishing.

It is always a blast when my famously numeric friends from up in Florida come to Key West for Dolphin. They seem to have connections with when they are biting and happen to be here just when it gets good. Maybe the fish just want to join the party, I’m not sure . 

Another Chamber of Commerce day in Key West . Light winds , sunny skies , calm seas, clear blue water and BIG FISH. In particular I’m talking about Wylie’s 50+ lb. Wahoo he caught today. After running off at least 500 yards of 30# line in the first run , this guy kept at it and ran at least 10 more times ( thank goodness not 500 yards each time). After catching the fish we had to alter the rotation of anglers for a while. Nice job on an excellent fish !

Time for some calm water and big Dolphin in Key West. We seem to maybe, just maybe, starting to have some calm summer weather  in Key West. The fishing is even better than the weather with big 20+ pound fish on almost every trip and much bigger occasionally. Check out these beauties caught this week:

And if you want to be alittle closer to the action check out these shots . this fish is really tearing up the deck and I dont think our angler wnts to get much closer at this point.

Special mention on the particularly  smooth gaffing today

Common among Captains in Key West is to congratulate each other on the release of a billfish. It is an accomplishment that is recognized by the words “pretty work” over the radio. Many things go into why this is meaningful , not the least of which is how many billfish just go away for one reason or another , some reasons you never know. I want to recognize a little pretty work with a cell phone camera taken by Steve on the boat the other day and all I can say about this picture is “Pretty Work”.

In conversation with a dear (and I dare not mention the years) friend , it was forcefully brought to my attention that everybody and their cat had their picture on my site. She also believed that since she was one of the early explorers of Cuba , and that the reason her picture had not been posted then was because she was taking the pictures. She should be recognized with her big Dolphin that she caught right before she caught her first Key West Sailfish.

So here you go Kay: “featured angler of the day”. Nice Dolphin too.

When you are young playing with kites you never would guess that the skills to catch large wary Sailfish are being perfected. This 7 & 1/2 foot beauty was caught (with a huge fight ) by dangling live bait from a kite over the fish’s head. There is nothing like the close up view of the bite when the bait is stuck on the surface 20 feet behind the boat. Huge Sailfish tournament this week and if this fish is any indication the action will be red hot.