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.

I  really want to go Swordfishing . I would make a couple of guys who like to fish  a pretty good deal on a noon to midnight trip. If your interested call me  at 305-295-0774 . We want nice weather and any time in Key West in the next month.

Although the Key West Marlin Tournament was in July it has taken me this long to boil down my thoughts. I was included in a great team of seasoned anglers and crew on the REEL FAST . This boat takes it’s name seriously and I truly enjoyed being able to change fishing locations at 30+ knots.

The first day we caught a nice Dolphin that put some points on the board against one Marlin caught. The second day we changed locations and landed in the sweet spot.

In the first four minutes Scott Meister caught and brought to the boat a Sailfish , the 80# gear was kinda overkill .

Five minutes later we hooked the ONE we wanted . The Marlin had other ideas and took off and with about four minutes of line clearing , spending the winnings and general mayhem the fish straightened the hook.

What can I say the mood kinda sank , except we had another sailfish bite about ten minutes later , then nothing for the next seven hours. Marlin Fishing !

The third day we went back to our sweeet spot , however the fish did not get the memo and were somewhere else. this became obvious and the boat got to show her speed and we moved South to a secret pair of sea mounts . Quickly we were engaged with THE FISH, it jumped , looked right and was dutifully called in . It was still THE FISH right up to the moment Greg Sage wired the fish and it rolled on its side and transspieced on us into a BLUE SAILFISH.

And so ended our fishing in The Key West Marlin Tournament. It was a let down to not get the fish we wanted , however being in contention to the last minute and actually having the chance to win, plus a good payout in the calcuttas made for a a lot of good discussions over the next few days.

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.

Tom brought his crew down to fish and play in Key West and from what I can tell they were doing an excellent job . Like most Dolphin fishing this time of year  finding the big ones can take time and patience to find that board that makes the day. Fortunately the guys brought plenty of refreshments and kept the party going.

The reel surprise of the day was Goofy’s big Dolphin . Our star angler had some excuse about left handed backward turning spin technique that looked like a disaster waiting to happen. However when the big one hooked up , with a little encouragement , Goofy got his reel straight and brought in this trophy.