The offshore fishing had been disappointing over the past 10 days or so, but in the last several days has improved significantly. Large Dolphin have moved back into the area. Today we had 6 fish between 20 and 30 pounds to go along with a few schoolies and 4 or 5 gaffers. Reef fishing for Yellowtail Snapper remains pretty good on days with current on the reef edge.
We have had lots of calm hot weather the last several weeks and the offshore fishing had suffered as a result. Large dolphin were very hard to find and even schoolies had become less common. As a result we spent several days on the reef where the Yellowtail Snapper fishing has been good. Yesterday after a couple of days of breezier weather we ventured back offshore and were pleasantly surprised to find big Dolphin back in residence. We ended up with 6 fish from the low 20’s to the low 30’s as well as 8 or 10 from 6 to 10 pounds.
We continue to enjoy excellent Dolphin fishing which has been going on for the last 3 weeks. Good numbers of billfish, mostly Sails, although we did catch a White Marlin as well last week are also biting. Blackfin Tuna and Skipjack Tuna are also in the mix. Our largest Dolphin last week was 50 Lbs with many others in the 25Lb range.
Mid May is a great time to fish Key West, and this year is no exception. Inshore the Tarpon bite is on. Fishing a couple of hours at dawn and dusk has been producing multiple bites from these great gamefish. On the reef edge the Mutton Snapper bite has been off the charts as they school up during the full moon to spawn. We had 16 Muttons between 8 and 12 pounds in just 2 hours of fishing at sunset earlier in the week. Offshore the Dolphin are pouring through. Yesterday we had 10 fish over 20 pounds to go along with a bunch of gaffers and schoolies.In addition to the Dolphin there have been a few billfish offshore, mostly Sailfish with an occasional Blue Marlin in the mix.
The tailing action for Sailfish exploded over a three day period, the 8th, 9th, and 10th. With a massive color change in place for sometime, and strong E current, there have been an increasing number of fish along the change. We knew that with a shift of wind into the NE it would really light off. Thurs the 9th was that day, we recorded 8 Sailfish releases and a 50lb Cobia. We were in fish all day, sight casting to somewhere over 40, with about half that number biting. The days on either side of the 9th yielded 15 to 20 sightings. Today with calm conditions We fished a morning and caught 2 Sails out of the 4 we saw.
Excellent fishing along a pronounced color change has been the situation for the last 4 or 5 days. Plenty of Dolphin up to 40lbs and an increasing number of Sails are lurking along the edge. Today we caught one out of two Sails and 6 Dolphin from 8 to 15 lbs all before 11:00 AM. There are also a few Cobia tailing in the dirty water, We have been catching one or two from 20lb to 40lbs on most days. With another cold front coming this condition won’t last but we’ll enjoy it while it does.
Over a week of very strong winds has hampered fishing activities. During the week of wind we fished the reef where we could anchor and lay relatively comfortably in rough seas. With off color water and moderate current the reef has been good for Yellowtail with several days featuring very large flag tails, also Amberjack, Cero, Cobia, Mutton Snapper and Black Grouper. We had Shark problems several days, at one point loosing a 25lb Black Grouper right at the boat to a 300lb class Bull Shark. With the wind finally moderating we have a good color change in 240′ to 125′ with good numbers of Dolphin, Sails and Cobia migrating along the change.
Recent fishing trips have offered a mixed bag of action. Ty Warren of the New England Patriots and his family enjoyed a hot bite of Yellowtail Snapper which were lured to the surface with live pilchard chum. Several Amberjack in the 35lb range attracted to the action were also caught and released. We took an evening Swordfish trip to the middle crack on March 17th but failed to get a bite. We fished west of Coalbin bouy with Al Arthur and jumped off a Sail while anchored reef fishing. Several large Wahoo were also attracted to the chum slick which yielded Cero, Kings, Yellowtail and a 26lb Black Grouper. Overall the Sailfishing remains slow.
We have been out fishing almost every day since mid Feb. We’ve had lots of wind and rough seas with a couple days of calm weather between fronts. Fishing has been up and down with some days yielding lots of action from King Mackerel and Yellowtail Snapper while on other days we have struggled either because conditions were difficult, such as too much current or because there wasn’t a lot biting. We had 3 or 4 days of good action on gaffer Dolphin in 200′ and several other days when we caught quality fish off the kite including smoker kings up to 45lbs and Sailfish. Several days we chummed with live pilchards and produced a few Blackfin Tuna and Little Tunney. We’ve also been catching some Mutton Snapper in water depths between 135′ and 175′ There have been some good color changes with modest numbers of tailing Sailfish and Cobia, and I would expect that we will see good action on the color change after the latest cold front blows itself out.
Water temps have rebounded after two weeks of frigid weather. Fishing has been up and down. On days with high wind and strong current we have found it a challenge. schoolie dolphin, Little tunney, and Kingfish comprise most of the catch on days when the current is too strong to anchor or excessive wind makes kite fishing a challenge. On days with better conditions we have produced some good catches including, Sailfish, Kingfish up to 45lbs, large Yellowtail, AmberJack, Blackfin Tuna and a few Grouper including a 30lb Gag.
