Yearly Archives: 2013

Dolphin fishing is in high gear. The action has been steady over the last two weeks with lots of quality fish over 25 pounds. In addition to the Dolphin we’ve been getting Sailfish and Wahoo bites on a daily basis.

After a whirlwind trip to Isla Mujeres last week, we were back fishing Key West waters by the weekend. There is a nice run of big Dolphin in progress. These fish are located inshore along the edge of the reef out to about 300′. We’ve been getting some bites “out of the blue” but in general, frigate birds have been signaling the location of these fish. On several days we’ve had nothing under 10-12 pounds with many fish running in the 20-25 lb class. There have been some very large individuals caught during this run- a 59 pounder in Marathon and several 50-55 pounders here in Key West. Mixed in with the Dolphin have been Blackfin Tuna and Wahoo. The Sailfish season seems to be winding down with progressively less action coming while we’ve been live bait kite fishing.

Capt. Brad aboard the LILLY M was the winning captain of the 50th annual International Master’s Angling Sailfish Tournament held in Isla Mujeres Mexico April 22-25 2013.
Having won the Tournament in 2012, Capt. Brad became the first back to back winner in the 50 year history of the event. The Tournament and it’s unique rules was initially concieved by legendary boat builder John Rybovitch. Tournament rules stipulate dead bait trolling with circle hooks and 20lb test line. Sailfish must be caught from a dead boat (no backing down) and are timed with a stop watch with more points accumulating to anglers with the fastest catches.

Spring Sailfishing is in full swing. We have been raising between 6 and 10 Sails per day over the last week while kite fishing with live baits. Most of the action is taking place between 115′ and 150′ along the edge of the reef. Conditions have not been ideal yet for “tailing” because of a lack of east current. If we get east current the Sailfishing will improve further. In addition to Sails We’ve been getting lots of bites from King Mackerel, and Little Tunny as well as a few Wahoo and Blackfin Tuna.

Sailfish action continued to improve over the last week. We’ve been catching them on a daily basis inspite of having relatively poor conditions for it, with off color water and very little current. Once we get some blue water and east current it should really get good. We continue to produce some good variety catches consisting of many different species by anchoring down and chumming hard. The King Mackerel fishing has slowed but there has been no shortage of Little Tunny to bend a rod. Yellowtail action on the reef has been excellent on days with west current. Offshore the Dolphin bite is still slow.

Signs of the start of spring fishing are all around us. We’ve been catching some Cobia for example which typically migrate through our area this time of year. The Sailfishing has also continued to improve. We caught 3 Sails on a morning 1/2 day this week and had a single Sail on three other trips. There has also been some excellent Yellowtail Snapper fishing when the conditions are right for it. Bonitas, Kings, Muttons, Cero and various sharks have also been part of our catch.

Over the last 10 days we have produced some pretty good “mixed bag” catches of various reef fish along with Kings, Cobia and even a few Dolphin. We’ve had some chances at Sails but either pulled hooks or had them chaff off. We also lost one which broke us off around a piece of lobster gear. One day we had a school of Wahoo swim up in the chum slick and had half a dozen rapid fire bites from these speedsters but suffered more bad luck with pulled hooks, kinked wire and bitten swivels. Frustrating but exciting, I’m sure our luck will change.

We have caught a Sailfish on each of our last 3 trips which is a pretty good indication that they are finally becoming more abundant as we move closer to Spring time. In addition to the Sailfish we have had some excellent Yellowtail Snapper fishing. The Kingfish bite remains consistent and we are seeing greater numbers of Amberjack on the various wrecks. All in all another week in which we provided a lot of action for our clients.

We continue to focus on producing the best possible action for our clients as we move into the month of March. King Mackerel remain a mainstay as they have for the last several months. Most of our Kings are caught on 15lb test line which results in an entertaining and exciting fight. We are catching a great many Little Tunny, commonly called Bonita which, being members of the Tuna family really pull hard on light tackle. Mixed with the Bonita has been the occasional Blackfin Tuna. Kite fishing remains quiet with very few Sailfish or Mahi around. On the reef Yellowtail Snapper have been dependable. Most clients looking for something good to eat have been able to head home with plenty of these delicious fish. We are also catching some Grouper and Mutton Snapper for reef variety. For those looking for a real workout, Amberjack and various Shark species have been readily available.