Fishing Reports

Dolphin fishing has been unreliable over the last 10 days. On some days we’ve found birds, weed and debris but nothing except small throwback fish. Other days there has been no weed and very few birds to work so we’ve had to rely on getting a bite “out of the blue”. We fished a two day Dolphin tournament and inspite of looking far and wide, caught nothing of any size. The next day we caught a 35lb Bull Dolphin which would have been among the largest in the Tournament- go figure. We have also caught a couple of Billfish in the last several trips, most notably a Blue Marlin of approximately 175 pounds, that’s him in the picture below featuring the big splash. We also caught a Sailfish a day earlier to go along with schoolie Dolphin.

The best of the Dolphin fishing has moved well offshore and is associated with where we can find mats of Sargassum weed or pieces of floating debris. On a number of days recently we have found ourselves more than 30 miles offshore. Successful Dolphin fishing from here on will require full days so we have the time to get out to the fish. For 1/2 day trips we can fish the reef for Snapper or troll inshore for Kings, Bonita, Wahoo and the occasional Sail.

The offshore fishing action remains very steady. We are putting a catch together every day. Dolphin, Wahoo and Tuna with the occasional Billfish bite comprise most of the action. Deep water wrecks are holding Amberjack and Mutton Snapper.

The full moon for May is upon us. Dolphin action offshore is steady, plenty of school fish with a few larger ones each day to round out the catch. We continue to get a few Sailfish bites offshore along with Wahoo. In along the reef there have been decent concentrations of spawning snapper

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.