Today we took a load of small pilchards down to the end of the Boca Grande Bar and anchored in 100′. Small pilchards are ideal chum bait and it wasn’t long until we had the big Yellowtail up on top busting the pilchards. We caught 20 odd Yellowtail a couple of Mutton snapper and pulled off several big bottom fish. At 1:00 we got off the anchor and went trolling for Wahoo. We caught a Kingfish and several Cero but no Wahoo.
The reef fishing remains outstanding. Steady west current and light east wind make for an ideal condition for positioning the boat properly. Today we chose a spot in 100′ and fished a 3/4 day and never had to move. The Yellowtail were large and aggresive, we caught 30 averaging 3 pounds. In addition we had a 14 pound Mutton and 2 Black grouper in the 10 pound range.
We went back offshore on a 3/4 day. We found weed in 650′ but very few small Dolphin. We worked way offshore without finding any Dolphin although we caught several Skipjack tunas.We ended up running back in to 800′ where there was a small east west weed line. We caught a nice pair on the weed line ,the cow was 21 lbs and the bull was 27 lbs.
Today with only half a day to work with we elected to stay in on the reef and Snapper fish. we marked a lot of fish on the first spot in 65’but they didn’t bite well. We moved further east in 85′ and did much better, catching 15 med Yellowtails several Baracuda, a bonita and several Cero Mackeral.
What are the chances of catching a Blue Marlin on a single charter date in Key West two years in a row?? Very remote no doubt and yet thats exactly what Jim Delpapa and his family accomplished today. The lucky angler was teenage son Adam who caught the estimated 160lb Blue in 30 minutes on 30lb test line. The catch also included a 20lb Dolphin for his sister and a handful of schoolies. A year ago on June 21st, Jim and company had released both a White and a Blue Marlin, slightly smaller than this years catch. With luck like that we suggest Jim play the lottery!
Dolphin, Dolphin and more Dolphin. The last several weeks has offered very steady dolphin fishing. Most of the fish are inside 600′ making for a short ride to the fishing area. Larger fish have been far and few between although most days we have caught a couple between 15 and 20 pounds. There have also been a few Sailfish in the mix, we have been getting a Sail bite about every other day.
We had two half days today, which is usually a situation that doesn’t work well this time of year with the fishing being generally further offshore. We Dolphin fished in the morning along a current line between 200 and 300 feet of water. we caught 8 or 10 schoolies and finished up with a pair in the 20lb class which wouldn’t bite trolled baits but fell for cast live baits. In the afternoon we slow trolled live bait along a 150′ color change and caught 3 sailfish including a double header, a 30lb Blackfin Tuna, 3 little Tunney and a 15lb Kingfish.
I have just returned from 9 days on Isla Mujeres Mexico. In addition to several charters, I Captained a boat participating in the annual ‘Masters’ Sailfish tournament. Tournament rules stipulate the use of circle hooks and dead bait. Sails must be fought from a stationary boat, (no backing down) on 20lb test. Stop watches are used to measure exact fighting time, with the fastest releases scoring the most points. We finished third in the Tournament with 21 releases, our fastest time was 1.04 minutes. In addition to Sailfish we also caught numerous Dolphin over 40 lbs and a 60lb Wahoo. Anyone interested in fishing Isla Mujeres should contact me for more information.
I spent the last 3 days skiff fishing for Tarpon. Overall the Tarpon fishing is slow given that this should be the peak of the season. We caught 3 Tarpon all over 100lbs and jumped off 3 or 4 others. The 3 day trip also included Blacktip Sharks, Jack Cravelles and Grey Snapper.
Today we concluded a 4 day charter with Jim Toabe, his adult sons and a son in law. Jim is perhaps my longest serving charter client. We’ve been fishing together for 30 years, and Jim is still going strong at age 83. We did a whole variety of different types of fishing during the 4 days; kite fishing with live bait for Sails, dead bait trolling for Dolphin and anchoring and chumming for bottom fish. The 4 days produced lots of quality fish; we caught 3 Sais and had several others on, we got a 40lb Cobia, several large Blackfin Tuna including one which weighed 36.5 lbs, (thats a huge Blackfin) large yellowtail Snapper, Mutton Snapper and plenty of Dolphin up to 26 lbs.
