|  At various times a year ,shrimp boats will congregate in the water north of Key West. There is often a long run to get to the shrimp boats sometimes over 70 miles,but it can be so worth it. The shrimp boats net a ton of bycatch in their nightly drags and in the morning it is up to the crew to separate out all the non-shrimp caught in the net. This amounts to a lot of chum being thrown in the water ,a real lot. Often there will be several shrimpers in teh same area,and the amount of fish that come in to feed on the chum is fantastic. Hundreds of sharks,tuna and bonito will school up behind these boats eating everything.
Its extremely exciting fishing,but can be pricy due to the sheer distance involved.  Air Force Relay Towers
There are several of these towers within range of Key West,they are usually identified by the letters painted on their side,such as the s-tower or p-tower. These towers sit in anywhere from 35 to over 100 feet of water. Most are located in a veritable desert of the gulf. With no other competing structure around them they are magnets for fish. Depending on the time of year huge schools of permit orbit them,along with cobia and mackerel of all sizes. Amberjack and crevelle jacks are also common in large numbers. The actual structure of the towers are usually covered with snappers from small mangroves to large Cubera snapper. The bases of the towers are usually stacked with jewfish and fishing.org/?p=86″title=”" >sharks so it can be difficult to get a fish to the boat if your fight it too long.  Mutton Spawn The mutttons are spawning in several locations near Key West and the bite has been pretty good. People are catching numerous muttons up to 20# some action has been at night and early mornings. People have been fishing in 80-100 feet of water using live and dead bait.  Mahi Mahi Its getting to be the time of year to target big dolphin(mahi mahi) off of Key West. These fish are here all year round in small numbers but are really thick in May,April,June. Charters boats are catching large numbers of the smaller fish right now,but in the next month of so the big ones will be here. Key West Fishing for dolphin will require running the boat offshore so weather can be issue. Most Dolphin are caught trolling past the edge of the reef out to seven or eight hundred feet of water. Dolphin Fish  Wahoo!!! The season is right for catching Black Fin tuna and wahoo. The past week has brought large catches of both fish. Some of the fish have been large,Blackfin tuna to 25# and wahoo to 50#. People have been catching the fish live baiting and trolling. Primarily live chumming for the black fin tuna,using hundreds of pilchards as chum. The wahoo have been caught primarily trolling,often large baits on down riggers. The wahoo have also been caught on live bait but you need large live baits to keep the hundreds of small kingfish from eating your bait. Did I mention the kingfish and fishing.org/?p=86″title=”" >sharks? Anglers are catching hundreds of mackerel in the past couple weeks. Most smaller in the 10-15# range but fish to 57# have been caught. In the mix with the king mackerel there are tons of sharks,you will most likely be catching them whether you want to or not. The wahoo,tuna,and kingfish schools are all being shadowed by a large number of large sharks. The sharks are hammerheads both scalloped and great, also there are many sandbar and reef sharks. In some places it will difficult to land a fish without the sharks taking it. Pretty awesome fishing right now,even if grouper are closed for the season. Wahoo Fish  Florida Keys Sailfish The weather is getting cooler with the first cold front blowing in this week. Temperatures are in the 60s which is cold for Key West. The colder water temperatures with bring a variety of fish in from the deeper water. As the water temperature drops larger grouper and snapper will be found on shallow patch reefs along with tons of other smaller fish. The colder water also brings the annual migration of Sail fish one of the most sought after game fish in the world. These fish can grow large and often put on a long aerial show when hooked,jumping repeatedly until they are boat side. Most guides in Key West drift live baits for sailfish ,the bait of choice being ballyhoo. In the winter,massive schools of ballyhoo will stack up on the reef edge . Literally thousands in the school. You will often see showers of bait,on the drop off, as hundreds of ballyhoo jump at the same time to escape predators. These schools of ballyhoo will be shadowed by barracuda,cero mackerel,king fish ,bonito,black fin tuna,and of course sailfish. Occasionally there will be mahi-mahi but they are not as common in the winter months.  Spiney Lobster Lobster has opened and the bugs are plentiful. Tons of bugs being caught by visitors in the shallow rocks and reefs around Key West. Remember limit is six per person per day,try to respect the resource and do not take more then the limit Many of local charter boats are setup to take visitors lobstering,ask around and you can mostly likely find a boat to charter if you have none of your own. Most captains worth their salt should be able to put you on some lobsters in 5-10 feet of water. The season opened August 6th and will be open until March.  Mangove Spawn Well the mangrove snapper spawn is on and judging by the crowds of boats in some areas,it looks pretty productive. Mangrove or Grey Snapper spawn in the summer on the reef south of Key West. These fish swim out from the gulf and inshore waters and stack up on the edge of the reef in certain areas. They tend to congregate in 50-80 feet of water. If you dive in these areas you will see walls of mangrove snapper on the bottom basically paving the bottom. This fast fishing as soon as bait hits the bottom the fish will be on on it. Most of the challenge involves getting the larger snapper to eat before the little ones get the bait. Bait of choice for this is usually pinfish,medium sized. You will be surprised at how large a pinfish a nice size grey snapper will crunch up. The best bite tends to be in the evening and night.  Cobia in Season There are so many cobia stacked up on some of the gulf wrecks the water looks brown when you pull up to them. We had a great day catching cobia last week,with some jacks and fishing.org/?p=86″title=”" >sharks thrown in the mix. Not huge fish but some where over 30# and put up a hell of fight on spinning tackle. Mixed in the with cobia where a bunch of sharks including some bull sharks which would try to steal any fish you had hooked. A big chunk of dead bait on wire lead quickly to hook up and another whole level of fight. Bull sharks have to be the strongest fighting shark ,outside of perhaps mako. If you ever want to stress test your tackle hook up with a good size bull shark because they will give you a run for the money.  Smaller Amberjack 30-40 pounds The amberjack spawn is on,and captains around the Florida Keys are reporting catching fish over a 100 POUNDS. People are fishing primarily jigs on sea mounts and deep water wrecks but smaller amberjack like these in the photo are being taken on the reef in less the 100 feet of water. If want to catch a serious fighting fish almost nothing compares to a large amberjack,they will fight all the way to the surface,and often keep fighting out fo the water once they are in the boat. | |
At various times a year ,shrimp boats will congregate in the water north of Key West. There is often a long run to get to the shrimp boats sometimes over 70 miles,but it can be so worth it. The shrimp boats net a ton of bycatch in their nightly drags and in the morning it is up to the crew to separate out all the non-shrimp caught in the net. This amounts to a lot of chum being thrown in the water ,a real lot. Often there will be several shrimpers in teh same area,and the amount of fish that come in to feed on the chum is fantastic. Hundreds of sharks,tuna and bonito will school up behind these boats eating everything.
