posted by admin on Apr 8
posted by admin on Mar 23
Key West Tarpon Fishing
Key West tarpon fishing gets going in March, and stays strong right through August. That’s almost six months of hot tarpon action, for you big game fishing enthusiasts out there! Morning, day or night, Key West tarpon fishing trips go out from all around the island, throwing anchor south, west, north and east of Key West proper. Usually done in flats boats, tarpon fishing can also be done from a huge Key West offshore fishing boat as well. In fact, you’ll see, anchored up just outside of Key West Harbor, offshore boats at night with tarpon clients.
Tarpon run between the Gulf of Mexico and out to the reef, passing through the channels around Key West. Tarpon boats anchor up in the mouths of channels, hoping to hook a tarpon as he swims through while feeding. Tarpon are so big and strong, sometimes they can spin your entire reel out, to the end of your line. Your guide has to be ready to start up the boat and drive toward the tarpon as you reel in, so you don’t get stripped out. To make this sequence easier and faster, your Key West tarpon fishing guide sets up a quick-release anchor. What’s this?
A quick-release anchor allows your guide to anchor the boat securely while also allowing him the ability to free the boat from said anchor, with no fuss and no delay. There’s no fiddling with a stuck anchor and no standing there pulling up rope while the tarpon spools out your line. Your guide simply unclips the line from a large orange ball and away you all go after that big catch you’ve got on the line.
Meanwhile, back at the anchor, while you’re busy reeling in your monster, the orange ball holds the “real” anchor line at the surface so you can find it after you’ve caught and released your tarpon.
posted by admin on Mar 23
Key West Offshore Fishing
If humongous, fast fish that give lots of fight are what you are after while on vacation, then Key West offshore fishing is just for you. There are plenty of offshore boats docked in Key West whose sole purpose is to take big game sportfishers such as yourself out to the deep water. Out there, they catch monsters known for their strength and speed, like Marlin, tuna, and sailfish. Key West offshore fishing is not for the faint of heart. Between the deep water, the monster fish, and the salty crew, it might be a good idea to leave the first-timers at home, perhaps in the gentle hands of a Key West flats fishing guide in the calmer backcountry waters.
A Key West Offshore Fishing Boat
However, if your newbie friends and relatives are sporty, they may enjoy riding out to the Continental ridge for a day of exciting Key West offshore fishing. After all, the boats are super nice: air-conditioned cabins with comfortable seating for a group. You can escape the hot sun and humid air in summertime and stay dry in winter time. If there are winds above 15 knots, just give everyone a sea-sickness pill and you’ll all set.
The boat captain will haul your offshore party out to the offshore area, which is beyond the coral reef, where the continental shelf drops and the depths hit 2000 feet. Here, the Gulf Stream crosses the shelf and pushes water over the edge, causing tons of nutrients to get pushed up as well. This upwards underwater fountain is a virtual banquet for large billfish. Your offshore boat goes right to the hotspots on the ridge, learned from years of experience fishing in deep water, and hits every spot until you hook something big.
posted by admin on Mar 22
Key West Bone Fishing
Bonefish caught in Key West
Key West bone fishing is a type of flats fishing where you try and catch fish that you spot with the naked eye. It’s so different from other types of Key West Florida saltwater fishing, it’s almost a whole different spot just by itself. Key West bone fishing is done silently, with lots of stealth involved. Precise casting is required, and timing is important as well. To master the art of Key West bone fishing, it takes practice and the help of a good flats guide.
Your guide is essential if you want to be successful at Key West bone fishing. He or she will first take you to the right spots in the Key West backcountry. Then the engine of the boat will be turned off. Then out comes the pole for pushing the boat, which is now essentially a raft, through the flats in search of bonefish. Once a bonefish is spotted, your flats guide will spring into silent action to get you to make the right moves. He’ll hiss at you to throw your shrimp “right over there” in front of the bonefish’s mouth. Your guide will have been watching the direction, speed, and other behavior of the bonefish, in order to help you put the live shrimp bait in the exact right spot for him to find and chomp down.
If Key West bone fishing sounds exciting, challenging or fascinating to you, or all of the above, check it out. There are dozens of Key West bone fishing guides all over Key West, all of them with their own special personalities and spots for fishing. Key West bone fishing is catch and release, but you can ask your guide to take you to a redfish or snapper spot for catching dinner. You can’t go wrong with this sport, because you always come home with at least a great story and memories of a great day fishing in Key West.
posted by admin on Mar 22
Key West Saltwater Fishing
Amber Jack caught near Key West
Ernest Hemingway made Key West saltwater fishing famous in the 1930s when he wrote about fishing for big saltwater game. It was one of his favorite pastimes, certainly his healthiest! The Key West offshore waters sometimes made rough by the Gulf Stream are boiling with sport fish, and if you’re up to the challenge we invite you to try fishing with the big boys! Key West saltwater fishing is everything you’ve heard about when it comes to big game fishing: big fish, big water, and big fighting species that leave you excited and let’s face it, winded!
Tuna, Marlin, Sailfish, or wahoo, mahi mahi, or closer in with grouper and snapper, all the saltwater fish fight hard and don’t give up easily. The lighter the tackle, the long you’ll have to fight ‘em. It’s a race to see who gets tired first, and hope the fish doesn’t get off somehow. We’re routing for you as you and the fish put up the fight. You might come home with dinner if you target bottom species like grouper, or if you chum for snapper, troll for mahi mahi or wahoo. Or you might come home with just a story of how you finally landed that the big one out there. It’s all possible during a day of Key West saltwater fishing.
Key West saltwater fishing also includes flats fishing, a whole different way of spending time on the water for anglers. Known as a more placid experience, Key West saltwater fishing on the flats involves driving out to the backcountry where the water is deep and the lays low. It’s quieter out here in back of Key West, on the Gulf side where much of the fished the flats lie. Key West saltwater fishing takes on a different style here, as the guide cuts the engine and poles you both along through the calm flat waters of the Key West backcountry.
posted by admin on Mar 22
Key West Mahi Mahi Fishing
Key West Mahi Mahi fishing has multiple rewards. Not only is it one of the most exciting charter fishing trips you can book for yourself and your friends or family, but it’s also going to result in what some say is the tastiest fish to ever be pulled from the ocean. Key West Mahi Mahi fishing is very popular for two reasons. These fish give a great fight, and they taste delicious too. Mahi Mahi flesh is delicate, light, and almost sweet tasting. Sought after all over the world for the fine taste and texture, Mahi Mahi is available right here in Key West, America’s Caribbean.
A Key West Mahi Mahi fishing trip involved distance and patience. Your charter boat will have to drive offshore, unless the Gulf Stream and hence the mahi mahi, are very close in that day. Mahi mahi, also known as dolphin, sometimes run along giant beds of sargassum, munching on the small fish that take cover in the weeds. To find these vegetation beds, drive beyond the reef, out to sea. Then you troll and troll as your captain searches the waters for schools of mahi mahi. At first, before your first bite, Key West Mahi Mahi fishing can seem slow. It’s feast or famine, guys! Just a little patience, then with some luck or a tip from a fellow captain off another Key West Mahi Mahi fishing boat, you’ll strike gold and hit a school of dolphin.
Hold on, because mahi mahi love to jump! And get another pole and more anglers ready, because once you hit a school, they’ll all want to bite, one after another. Full action!
Remember to keep a few for dinner, you will never forget the scrumptious taste of mahi mahi.
posted by admin on Mar 22
Key West Florida Fly Fishing
Key West Florida fly fishing s done on the flats that lie all around the island. Otherwise known as the backcountry, this vast area of shallow water supports all kinds of marine life and sport fish. Key West Florida fly fishing charters target bonefish, permit, snook, cobia redfish, shark and sometimes tarpon here on the flats. Fly fishing equipment used is light: use eight to ten weight fly rod and reel for bonefish and redfish. Slightly larger for permit and snook: nine to ten weight fly rod and reel. And for cobia and tarpon use twelve weight fly rod and reel.
If you are new to Key West Florida fly fishing, or if all this seems tricky to you, your Key West flats fishing guide is there to help you out and guide you at every step of the way. Your guide will navigate the flats of Key West searching for fish that cruise the flats looking for a meal. He’ll stand on the raised platform of the flats boat in order to sight any fish and then help you to sight-cast your bait right to the actual targeted snook, permit, bonefish or other fish that Key West Florida fly fishing trips usually target.
The special flats boat carries only two anglers plus the guide, so keep that in mind when bookig your Key West Florida fly fishing charter. You will learn or practice the art of fly casting at fish, and you’ll catch the Key West Florida fly fishing fever. Fly fishing adds to the excitement of catching fish in the backcountry waters of Key West. It’s definitely an art, and requires some technique and skill but with a little effort you’ll have it mastered in one morning.
posted by admin on Mar 22
Key West Marlin Fishing
If you don’t know anything about Key West Marlin Fishing, read on because it’s like no other type of Key West fishing. You see, Marlin exist way offshore, near the Continental shelf, and they are not easily hooked. The continental shelf is about twenty miles offshore from Key West, heading south into the Straights of Florida. This is the area between the Florida Keys and Cuba. The Gulf Stream also passes near the Continental shelf, but at a crosswise angle so it pushes water up over the edge of the shelf. This causes upwellings of water and nutrients, to which all sorts of game fish are attracted and come here to feed. Included in this, of course, is the Marlin. Offshore fishing boats travel here for Key West Marlin fishing, and you can too!
Sometimes a Key West Marlin fishing trip takes place over a few days. That’s because it can take days and days to hook just one Marlin! That’s why we say that Marlin fishing trips aren’t for everyone. You pretty much have to be a die-hard angler and be fairly sea-worthy for the days-long trip. But people who enjoy Key West Marlin fishing know that all the patience is worth it just to catch at least one Marlin. Marlin are wonders of nature when hooked, traveling as fast as a car on an interstate highway and skimming across the surface of the water. Key West Marlin fishing is catch and release, the meat is not good. So this is purely a sportfishing affair for serious anglers.
If you charter a Key West Marlin fishing boat, you’ll be traveling to “the wall”, which is what locals call the continental shelf. There is the King of Dropoffs here, where the shelf drops from about 1000 to 2000 feet. All sorts of large game fish feed on the wall. Your captain will know the hot spots on the wall, too. These are cracks in the shelf where there is even more upwelling and intensified feeding by large game fish such as Marlin. If you’re seriously into game fishing and you want to try the next dimension, give Key West Marlin fishing a whirl.
posted by admin on Mar 22
Key West Fishing Tournament
The Key West Fishing Tournament runs from March to November every year, and any one can enter. It’s open to the general public and there are weigh stations throughout the area. You can register your fish at no charge, and locals as well as visitors can enter the Key West Fishing Tournament. Every fish that’s officially entered will earn the angler a certificate. Every registered catch also makes the angler eligible for prizes, too.
The Key West Fishing Tournament works like this: you catch your fish either in front of a witness or have it weighed and registered at an official weigh station. With catch and release species like tarpon, bonefish, permit, sailfish, and marlin, the leader must be touched by the angler.
The rules of the Key West Fishing Tournament state that any marlin, sailfish, spearfish or tarpon that’s killed will not be recognized by the tournament. This is to discourage killing of these species, which are not good to eat anyway. Rules of the Key West Fishing Tournament also dictate that a catch must be either “angler assisted” or “angler unassisted”. That means for angler unassisted catches, nobody else can touch the rod, the reel or the line or help the angler in any way. For assisted catches, just one other person may set the hook for the main angler, but the rod and reel have to be passed immediately to that angler.
The Key West Fishing Tournament has a pee wee division, which is kids under 10 years old. Next is the Junior division, for ages 10 to 14. The other two categories are Men’s and Women’s. Each category has its set of prizes, including heaviest fish in a species. There are prizes for most catches and largest catches of more than 40 species of Key West fish. These species have prizes for “Most Releases”: bonefish, permit, sailfish, tarpon, barracuda, blue marlin and dolphin.
The Key West Fish Tournament is partially sponsored by the Monroe County Tourism Development Council. Kickoff is usually in mid-March. The tournament ends November 30 each year.
posted by admin on Mar 22
Key West Dolphin Fishing
Key West dolphin fishing has got to be one of the most exciting ways to spend a day fishing. It’s unlike any other type of fishing, because of the dolphin themselves. Dolphin, or mahi mahi, so as not to be confused with porpoises, are a very athletic fish. When hooked, they try everything they can to throw that hook. They are agile jumpers, so any time you go Key West dolphin fishing, you’re going to witness the amazing spectacle of seeing large green fish jump into the air in an exciting display of action like no other fish. Some dolphin jump several times. If you can catch this on camera, what a souvenir!
Key West dolphin fishing requires patience sometimes. Key West fishing boats that target dolphin sometimes have to troll the offshore waters for quite some time before spotting a school of dolphin. Some captains will help each other out by reporting sighted schools of mahi mahi. Dolphin run in schools, often large numbers of them traveling and eating together. They like to find large swathes of sargassum beds floating on the surface of the ocean water. These large beds of vegetation harbor small fish who use the weeds for cover and for food, feeding on even smaller organisms in the weeds. Dolphin know that when they see sargassum beds, there’s lunch! And people who go out for Key West dolphin fishing know that large sargassum beds mean mahi mahi!
If you hook a small dolphin, known as a “schoolie”, others will follow it. Hook the first one and you’ll soon get more. The real target is a bull dolphin, much larger of course. The dolphin meat is so tender and sweet it’s prized, sometimes above grouper and snapper by some people.
To book a Key West dolphin fishing trip, look for the larger offshore fishing boats with the downriggers, either at Charterboat Row, or at Key West’s Historic Seaport.
