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.
