With all the political distractions lately, it has been easy to forget about the upcoming travel season and where the travel hot spots are going to be.
Key West, of course, is gearing up for Fantasy Fest and all that goes with that (unfortunately in some cases) too much drink, not enough clothes, lots of partying and outstanding fishing! You don’t have to be an avid fisherman just to appreciate getting out on the water for a few hours and see what living on an island is all about. Yes, we do have a McDonald’s and speak English and use American money, but the feeling that you are existing on a tiny two by four island surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean is (fortunately) a sobering experience!
Business has definitely been slow this year, and that hasn’t been good for us. But, think about the fish for a moment. They have gotten the ultimate bench time out:)
I’m just here to remind you not to give them too much time off. They are getting complacent and now is the time to book a trip out and take them by surprise! Book now so you get the hotel you want, start planning your wardrobe (shorts, flip-flops, and maybe a t-shirt, you can always buy one here) and start searching the web for that perfect boat and crew to take you out catching!
Sincerely, Capt. Craig

George and Lisa Ramirez from Orlando make the occassional road-trip to Key West and always do some fishing with the Mr. Z when they come down. They both work in the tourist industry too and probably get their fill of Orlando and just decide to take off… you couldn’t pick a better time of year to take a little break since things are pretty slow with kids back in school, the weather starting to change and the usual Hurricane B.S. that never actually hits us.
NOTE: Did you know that Key West, in it’s entire history, has never experienced more than a catagory 2 storm… ever. If you believed the media, you’d swear that we got destroyed at least once a year!
Fortunately, the Ramirez’s always bring their luck with them and nab a nice fish or two. This Autumn, it was Blackfin Tuna. The largest was an estimated 22 pounds and put up a heck of a good fight on 30 lb. test. 250 feet seemed to be the lucky depth and we also released several blue water Barracudas.

I do feel that at sometimes, we put too much emphasis on catching the “Big One” in order for the charter to be a success. As much as we (both anglers and crew) want to bring back a trophy, we sometimes lose site of just being out there… spectacular sunrises, crystal blue water, porpoises, turtles, family and friends, and good conversation. Sometimes we accidentally learn something and walk away with irreplaceable memories. And some days it’s all about the action, a lot of average fish can beat the heck out of one big wall hanger!
For instance…

Capt. Craig -

Sorry it’s taken me so long to do this, but I wanted to thank you for a great trip on May 22. My 2 son-in-laws and friend had a good time in spite of the late night before, and I thoroughly enjoyed it also. Though we did not catch any huge trip, we did catch a good number and had a great time.

I’ve attached a picture … no monsters, but a good variety.

Thanks again … we will be back!

John LaManna
Bradenton, FL

A few weeks ago were probably the worst times we never saw coming. Sure, we knew that the economy wasn’t that great and we are and have always been the high-end boat so some anglers will tend to take a cheaper charter. We make no appologizes for taking the restroom, shade and A/C with us on every trip
  Then the fishing turned not so awful good and we really depended on the reef, deep dropping and the wrecks for action.  But!  Finally, our Blue Water fish have returned. Several days of nice Dolphin that we thought might be gone for the season. Not Slammers, but we’ll take ‘em. Blackfin Tunas that most people think are wintertime fish, and smoker sized Kings!

There are Sharks and Jacks on the wrecks, which we expect. Wahoos? Yep, we actually caught the fourth place Wahoo in the Drambuie Tounament this year. But, we never saw the BP Oil Disaster coming… who did? We always expected a hurricane to destroy us (even though Key West has never seen more than a catagory 2… ever in History!) Well, of course, we never got any oil down here. Hot, yes, oily, no. But the fishing, well, we didn’t get enough full days booked to go out and see just where the Gulf Stream is and what kind of edge had formed up. We did, Thank God, get a lot of half days and 3/4′ers to find some fish and put smiles on faces.

The Hawkins came back for a fourth time to be abused by the crew of the “Mr. Z” and assured us that 3 out of 4 is pretty good…Jamie from the local light tackle boat “Island Time” sent his family out with the “Mr.Z” and scored some Dolphin, and Scott Decker listened intently to my briefing before we left the dock, but then confidently told me that there would be no reef fishing on their charter… and we ended up with several nice size dolphin (picture).John Carlisle and family along with repeat clientelle Jamie Douglas with Dolphin and Jose Armangol from Miami took home some nice Blackfin Tuna and Wahoo!

Now is the time to make those reservations for this Winter and Spring, they’ll be here before you know it and now there are even less places to go fishing in the US!

This post is both informational and hopefully, educational.
First, still… There is NO OIL IN KEY WEST. I know I have harped on this ad nauseam, but that is the number one question I get several times a day. And a fair question at that. So, before I get to the fishing, let me explain why there is no oil in Key West and why, I believe, there won’t be! A bold statement, but I feel that after working as a Captain full time in Key West exclusively since 1986, I am a bit more savvy than most… even most of the so called experts. Here’s my take on the whole thing.
First, we have all learned quite a bit about the Loop current and the Gulf Stream in the past few months so I won’t go into too much detail about that. If you aren’t familiar with those two factors, do a little research on the internet and you will be up to speed in just a few clicks. The Loop/Gulf Stream is driven by changes in water temperature. The bigger the difference between the temperature of the Gulf Stream coming from Mexico and the temperature of the ambient water in the Gulf of Mexico, the faster the Gulf Stream moves. If the two temperatures are reasonably close, such as they are right now in the dead of summer, there just isn’t much energy to move that huge amount of water and it stagnates pretty much where it is. And unless you get some sort of major event like a storm, you won’t get much movement in that water until the seasons start to change. Like maybe a cold front from up North descending on the Gulf of Mexico and cooling things down. Just not gonna happen for at least several more months. The second most effective element to moving this oil out of the Gulf is the prevailing wind and more importantly, its direction. As pretty much everyone knows, the prevailing wind in the Florida Keys year around is South East. We get Some days of East and a little North during “rain events” but you can pretty much count on the wind blowing from the South East every time you take your boat out from May thru October. This direction puts that stagnant oil right up on Galveston and on its way to Houston by way of New Orleans. Sorry, not trying to be cruel, but Key West is just not going to get that oil under these conditions. No way. We do fish the Gulf of Mexico and did quite a few times this last month when the wind was blowing stiffly out of the South East a few days this July. Still, near shore, no oil, and plenty of fish!
Anyway, to sum up fishing this summer so far, we found out that even though the oil spill hurt our Dolphin fishing we found that there was more than enough other species we could target and make good days out of fear induced media clients. Way too many anglers have been listening to the press and panicking over maybes and possibles…
Wreck fishing in 200-300 feet of water has been great for producing Red Snapper, Big Grouper, Cuberas, Amberjacks, and plenty of Sharks. The deep dropping has produced Warsaw Groupers, Snowey Groupers, Tile and Golden Tilefish, and of course, plenty of Rosies in 850 feet of water. Still trolling and catching resident Sailfish, Blackfin Tunas, and Wahoo. As always, my trips have remained with the catching guarantee. We always catch fish. Period. That never changed even when the well in the Gulf, three thousand miles away, was still spewing thousands of gallons. We stand by our charters.

And, finally, some pics sent to us by some recent charters. I usually take all the pictures, but when you see me in the photos, know that some wonderful angler took the time to send us a few pics of their charter and we love to post those