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Spring 2005 - Key West Fishing Report

Ah, Springtime. Or what we call in Key West, SEASON. That means consistent fishing and lots of business. February, March, April, and May we turn away charters. Not necessarily because of the great fishing, but because everyone up North wants to come South for the sun, fun, and fish.

I say consistent fishing because our Dolphin (Dorado, Mahi-Mahi) start to show up along with Wahoo and a shot at Marlin. We start to head offshore this time of year after a few months of mostly fishing the reef out to 200 feet. There's still Grouper and Snapper to be had in the shallow water, but everyone gets that look in their eye when you ask, "So, you wanna see what's out in the blue water?" April 13th could have been August 13th if you set your calendar by the conditions. Stifling hot, no wind and green, green water. Not that we hadn't been catching Dolphin, we had, but we were running 15 to 20 miles to get to the blue water and the Gulfstream current.

I had a half-day booked with some regulars that fish with me a couple times of year. Dan and Tim Strong from New Orleans brought two of their friends to Key West for a couple of days of partying and planned on fishing some just to catch a break from the Duval Street scene. Understandable. But, after showing up an hour late for departure, and knowing I only had half a day to make it happen, I was stressed. I assured myself that I could run to a couple hundred feet of water and get lucky with a Sail or Wahoo, but after arriving and finding the expected green, green water, my heart sank as I surveyed miles and miles of scatter seaweed.

This was one of those times when being the Captain ain't all it's cracked up to be. Dead calm, green water and miles of scattered weed. I know, I know, weed is good for Dolphin, right? Yes, but not when it covers the entire ocean and all of your bait. Certainly a mate's worst nightmare. I could see it in Steve's eyes as he descended the ladder to put out the spread. He knew he would spend most of his time going from one line to the next clearing the weed off of each bait knowing that once a bait is covered in weed, no self-respecting Dolphin would ever eat it.

I tried to think positive. All we needed was a couple good fish and the day was made… Man, was it hot. Felt like 100 degrees and only 9 in the morning. I took comfort in the fact that I could see other charter boats trolling in the same area. Surely there must be some fish or they wouldn't be here.

"Captain Hook, Captain Hook, come back. Mr. Z tryin'," I called over the VHF radio. "Come on Mr. Z," came the less than enthusiastic response. Now, the Captain Hook is run by Capt. Rick Haviland, one of the oldest charter boat Captains in Key West. Surely he wouldn't be wasting time inshore in the green weedy water if there wasn't a fish to be caught?

"Why on Earth did you stop in here?" Rick asked. My heart sank. I explained that we only had half a day and that we left late, but he cut me off. "Don't even bother putting out your lines. Head South, boy."

So I did.

By this time my clients were inside sleeping in the A/C and I tried to convince myself that they wouldn't notice that it was taking a lot longer than the half hour I had told them that we would be running. Dan came up on the bridge and asked how it was going, but I knew he was watching Key West disappear from sight beyond our wake. "Water's too green and too much seaweed to fish inshore. So… We're going for it," I said. "Cool. We're easy," he said and smiled as he climbed back down to the A/C. Now, I was sweating…

At the 800-foot mark the water turned blue and the weed disappeared. No other boats in sight, not sure if that's good or bad. Then this must be the place. I throttled back and Steve began laying out the spread. Big baits, seven of 'em, and with the calm water, they're skipping along making quite a racket. I also run two large squid chains as teasers, and combined with the seven baits, I knew that if there were a fish within miles, the fish would notice.

The next 15 minutes seemed like an eternity as I waited to see if the marathon run would pay off. Fifteen minutes turned into half an hour and then into an hour. I was concentrating so hard I was getting a headache! Everyone had come out of the cabin when we slowed down and started fishing, but now they had retreated again into the A/C and no one but Steve was left on the back deck. Just Steve standing behind the big Murray Brothers fighting chair, arms folded, motionless in the broiling sun. The moments ticked away and I ran every scenario thru my head of how I could justify getting skunked on this trip after running all over Hell. I figured I would just stay until I did catch something.

But, what if we just didn't?

Funny, but whenever you catch a fish, you can't remember your last thought before the strike… Dolphin feed on the surface of the water mostly on Flying Fish. They chase them down to eat them and are very persistent. Even when the Flying Fish takes flight, Dolphin will often follow on the surface of the water behind the "Flyer" waiting for them to crash back to the sea and eat them. Sometimes the Dolphin is so excited that his head actually sticks out of the water and creates a wake as he cuts through the water. That was what I first spotted rushing in from right angles towards our bait. Four knife sharp wakes screaming across the water to devour our ballyhoos.

"Here they come!" I shouted at Steve, who was already in motion. Dropping back both outriggers so the rampaging Dolphin could swallow them deep. It all seemed in slow motion. These fish were swimming in from the left side of the boat perpendicular to our baits. It's as if they were about 50 yards off to our North cruising the surface as we trolled by. The Dolphin must have been thinking, "What a lucky break to have a school of Flyers passing us by so close!" I hoped their enthusiasm held long enough for them to catch-and eat-our baits before they got suspicious… or heat exhaustion!

As the Dolphin arrived at our bait, I could hear the clickers on the reels buzzing as Steve dropped them into free-spool. As the buzz began to speed up, signaling that the fish had swallowed the baits and were now swimming away with them, Steve locked them up. A split second later, both outrigger rods were bent over with Dolphin in the air behind our boat. The deep troll rod bent in sympathy, and the flat line began its' drop-back… Steve raced to the flat line, locked it up and yelled for anyone who would listen.

"Get out here, we got fish on!"

Now, imagine the perfect scenario. Four, count 'em, four big Dolphin hooked up, jumping in all directions. Perfect. Now for the reality. Steve is busy keeping lines from getting crossed and me up on the bridge able to do nothing but move the boat ahead to try and keep the lines tight. And, your entire hungover "crew" is inside the cabin sound asleep. Motivating four guys to wake up, scramble out on deck, and start winding on big fish will take a while and we had precious seconds to get these fish under control. I figured it couldn't hurt for both Steve and me to be yelling, so I joined in.

"Fish on! I need anglers!" I hollered. Like a scene from Dawn of the Dead, anglers wandered from the cabin onto the back deck. With eyes shaded and tortured faces they began to realize what all the fuss was about. "Grab a rod!" I yelled. Nothing but blank stares all around.

"In the chair!" Steve said with more authority. One at a time, Steve handed out the rods and a quick refresher course in fighting a fish, but in less than a minute we were in the business of moving fish in our direction. The water was now an even more beautiful blue (perhaps because it contained fish) and glass calm. I was moving the boat forward ever so slightly and there was not a ripple except when one of the big Dolphin would jump. We had hooked what we call a family of Dolphin. Probably not really related, but sometimes large Dolphin will travel together in schools of three to a dozen.

These were all good size Bulls and Cows (males and females) migrating together. And, as good fishing guides, we always want to keep the family together. "O.K., take your time. Just keep the lines tight. Don't horse them. They have soft mouths," I said, though probably no one was listening.

With a situation like this, timing is everything. You need to orchestrate all the anglers so that the fish are brought to the boat, and landed, one at a time. If fish get tangled together, you will likely lose them. Steve, wielding the gaff, stroked each fish once and then swung them smoothly into the fish box. Almost like he had done it a thousand times before.

I held my breath as each fish was taken. Sometimes closing my eyes until I could hear the tell tale thump of the fish box lid. "That's four, gentlemen," Steve said with a rare smile. "Let's go home." Myself, being an opportunist, asked Steve to get the group together (before they went back to sleep) for a photo opportunity. The largest Bull Dolphin taken that day was 46 pounds and the smallest Cow was 21 pounds. All hooked at the same time and landed within moments of each other… It's better to be lucky than good!

Capt. Craig

Mr. Z

Fishing Report Archives:

• Deep Drop Fishing
• January 2005
• Spring 2005
• March 2006

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Remember! If it swims, we can catch it!

Mr. Z Charters 
C/O A and B Marina
700 Front St.
Key West, FL 33040

(305) 296-0910

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