Key West Fishing

The fishing in Key West this week is heating up. Some big Mahi-Mahi are showing up in 350-600ft of water. They are congregating along weedlines that have formed or of course, floating debris too. The sargassum weed, which was so unmanageable to fish around last month because it was everywhere and so much of it, has quelled to a much more manageable level. Currents and winds have moved the weed to form along nice lines that are easy to troll along. These seaweed patches are basically nurseries for small fish, crabs, shrimp and all the stuff that these mahi-mahi love to eat. Remember with fishing and finding fish, it’s all about the food. A rare Wahoo will also be lurking along these weedlines, lower in the water column but ready to pounce on any delicious baitfish that crosses their path. On these offshore trolling trips, patience is a pre-requisite. You need to spend a lot of time out there trolling along, looking for stuff to fish to and trying different depths and zones. It’s a lot of downtime in between bites (if you can find them at all). But if you do, it’s all worth it. One sizeable school can load your fishbox in one fell swoop. I always tell my customers Mahi fishing is “hero or zero”. You either catch a lot of them and it’s a great day, or it’s a long day of trolling without any action. Fortunately, lately the Mahi bite is good and producing most days in Key West.

The best action, for numbers of fish, is on the reef which is just 7 miles off the coast of Key West. Our waters get deep quick, so 7 miles offshore Key West we are already in over 100ft of water. Key West charter fishing on the reef has a lot more variety with some pretty good sized fish mixed in. Lately, Bonitos, Barracudas and Kingfish are making up the majority of our catch. Also, Blackfin Tunas are around in small pods patrolling the outside edge of the Key West reef. We’re catching quite a few of them lately, many of them very decent sized ones. We just had the full and near full moon over the past few nights, which is helping to get a select few big Wahoo biting for us. They are always awesome to catch. Sailfish numbers are very slim lately, hardly any around right now. A lucky Key West charter boat will get one every now and then. Sailfish seaon in Key West, usually begin in mid-November, so we have something to look forward to soon.

Overall, the Key West fishing charters are producing some really good catch. That doesn’t mean it’s a guarantee that all kinds of fish are going to bite everyday, we still have slow days too. But the fish are out there and they can be caught, and that’s all I hope for whenever I go fishing in Key West. Good luck to everybody fishing this week. I’ll sea ya on the water.