key west Fishing Report 2023

Nice grade of Yellowtail on kelps, with really good sign of Tuna that were hard to catch. Also more Dorado showing on kelps, but the 2 we hooked, found their freedom.

Aug 15

Good evening folks. We departed today on the long running Heil 5 day charter with a bunch of familiar faces and a handfull of welcomed new ones. Our first stop was the bait recievers and boy oh boy did we get a good load of bait. Best one of the year thus far. Healthy, slimy and lively. It all starts there. It was a normal departure day of lunch, naps and fishing seminars. With mixed reports from slow to ok in the bluefin zone, we're going to start off looking in the area we finished up looking in yesterday. We'll see what we come up with and take it from there. Wish us luck.

TERRIFIC OVERNITE TRIP!! APOLLO had 24 anglers on an overnite trip catch limits of Rockfish(240), 60 Whitefish & 24 Sheephead. Always a good trip with Capt JJ. Call now to book your reservation at Sea Landing @ (805)963-3564

Great fishing again today with our 17 Angler’s putting the Landings rental gear to the test. 29 Bluefin, 6 Yellowfin and 4 Yellowtail in awesome weather.

Tommy Rothery docked his Polaris Supreme at Fisherman's Landing July 31 after an open-party trip of five days with 23 anglers. Rothery was enthusiastic about both the quality and the quantity of fish he encountered at the islands and on kelps. Several youngsters were aboard, and they enjoyed catching and releasing yellowtail and dorado, while keeping a few of the larger models to take home. Some of them posed with their catch at the scales. "We released an awful lot of fish," said Tommy. Matt Herrington of Huntington Beach won the jackpot for a 36.6-pound yellowtail that fell for his sardine on a Mustad 91450 hook in the 2/0 size. He said he fished with 40-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon leader, 40-pound P-Line, a Trinidad 40 reel and a Calstar six and a half-foot rod. Scott Oberg of El Centro won second place for a 32-pound yellowtail. Steve Algrim of Long Beach took third place for a 26.2-pound yellowtail, and the trip posed at the head of the dock.

June 27

Today was a slow day on the ocean if you were a sport boat. It definitely wasn't a float day. Most of the day for us was spent in fish mode and not catch mode. A lot of hunting with the occasional onesie or twosie on yellowfin jig strikes. We did find one kelp among many that had a good school of a good grade yellowtail on it that wouldn't bite. We caught half a dozen or so but we should of had many many more judging by how many were on it. We also bumped into a school of yellowfin that charged the boat and looked very eager but the darn things wouldn't bite a bait with a hook in it. Not the day for biting fish. Too bad.

 

The weather was for the most part OK. A little windy and choppy in the morning and the same thing in the evening but the stretch in between was nice. We're headed back to the dock and we'll be heading back out tomorrow on a 5 day. I hope things change and guess what? They always do. It's the one thing you can bet on in the fishing world.

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