This should come as no surprise to anyone, but it’s December! This is not normally the time of year when we are still catching Dolphin, (Mahi, not Flipper), but the fact remains we are. The Dolphin are still here.
Not massive quantities, but some decent size fish. Honestly, they shouldn’t be here. The wind has been mostly out of the north for the last week or so. This usually has the effect of pushing any weed or debris out deep and away from Key West. Any fish hanging around the weed or debris usually goes with it.
Why the Dolphin are still here is anybody’s guess. As a fisherman, I’m not going to spend too much time worrying about why. For me, it’s more important to figure out where they are and to catch them. That makes my customers happy and that makes me happy.
Today we caught 4 nice sized Dolphin right away. As the Captain, you got to love that. it’s a great way to start the day, especially when the fishing has been a bit slow lately.
We stayed out in the deep water and picked one Tuna and released a couple of barracudas. We moved into the reef to work our way back to the east and released a few more barracudas. One was a “stud” barracuda. Over 20lbs. Not a lot of barracudas that size on the reef right now.
With the cooler weather, I was hoping to see some ballyhoo, (baitfish), on the reef as we worked our way east. This time of year, if you find the bait, you usually find the Mackerel. Cero mackerel are both fun to catch and delicious to eat. I heard there was some bait further west and that it was moving up the reef. The next few days should be telling. For now, the dolphin are still here so I’ll keep catching them while we can.
Today was a 6 hr trip and we could not have asked for a prettier day. Seas were calm and it was warm, but not hot. Perfect “winter” weather for Key West. I think the high temperature was about 75′. Not bad for December