Fished a full day today.
We didn’t do much until we got out deep. We kept going South until we were out past the “Wall”. The “Wall”, also known as the “Drop off” or “Woods Wall”, is about 17 miles south of Key West. The water gradually gets deeper as you troll south until you get to about 850-900ft. Then it drops to approximately 1400-1600 ft deep in about a quarter mile. It is a steep drop and can be a good place to find Tuna and Dolphin this time of year.
We were about 2 miles past the “wall”
and had a dolphin or two in the boat when we saw some birds “working” the water. They were flying back and forth, picking at the water. I could tell they were on fish, but originally I thought they were on small dolphin. They were working east with the current. Big dolphin go west-against the current. Small Dolphin goes east- with the current. We didn’t have much in the boat so I went to birds to see if we could get some bites.
Our first fish was a nice Black Fin Tuna.
It took a while to bring it in, so we had to chase the birds down before we got another fish. We ended up with 2 nice Black Fin Tuna and one Skip Jack Tuna. I followed the birds east for as long and far as I could, but we were over 20 miles from Key West and it was getting late. We had to start working our way back toward shore.
We found a few other sets of birds on the way back.
Most of the best action for us was outside or on top of the “Wall”. Because of the strong east current, we were not making much progress trying to get back to the North West. By the time it was time to go, I was still almost 20 miles from Key West. In many places, that’s a normal run, but we’re spoiled here in the Keys. There are many days we catch good fish within 6-7 miles of Key West. So 20 miles is a long run. In the end, it was worth it. We caught enough tuna and dolphin to make my people happy.
We have a 6 hr trip tomorrow.
I won’t be able to as deep. I hope the inshore fishing is better.