What are the chances of catching a Blue Marlin on a single charter date in Key West two years in a row?? Very remote no doubt and yet thats exactly what Jim Delpapa and his family accomplished today. The lucky angler was teenage son Adam who caught the estimated 160lb Blue in 30 minutes on 30lb test line. The catch also included a 20lb Dolphin for his sister and a handful of schoolies. A year ago on June 21st, Jim and company had released both a White and a Blue Marlin, slightly smaller than this years catch. With luck like that we suggest Jim play the lottery!

Dolphin, Dolphin and more Dolphin. The last several weeks has offered very steady dolphin fishing. Most of the fish are inside 600' making for a short ride to the fishing area. Larger fish have been far and few between although most days we have caught a couple between 15 and 20 pounds. There have also been a few Sailfish in the mix, we have been getting a Sail bite about every other day

We had two half days today, which is usually a situation that doesn't work well this time of year with the fishing being generally further offshore. We Dolphin fished in the morning along a current line between 200 and 300 feet of water. we caught 8 or 10 schoolies and finished up with a pair in the 20lb class which wouldn't bite trolled baits but fell for cast live baits. In the afternoon we slow trolled live bait along a 150' color change and caught 3 sailfish including a double header, a 30lb Blackfin Tuna, 3 little Tunney and a 15lb Kingfish.

I have just returned from 9 days on Isla Mujeres Mexico. In addition to several charters, I Captained a boat participating in the annual 'Masters' Sailfish tournament. Tournament rules stipulate the use of circle hooks and dead bait. Sails must be fought from a stationary boat, (no backing down) on 20lb test. Stop watches are used to measure exact fighting time, with the fastest releases scoring the most points. We finished third in the Tournament with 21 releases, our fastest time was 1.04 minutes. In addition to Sailfish we also caught numerous Dolphin over 40 lbs and a 60lb Wahoo. Anyone interested in fishing Isla Mujeres should contact me for more information.

I spent the last 3 days skiff fishing for Tarpon. Overall the Tarpon fishing is slow given that this should be the peak of the season. We caught 3 Tarpon all over 100lbs and jumped off 3 or 4 others. The 3 day trip also included Blacktip Sharks, Jack Cravelles and Grey Snapper.

Today we concluded a 4 day charter with Jim Toabe, his adult sons and a son in law. Jim is perhaps my longest serving charter client. We've been fishing together for 30 years, and Jim is still going strong at age 83. We did a whole variety of different types of fishing during the 4 days; kite fishing with live bait for Sails, dead bait trolling for Dolphin and anchoring and chumming for bottom fish. The 4 days produced lots of quality fish; we caught 3 Sais and had several others on, we got a 40lb Cobia, several large Blackfin Tuna including one which weighed 36.5 lbs, (thats a huge Blackfin) large yellowtail Snapper, Mutton Snapper and plenty of Dolphin up to 26 lbs.

With beautiful weather today we started by running offshore. Stopped on a current line in 700' and caught a Sailfish. We then found two schools of Dolphin and caught a dozen fish. It's still a little early for dependable Dolphin fishing. We had another Sail bite in 550' but pulled him off. We then ran inshore and anchored on the reef for the afternoon. The Yellowtail Snapper responded and we caught several dozen 2lb fish and also a 20lb King Mackeral.

Today we concluded fishing the World Sailfish Championship Tournament. After a great start, (6 on day one) we only caught 1 more fish the rest of the way. We were 1 for 1 on day two and never saw a fish today as the bite shifted way to the west, out of range for all but the fastest boats. We ended up finishing 29th out of a field of 101.

First day of the World Sailfish Tournament. There were over 100 boats entered, including many of the best Sailfishing teams in south Florida. We caught 6 Sails on the day and are currently in 5th place.

Today we practice fished this morning in Advance of the World Sailfish Championship Tournament which begins tomorrow. Wind was 25 knots out of the NW. We caught 1 Sail and hooked a very large Hammerhead Shark on a kite bait, he ate through the leader after about 5 minutes. We quit fishing about 12:30pm.

Had a beautiful weather day today, maybe too pretty for good fishing. We tried Sailfishing first and caught some kingfish and bonitas but no Sails. We then dropped on some wrecks and caught several Amberjacks and lost several large mystery fish. We finished the day anchored on a 135' ledge and caught 4 Mutton Snapper, 1 10lb Red Grouper, a 15lb Margate and a large Porgy, all good eating.

Today we had another group with kids who were looking for action. We anchored on the reef edge and had the big Yellowtail on top and biting. The current on the reef which had been running to the east has switched back to the west in the last day or so and that has got the Yellowtails really biting. We had a 30lb Cobia swim up and hooked him but he got away. We also had 6 or 7 Kingfish and a couple of bonitas. The last hour and a half of the day we got off the hook and slow trolled with the kite. We hooked and caught a 50lb Sailfish which was a nice way to finish the day.

We had a morning half day trip with 3 generations of the same family. I brought 10 dozen live shrimp and we started out anchored on a patch reef in 30'. We caught Ceros, small Yellowtail and one keeper Mutton. We then reanchored on the deeper reef and the big Yellowtail came right to the surface. We had a 30lb Cobia swim up but lost him, also caught a few schoolie Kingfish. Lots of action and lots of good eating fish all in half a day.

We had plenty of small and med pilchards today and ran directly to the "end of the bar". We had a light south wind and medium east current with clear water. The Amberjacks were swarming, eating both baits on the top and bottom. We could see the Yellowtails but they were really wary and we only caught 4 although they were all good sized. Got a nice Black Grouper of 17 lbs who ate a pinfish. The Speedos showed up and we caught several dozen for bait but couldn't get past the Jacks. We got off the hook and slow trolled the speedos in 150'-180' for the rest of the day, ended up with a 20lb Tuna, several barracudas, and several more Jacks.

Spent both today and yesterday Sailfishing with the same group of anglers. Yesterday we had light south wind and flew the kite along a color change with Thread Herring for bait. We had two Sail bites and caught them both. Today it was glassy calm and hot, the color change was pretty much gone. We couldn't get the kite up so be slow trolled in 140' to 170' working to the east from the Sambo's to American Shoal. Had Three Sail bites and caught one. We also hooked a Hammerhead Shark we saw tailing and landed a few Bonitas. The fishing was very slow for everyone.

Tried to reef fish down to the west again today but it was very slow all morning with gin clear water. Finally east of the CB buoy in 55' we got a bite of Ceros and small kings going in the afternoon and had plenty of action.

Had a decent reef catch today two miles east of Cosgrove light in 90'. The weather was lousy with heavy rain most of the day. The "speedos" showed up in the chum slick right away and we caught several dozen in the hoop net. We caught 15 big Yellowtail, released a 125lb Goliath, caught a 20 lb Black Grouper a 10 lb Gag a 6lb mutton all on speedos as well as a 30lb King and assorted Amberjacks, ceros and yellow jacks. Heading home we found Blackfin Tuna working off Western Dry rocks and hooked and lost several

Yesterday we hauled the boat out for yearly hull maintenance. We cleaned the hull and pressure washed the bottom. Today we scraped and preped then applied fresh bottom paint and new zincs. Tomorrow we will paint the transom with a coat of clear awlgrip and we'll be back in the water on thursday.

With a NE breeze of 20knots we elected to "hunker down" on the reef edge, being on the anchor made the breezy condition very comfortable. We ended up in 82' of water and had a slow pick of quality fish for most of the day. We ended up with 3 or 4 Cero's, a couple of Kings, a 12lb Mutton, 3 20lb Black Grouper, and 4 or 5 large Yellowtail. We knew it was time to go when the Next Grouper got eaten on the way up. The head of this fish which was all we got back indicated that whole, it would have been the largest of the day, but when the sharks move in its time to move on. After we got off the hook we ran out deeper and found a green to cleaner green color change. we hunted along the change and very soon spotted a Cobia from the Tuna Tower. We caught the Cobia which weighed 41 lbs, nice way to finish the day.

The weather was glassy calm so we decided to run into the Gulf and fish the "grouper bar" for Kings. When we arrived there was no current so we elected to slow troll rather than anchor down. We picked at the kings, fish from 10-20 lbs. We saw 3 cobias on top and hooked one but pulled him off. After we had a limit of Kings we ran off to some shrimp boats and caught a Sail we saw on top. Running back in we saw a 100lb Hammerhead shark and caught him on a spinning rod. Further inshore we caught another Sail we saw on top.

We caught live Ballyhoo to go along with large pilchards this morning and then headed west on the reef edge looking for Sailfish sprays. We didn't see any activity so we slow trolled the gulley area at Western Dry rocks and caught half a dozen kings and several bonitas. We then moved to the outside of the bar at Western and caught 3 Mutton snapper by droping live baits on a 130' ledge. We finished the day hunting for Sailfish sprays. We saw a total of 4 Sails hooked 2 and caught 1 in the afternoon.

The Sailfish continue to shower schools of Ballyhoo along the reef edge from the Toppino buoy to Sand Key Light. After catching live Ballyhoo at the middle ground, the Southpaw ran west to the CB buoy hoping to find Sails in that area with fewer boats competing for them. Instead we found dirtier water and no sign of topwater action. With a light breeze from the NE and westerly current, plan B was to anchor down and reef fish. The first spot in 90' of water showed good marks on the depth machine but yielded only a few small Yellowtail. It was beginning to look like running to the west was a big mistake. We moved to a second spot in 135' and caught a 10lb Mutton on the first drop. We quickly added a 10lb Red Grouper. After releasing several small sharks, angler John Alison caught 2 trophy Mutton's back to back on 15 pound spin, the first weighed 15 1/2 and the second a whopping 19 1/2. We added another Red Grouper, a smaller Mutton and several Yellowtail to the catch before running back to the east in search of a Sailfish to finish the day. Just below Sand Key Light we began seeing the telltale sprays of Ballyhoo and quickly caught a Sail spotted from the Tuna Tower. We also had a Tuna bite, and saw several other Sails before it was time to head for the dock.

Sight casting for Sailfish remains strong along the reef edge in Key West. Large schools of ballyhoo congregating around the shallow patch reefs at the edge of the drop off have attracted hords of Sailfish, Yellow Jacks, Cero's and even Dolphin and Tuna to the shallow waters atop the reef. We caught 2 sails and had a 3rd on today in only an hour and a half of sight fishing this morning. Sailfishing is the best its been in many years. Todays catch also included a 10lb Mutton on 15lb spin, a second Mutton of 4 or 5 lbs, a bunch of Cero Mackeral and a Kingfish.

Last week we fished the Reef Cup up at Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo. Fishing was spotty, we raised and caught a few Sails slow trolling but saw no showering fish, we wished we were back in Key West! Yesterday back in Key West, we returned to the "Grouper Bar" and caught a couple 20lb Kings along with Black tip Sharks, Jacks and throw back Red Grouper. A fairly strong Cold front has now arrived so fishing is on hold until the weather improves. This Front should drive more fish our way.

Fishing in Key West remains excellent. The sailfish are still showering Ballyhoo on the reef edge, particularly in the morning. On both 1/9 and 1/10 we caught 4 Sails each morning. We also had schoolie dolphin and a couple of Blackfin Tuna in the deeper water between Sailfish showers. The King Mackerel fishing is also red hot. The "Grouper Bar" in the Gulf has been the spot for fish averaging 20lbs.

The Sailfishing has gotten red hot in the last several days. The fish are showering Ballyhoo around the patches just inshore of the reef edge. We fished at CB buoy today and one angler caught 9 sails, all sight casting. We had 21 or 22 Sails on and saw twice that many from the Tuna Tower. Two days ago we caught 5 in only 3 hours by sight casting to fish showering bait.

Pretty weather today. Spent a couple of hours Wahoo fishing along a current line in 200'-250', no bites however. Ran in on the reef edge and anchored down in 108'. We caught 4 or 5 Kingfish and 2 Mutton's, one over 10lbs. We had 3or 4 other Mutton's on but chaffed leaders or pulled hooks. Finished the day slow trolling the Kings and ended up with a limit of 16.

We caught live Ballyhoo this morning and spent most of the day slow trolling along a color change in 200' of water. Early on I spotted a Sailfish chasing flying fish just inside the change, when we got in the area we immediately had a doubleheader bite and caught both Sails. There were plenty of Schoolie Dolphin along the color change, we ended up with a dozen while we waited on more Sailfish bites.We had one more Sailfish bite around 2:00PM but he stole the live Ballyhoo without getting hooked. We finished the day chumming a patch reef with live pilchards and caught some throwback Grouper.

Jack Marks and his family enjoyed one of those days where everything goes according to plan. Start with beautiful weather and then add fish which cooperate. We spent the morning kite fishing in 180' of water and in rapid succession caught a double header of Sailfish followed by a single Sailfish. The down rigger also produced an Amberjack and several Kingfish. For a change of pace, we anchored on the edge of the reef at noontime and had a good bite of Yellowtail Snapper, boating 15 - 18 fish up to 3 lbs. We also caught numerous Cero's and had the big bite from a King which would have weighed 40 plus pounds had a shark not mutilated him. With so much action, the Marks family had had enough by 2:00 and we were back at the dock before 3:00.

In general the fishing continues to disappoint. There has been a run of small fall Sailfish, we caught 1 out of 3 bites on Tues 11/13 along with 4 or 5 schoolie Dolphin. The Blackfin Tuna have not arrived in appreciable numbers and the kingfish action is spotty, we did catch a 20lber the other day which was the largest of the week. Yellowtailing has been inconsistent, decent one day then unresponsive the next. With a cold front passing this weekend, we expect a big improvement in fishing any day.

Offshore trip to the Marquesas Trench. Found the big Skipjacks on top and caught a couple 20lb fish. Dropped for Swords but got no bites. We ran back east just inshore of the “wall� and found 2 pieces of debris both holding nice Dolphin. We ended up with 20 fish, most were 8-10lbs, the largest weighed 24lbs.

Offshore yesterday, had a 16-LB and a 26-LB dolphin. Also several 20lb class Skipjack Tuna. Made one daylight Swordfish drop, no bite.

Night Snapper trip yesterday. It is so much cooler at night this time of year, that it beats trying to handle the heat during the day. We had a good current condition and the Grey Snapper have been spawning on this moon but our action was only so so. Plenty of Yellowtail and some Greys but most of the fish were small.

Night Swordfishing last night. Caught one small fish, our only bite. The daytime fishing the last week has been disappointing, small Dolphin offshore, a few decent Muttons on the wrecks.

Took a group of the Head chefs and owners of popular Key West eatery, Rooftop Café today. Found a sheet of plywood on the “19 line� that was loaded with fish. Caught 2 wahoos out of 6 bites and 20 odd nice Dolphin, gaffers up to 22lbs. Lots of wind and rain and electricity in the area so we came in early with everyone well satisfied with the action.

THAT'S MORE LIKE IT! The last week or so the fishing has been really slow with nothing but throw back Dolphin around, so it was great to have an excellent day today. Start with a box of decent Dolphin, full sized schoolies, and gaffers and add to that A White Marlin Release, followed by a Blue Marlin Release. Talk about right place right time! The White was about 60lbs caught on 30lb tackle and put on a great show with the water so calm. The Blue was about 140lbs also caught on 30lb and took the better part of an hour to bring boatside. Interestingly, the Blue bite just moments after we released the White while we were still putting the spread back out. Both fish ate flat line swimming ballyhoo in the vicinity of the East Crack. Congratulations to Jim Depapa and his group.

Slow fishing the last couple of days. We've just come off a weekend with too many boats fishing for too few Dolphin. The report is the same for everyone, lots of micro Dolphin, call them "grasshoppers", or "shakers"?, either way too small to keep. Very few decent fish around. Hopefully better days are coming.

Stayed inshore yesterday because the Dolphin fishing has been real slow the last couple of days. We tried the end of the bar to start with and did nothing kite fishing and slow trolling with big pilchards. Ran up to “western� and anchored down trying for Yellowtail…big mistake, too much current. Got out of there and moved out to 180’, the further east I worked the brighter the water was with more and more current. Some of the other boats were talking about a few big blackfins being caught on live bait, so I Set up Kite fishing again in the vicinity of the Airplane wreck. We ended up with a 36lb Blackfin and another Blackfin in the 20s along with a couple gaffer Dolphin. The 36lb Blackfin was the heaviest we’ve caught all season, a really nice fish.

Excellent Dolphin fishing during spur of the moment trip. Rain squalls and 15-20 knot winds seemed like inauspicious conditions for a group who didn’t leave the dock until 11:00AM. Running offshore we found several Frigate birds patrolling in 500’ of water. Both birds were on 20lb class Dolphin, and we caught 3 of these fish. We ran another 3 or 4 miles offshore and found a pallet, which was loaded with “gaffers�, and big schoolies, which made our day. After we left the pallet I ran back inshore and found a couple more frigate birds, which were on 20-30lb fish. We caught one and missed one, which was probably the biggest fish of the day. We ended up with 25 fish of which 3 were over 20, and many were in that “teenage� size (13-19lbs) On the way in, I was pleased to overhear one of the clients tell his buddy, “boy the fishing was better than I expected it to be�

Duie Latta, and his son, along with well-known skiff guide Tim Carlisle caught one out of three Swordfish they hooked while fishing the East Crack area last night. The Sword was estimated at 50lbs and released. The group also released one shark. Fresh easterly breezes of 15 knots, made for sloppy conditions.