Key West Fishing Report - September, 2014

September really is the best month for Key West deep sea fishing, as this year continues to prove. We've had another great, successful month and have caught a crazy variety of fish, including some of Key West's famous mahi-mahi dolphinfish. With school starting and tourist season winding down, it was just a quiet, peaceful month filled with great fishing trips. It doesn't get much better than that.

While we did have to keep our eyes open for storms, as hurricane season has rolled around again, the weather was generally hot, sunny, and beautiful. Once the morning rainstorms passed, it was nothing but clear skies and open seas. If anything, the little daily squalls were invigorating and helped to break the summer humidity. It's not Florida without rain - we may be the sunshine state, but nothing beats our great summer storms. It definitely didn't get in the way of the fishing though!

Tuna season started, as we can personally attest. We pulled in quite a few blackfin tuna in the 20lb range, and even a couple that were over 25lbs! We're looking forward to pulling in even more of these delicacies in October when their season kicks into high gear, and hopefully finding a few of the bigger yellowfins as well. These fish are great for sushi or for grilling, and we put together some delicious dinners from our catches. King mackerel and amberjack, a Key West deep sea fishing staple, were biting as well.

It was not a good month to be a dolphin, but definitely a good time to be a fisherman. They were almost jumping into the boats by themselves, much to everyone's delight. Don't worry, we don't mean Flipper, we mean Key West's renowned mahi-mahi, one of the most popular fish on the islands. It's not the prettiest fish, but anyone who's tasted it doesn't care what it looks like. The Johnson family, pictured here, caught themselves a 60lb beast and earned themselves bragging rights for a while. I think it weighed more than either of the boys, making it an even sweeter catch.

It was also good fishing for blue marlin and sailfish. We released most of the sailfish back into the ocean, but a few of these beauties are surely going to end up proudly displayed on someone's wall - we even pulled in one that was a whopping 90 lbs, which doesn't happen every day. It's early in the season for a sailfish of this size, so we already know it's going to be a great year.

We had good luck at some of the deeper reefs as well. Schools of grouper and snapper were hanging out there, just waiting to be caught. We found both yellowtail and mutton snapper near the reefs, and were able to pull in a good kingfish haul this month too.

Overall, it's been a beautiful September. While it's quieted down some on the Keys, that just meant less competition in the water. The fish were biting, the weather was perfect, and a good time was had by all.