June 24th, 2018
Key West has fully recovered from Hurricane Irma and then some. We’ve been very busy since the beginning of the year. I think this is in part to the lack of rooms and services in the middle Keys that were hurt so badly by the storm. Unfortunately, the lack of available rooms and workers is probably causing more people to book in Key West where signs of the storm are almost nonexistent by now. Not that I don’t want the business, but I really don’t try to benefit from the misfortunes of other Key Residents. Hopefully, Rebuilding and restoration in the middle keys will continue and more and more businesses can get up and running as normal soon.
Key West had a great Sailfish run in May. Normally, we expect our best Sailfishing to be in April, but there was no current in April and without a strong East current, the Sails don’t push through strong. The East current finally showed up in May and it was some of the hardest East currents I’ve ever seen. Trolling to the west at about 1100 rpm and the boat was moving at 2.5 kts. If I turned East without touching the throttle, we were going 9.5-10 kts. Think about that! Troll west for 4 hrs and turn around and get back to where you started in an hour! That’s an amazing about of water moving through and it’s great for the Sailfishing. Seas were “sporty” usually 4-5 and some days up to 8 ft, so we earned the fish we caught, but I’ve always said, I’ll take a “whupping” if the fish are biting.
June has been good for Dolphin fishing, (mahi-mahi, not the mammal). This was also a month later than normal. But the fish showed up in good numbers and hungry. Not a lot of really big dolphin around, but plenty of Schoolie sized fish and plenty of action. So far this year our biggest is a 39.5 lb Bull. A great fish any year, but as always, were hoping to catch a bigger one before the end of the summer. Always want a bigger one, it’s just the way we are!
