from: Piper Delph

Hi! How are you? News from Oprah: http://sublimatedsuperstore.com/slowly.php She says it works! Piper Delph Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone

Cold Fish Kill for South Florida Shallows

With temperatures, the lowest in 130 years, the fisheries in Key West have been modified by Mother Nature for some time to come. The water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico and the flats surrounding Key West have proven to be deadly for some of the species native to this area. SNOOK, BARRACUDA, JEWFISH (GOLIATH GROUPER) and a variety of other species have taken a beating. Dead fish line the shoreline and many more will form floating lines in the Gulf over the next several days as decomposition begins to take place. Although this sounds doom and gloom for the waters north of the keys for a while, this old fisherman has been here before.




As the fish head for warmer waters further south, many species such as COBIA, KINGFISH, SPANISH AND CIRO MACKEREL, POMPANO, REDFISH and many other species will find a winter home in Key West. The warm waters of the Gulfstream are pushing against the reefs south of the keys and forming a more temperate clime for these wandering species. The warm water pushes into Hawks Channel and the islands of the keys form a natural temperature barrier that keeps the waters to the south of the islands at a moderate clime. This means GREAT fishing around Key West for the duration of this winter while the fisheries north of here will be taking a set back until their waters begin to warm.



Captain Ralph Delph

Closures, Solutions and Season Plans

Some of you may have heard about the red snapper and grouper closure that has passed unfairly in the Atlantic waters from North Carolina to Key West from January 1s till April 31st for grouper and January 4 till July 4. This radical move is devastating to our industry and makes little sense to most who read about it. The RFA (Recreational Fishing Alliance) is leading the fight for angler’s rights and taking it to Washington DC on February 24. Anybody and everybody who cares about the future of recreational fishing, regardless of what type, should become a member of the RFA. Read more of what’s going on at their website at www.joinrfa.org. We plan to join the march on our nation’s capital on February 24 and hope you will do the same. This is a pivoting point in our nation where we must stand up to fight against overreaching government officials who are representing special interest instead of the people’s interest.

Fortunately for us, Key West offers one of the most diverse fisheries in the world, so there are many types of fisheries still available to us until April. We are looking forward to, and planning on making the most of what makes Key West so famous. This list doesn’t include everything we have to offer but rather a few highlights and interests. If snapper and grouper is what makes you tick, then plan on either fishing for mutton snapper or one of several deep drop species of grouper, tilefish, rudderfish, and rose fish. Otherwise plan on…………

Year round Daytime Swordfish - These beautiful fish offer perhaps one of our most interesting types of fishing that Key West has to offer. Found in depths of over 3,000ft, these fish live in a world totally alien to anything we humans get to observe from the surface. We use Daiwa’s Dendo electric/conventional combination outfits to catch these monsters of the deep, weighing 75-over 600lbs, are great on the grill I might add. Everyone should come try this at least once in their life.

January-April Pelagic species such as Sailfish, Wahoo, Blackfin Tuna, Bonita, Little Tunny, King Mackerel, and others. These types of fishing offer rod bending, reel screaming action that is sure to leave memories one won’t forget. There are as many styles of fishing for them as there are species and one thing is for sure; you won’t go hungry at the end of the day.



January-April Shark fishing on the Flats and Back Country. If you want to make your heart beat a little faster try watching one of these beasts steam up the scent line of your barracuda and inhale your puny orange fly. Hammerhead sharks, Bull sharks, Lemon sharks, Blacktip sharks and Tiger sharks are our most common species here. They’re caught on Fly tackle, spin tackle, plug, and convetional tackle before releasing them for another day.

March-June Tarpon and Permit from Key West Harbor to reefs and wrecks to the flats and backcountry. Whether you’re an avid fly fisherman or just like to fish period, we can make it happen like you have never dreamed. Key West and the Marquesas are world renowned when it comes to these kinds of fishing.




January-April Cobia and wreck fishing the Gulf of Mexico. What more can we say; good fishing and good eating. With jigs , live bait, and plenty of chum it’s nonstop action at every stop of the way.







April-May Bonita and Blackfin Tuna behind the shrimp boats. There is no other fishing in the world that will give an angler more action than this. Ask anyone who’s joined us on one of these trips and they will tell you, wow!!!
May-August Dolphin and Marlin summer time madness!

Don’t forget red snapper and grouper will resume on May 1st and will book up quickly this year as there aren’t as many dates to go around as there used to be. Call now 305-294-4456 or email us at delphfishing@aol.com or check out our website at www.delphfishingcharters.com.

Christmas fishing Key West

OFFSHORE: The Gulfstream has moved well offshore leaving the water near shore with a blue-green tent and a temperature of 78 degrees. This has pushed most of the Blackfin Tuna further east with most of the action due south of Key West. Little Tunny are plentiful all along the reef from the Tortugas through American Shoal Light. Only an occasional Sailfish and Wahoo are being taken while Dolphin are not to be found anywhere.

Bottom fishing remains very good with full bag limits of large Red Snapper falling to live bait and jigs. See our "CATCHES LAST WEEK" at www.delphfishingcharters.com . Mutton Snapper are building and will only get better as the season progresses. Scamp and Black Grouper are here and on the increase. It looks like they will be here just in time for the closed season. Amberjacks are in greater numbers along the reef than I have ever seen for this time of year, in more that 40 years. They are a virtual plague. The AJ's have been running from 4 to 60 pounds on the average. Large Jack Crevalles, in the mid 20# class, have been numerous on structures while fishing for the bottom dwellers. Small Sharpnose Sharks have been a plague as well, along the bottom. Large Reef Sharks have been chasing and eating hooked gamefish in the areas around the larger Key West wrecks.

Reef action has been good for medium to large Yellowtail Snapper for those chum fishing, and Ciro Mackerel are responding to jigs and live pilchards. Some of the latter topping the ten pound mark. Ciro mackerel unlike the Spanish Mackerel, are excellent eating. Kingfish ranging from 5 to 25 pounds have been numerous along the reef as well as in the deeper water. We have had to go to Steelon while bottom fishing, due to Kingfish cutoffs.

Hawks Channel has been plentiful with schools of small Spanish Mackerel and medium size Jack Crevalles. Very large Kingfish, some in the mid 40 pound range have been taken on live bait by those willing to spend the time chumming with block chum to draw them into the area.

The Gulf of Mexico has been fishing well for medium size Kingfish and small Spanish Mackerel, however, Cobia have been the target of most fishermen around the wrecks. Goliath grouper are still a plague for those fishing for Mangrove Snapper and Gag Groupers.

The flats have been fairly slow, however some of the knowledgeable guides have been producing some Bonefish along with Barracuda and Sharks. This action is determined by water temperature and will fluctuate as the temperature rises above or sinks below the 70 degree mark.

That's it for now. Tight lines and good fishing.
Captain Ralph Delph

December 1 fishing report

Wow! Talk about changes. Since my last report, the Gulfstream has moved in just 10 miles south of Sand Key Light. Offshore fishing has lit up with a vengeance. Blackfin Tuna have moved into the edge of the reef and are responding to live chum (pilchards). All boats have been reporting great catches and unbelievable action. Wahoo also moved in and the trolling boats have reported up to 7 fish per day. Further to the west, around Western Dry Rocks, large Kingfish, some into the 40's have been taken on drifted live bait. Live Bluerunners have been the most effective on the larger fish.

The water on the flats has warmed back up to the high 70's and reports of Bonefish seem to be back in the shallow water and eating both shrimp and artificials. The last report is still accurate with the exception of the above.
Check out "CATCHES OF THE PAST WEEK" www.delplhfishingcharters.com and check out some of the videos on the site as well.

That's it for now. Tight lines and good fishing.
Captain Ralph Delph

December 1st fishing report

Well, here we are for another winter season of fishing in the southern most point of the good old USA, Key West Florida. The first series of fronts have pushed through the area leaving the water a little cooler and a bit more turbid. This is exactly what we are looking for. Offshore, the water temperature is around 77 degrees, however the Gulfstream is 40 or so miles south of Sandkey light and most of the water has a greenish blue hue with only a few scattered sailfish and a dolphin here and there. The reef is starting to show signs of life as the bait has arrived and Ciro Mackerel have shown up for the banquet. They are usually one of the first indicators that the winter season is on. Ciro Mackerel, not to be confused with Spanish Mackerel, are extremely good eating with a delicate tasting white meat that can be fried, baked or broiled. Yellowtail action along the drop-off is good with most of the fish in the 3 to 4 pound range. Deep water Red Snapper, Mutton Snapper and Grouper action is good with some good catches showing up at docks. Remember that all grouper fishing in the Atlantic will close for January, February, March, and April, so if you need to get some grouper in the freezer to hold you over through the closed season, December is the last month to do it. See “CATCHES OF THE PAST WEEK” on our web sites at www.delphfishingcharters.com and www.delphfishing.com for the outstanding fishing that is going on down in Key West.



Light tackle action has been good around the shallow wrecks and edges of the flats for Jack Crevalle, Ladyfish, Bluerunners, Yellowtail Snappers etc. The action on the flats has slowed as the water temperature dipped below the 70 degree mark but will improve as the temperature rises above 70 degrees again. However, the deeper basins will remain good for Trout until hard winter arrives.



The Gulf of Mexico has been active with a few Kingfish and some small Spanish Mackerel showing behind boats using ground chum as attractors. But the best news is that the Cobia are expecting a cold winter as they have been showing in fairly good numbers around the wrecks in Florida Bay.



That’s it for now. Tight lines and good fishing.

Captain Ralph Delph

Cape Cod is over & Key West Begins again

When thin sheets of ice began to appear on the boats in the morning, we knew it was time for the Key West birds to fly South for the winter. We had a great season in Cape Cod this past year with all of the pleasures New England has to offer. The begining of the season started off casting jigs and live bait at schools of small Bluefin tuna weighing between 75lbs and 300lbs. Each and every customer had their work cut out for them. Some battles lasting up to two hours. We used a combination of tackle between Daiwa's Saltiga spinning reels for casting freestyle jigs and slugos on 80lb. braid and Daiwa's Sealine conventional reels for live pogies on the kites. It is an incredible sight to see these little Giants come up to the surface and inhale a live bait right in front of your eyes. In between the Bluefin tuna chaos we kept busy on a daily basis with an incredible Striped Bass fishery with Stripers averaging weights of over 30lbs. Codfish, a little later in the season, was as easy as catching pin fish on the grassy flats of the Florida Keys. When we were in the right areas sometimes before the jig hit the bottom we were hooking Codfish on every drop whether you meant to or not. A couple times we were reeling up Codfish off the bottom and were getting eaten by Giant Bluefin tuna and spooled within seconds. The whales this season were quite the sight when they would breach, sometimes 20 yards from the boat, we have some great video of that. On one particular day, we were fishing in 20 ft. seas and watched these whales jumping out of the tops of the waves. As the wave would sweep past, these adult humpback whales would clear the water by over 20 ft. before they crashed back into the trough. It was a sight we will never forget as long as we live. The end of the season finished with an incredible Giant Bluefin bite East of Cape Cod. We had opportunities and hooked one or more Giants almost every day, and landed Giants tipping the scales at not quite 900lbs. Although we didn't see any Great Whites this year personally, the beaches of Chatham were closed all season because of so many Great White sightings around the large seal population on Monomoy Island. We did have on one occasion about a 600lb. Mako shark that came up to the boat looking for a smaller tuna that we had hanging overboard. My mate was ready with the harpoon in case we had to defend our catch but the shark may have got spooked as we were fighting another Bluefin tuna at the time, revving the engines to maneuver the boat. After all this excitement it was time to pony up and get back on I-95 Southbound.


Back in Key West, we barely had time to clean the bugs off the windshield and get the tuna tackle out of the boat before our first charters. Alot of the charter captains here in Key West have been complaining about how slow it has been so we decided to head West to the Dry Tortugas. What a great day of fishing it was with Mutton Snapper averaging over 18lbs. and double header Black Groupers over 35lbs. By the end of the day we had a fantastic catch of over 350lbs. of the best seafood Key West has to offer. Each and every day since has been no different except for a bad stretch of 35 to 40mph winds out of the East and Southeast which didn't matter to me because I was in the hospital for an appendectomy. Some would disagree, but I think I tend to have perfect timing for these things. I try to look on the bright side of things. Anyways, it is great to be back here in paradise where the food is great and the fishing is better. Capt. Billy Delph

For more info go to www.delphfishingcharters.com or email at delphfishing@aol.com or call us 305-294-4456