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

A Tarpon Tail

During the hay days of giant tarpon fishing of the late 70's in Homosassa, Florida, it looked like a who's who of the fishing community on any given day on the flats of May and June. Lefty Krey, Carl Navarre, Billy Pate, Al Pflueger and about any other name that one might associate with the fly rod. Everyone had the same interest at heart, to be the first one to break the 200# barrier for tarpon on fly.

I had spent the last several summers in this area and had seen some real monsters in the air. For a tarpon to break the 200# mark, it would have to have a girth of around 43" and a fork length of nearly 7 ½ feet. When a tarpon of these proportions comes out of the water next to your skiff, it is not something that you will soon forget. It was not uncommon to hear stories of these behemoths on a regular basis during these times, and occasionally one of the guys would relate a tale of woe that usually ended with broken rods, lines, tippets and spirits. This meant that the king still lives. Stu Apte, a long time fishing and hunting friend, and I made our annual pilgrimage to Riverside Villas to pay homage to the silver king. Most of those looking for the first 200# tarpon, used 15# tippets and later when I.G.F.A. introduced the 20# tippet, they upgraded. Stu, never one for doing things the easy way, always used 12# tippet. In my opinion, Stu is the master of that line class. We have put a number of records in the book using 12# tippets including a 164# tarpon that stood for many years. I had no reservations about using this class tippet for our quest of the first 200# silver king.

We had spent some time in the white vastness of the area known by the locals as Oklahoma, with only mild success. As the number of boats began to increase, we had decided to relocate to St. Martins, slightly to the north of the Homosassa River mouth. There was only one other boat working the area and if the fish were there, they should be more cooperative.

Soon we spotted a school of backs, forming a familiar "donut" shaped daisy chain in the glass calm water. As I quietly polled the boat towards the school, our polaroid glasses allowed our vision to penetrate the surface glare. As the shapes began to take their familiar forms, we both noticed one particularly large shadow. With the expertise that only comes with years of experience, Stu placed the fly just inside the donut, and slightly ahead of the approaching giant. As the fly began to sink, a smaller fish of perhaps 150#, surged ahead and grabbed the fly. Stu refused the urge to strike and as the smaller fish felt the unnatural drag of the fly line, surged forward, shoving its head through the smooth, reflective surface of the water and with a rattle of its gills, dislodged the fly. We held our breath and to our surprise the school continued their circular course without any reaction to the disturbance. As the giant came around to our side of the circle again, Stu placed the fly in exactly the same position as the first presentation. As the distance between the fly and the fish diminished, I noticed an ever so slight movement of the fly and then another. My eyes were glued to the area and when the two targets merged, and the only thing that I could see was a giant silver head, I yelled to Stu to, "Strike!". As I looked to my right, I noticed that Stu had already perceived my thoughts and was already well back on the rod. Stu was clearing the line that was on the deck as my eyes raced back to the now skyrocketing giant. "Bow!" I exclaimed. My eyes raced back to Stu only to see that he was already yielding the rod to the fish.

For some unexplained reason, every time that one of these giants form Homosassa inhaled a fly, it reminded me of a mule eating a grain of oats. They were just so big. We were now hooked up to the mule and we were about to plow the lower 40.

The fish was fairly aerobatic and the fight stayed somewhat in the general area, however we had asked the other boat for permission to use our motor to follow the giant. When the other boat saw the size to this fish, he graciously consented.

After about 45 minutes, Stu had the fish slowed and it appeared that there was a rhythm to its roll. I told Stu to maintain the pressure and I was going to try to gaff the fish if I had the chance.

I had straight gaffed many sharks up to and over 400# and I was not afraid of a little old tarpon. With gaff in hands, I had only to wail for the old gal to show me her weakness. Sure enough, she started her head towards the surface and as her back broke the surface, I reached across her back and with both arms, drove the gaff home. Instantly I felt the power of this giant as she surged forward and down, taking me down to the gunwale with her. Still holding the gaff, I rotated my body so that my knees were able to lock onto the gunwale. I was upside down, with everything from my waist up, under water, with my arms fully extended, still holding on to the gaff. She was still there. I tried to pass the gaff to Stu, but as I pushed the gaff up towards the surface, the butt of the gaff struck the bottom of the gunwale, allowing the tarpon to roll off of the gaff. As I rolled over and pushed myself back up on the deck, I could see that Stu was already back at war with the giant.

Things quickly settled down and the old gal started rolling with a rhythm once more. Again with my gaff at the ready, I began psyching myself for the battle of brute strength that was about in ensue. As her back showed itself above the water, I thrust the gaff home. Again but even faster, the giant surged forward, taking the gaff and myself into the open water. I felt the water rushing past my face and I could feel the skin on my cheeks rippling through the water as the fish dragged me behind it. Suddenly the fish shot to the surface and began a series of leaps. As I opened my eyes I could see the magnificence of this creature as it dragged me with it and continued to leap in a circle, due to the drag of my body in the water. Finally as the giant settled down, I was able to pull her in close to me where I was able to grab the point of the gaff with one hand and the back side of the gaff with the other. This effectively pinned the fish on the gaff. I was doing a dead man float while waiting for Stu to bring the boat to me.

We were using my skiff and there was a slight difference between Stu's boat and mine. My binnacle control (throttle) was mounted on a sloped face of my console so that when the throttle was brought to the neutral position, the leaver was pointed perpendicular to the console face, or slightly towards the rear of the boat. On Stu's boat, the binnacle was mounted flat on top of the console so that the leaver was pointed exactly vertical when the motor was in neutral.

Stu was concerned that I might be in trouble as my face was under water and brought the boat to his downed comrade with haste. As he approached, he brought the throttle to the vertical position, which would have been the neutral position on his boat, but not mine. As the boat continued forward, Stu, now near the bow, raced back and found the neutral position for my boat. As the stem of the boat started passing over my head, I reached up and with my right hand, fended the boat from running over me. The boat pushed me down and to my left. I felt the fish roll on the gaff but to my horror, I had taken my right hand off of the gaff point, allowing the giant to roll off of the gaff. I quickly reached for the gills of the tarpon but the gloves that I was wearing were covered with slime and the fish was so slick that my fingers failed to penetrate the rear of the gill opening. The giant began to swim slowly and I now tried to get my arms around her girth. My arms fell flat on smooth sides and would not even remotely reach around the girth. I felt the giant slowly slide through my grasp and as the tail slowly slid through my arms, I watched from under water as she slowly swam away.

Stu and I never discussed the weight of that fish until over a year later. While at dinner one night, one of us brought up the subject without mentioning what we thought the giant might have weighed. Stu suggested that each of us take a piece on napkin and write a weight on it and compare the numbers. We each did so and each turned over the napkin at the same time. The numbers were exactly the same, 230#.

Shark Fishing

If you have read our "Shark Fishing" page, you will probably realize by now, shark fishing in Key West is a little different than most other areas. You might say, a little more "hands on". This particular trip certainly proved no exception to that rule.

While flats fishing with Chuck Broadski, a Miami attorney (now living in Montana), we had noticed a good number of fairly large bull sharks in the area. Rather than hook any permit and risk losing them to the sharks, Chuck suggested that we do some shark fishing. I was not very enthusiastic with the idea, as I prefer to do my shark fishing from the larger boat. However, I did not want to feed the sharks any permit and as the day was still young, I thought we might give it a try.

We quickly caught a small barracuda and hung in from a rope, off of the bow of my 16' flats skiff. As the scent corridor began to form we rigged the 8# spinning outfit for sharks. A 10' shock leader with a 3' trace of #7 wire to a 6/0 hook should do the trick. After cutting a 6" by 2" piece of "cuda" for bait, we didn't have to wait very long for the inevitable to happen. Shortly, we were hooked into a 250# bull shark and the spool diameter on the little spinning reel, began to diminish rapidly. As was standard practice with large fish on light line, I started the motor and began to follow the shark. After a while we began to recover most of the line and soon we were no more that twenty or so feet behind the large brown shadow.

When you trespass within the undefined limits of the shark's territory, especially the bull shark, they will give you a very distinct warning. The pectoral fins will extend downward at a 45 degree angle and the shark will begin to swerve in an exaggerated, left and right swimming mode. We call this action, "attack posture". This usually means that if you don't back off very quickly, you will be eaten.

Sure enough, the large brown shape began its exaggerated darting, left then right. I shouted to Chuck to get ready for the attack. I try to maneuver the boat so that the shark will not be able to catch us, thereby avoiding that crunch that any boat owner hates to hear, the parting of gel coat from the fiberglass, in this case, caused by the teeth of the shark. The shadow started it's large sweep to the right and suddenly accelerated, completing the full circle. Now we were being pursued by the shark.

So far, nothing unusual was happening and I was prepared for the next step, simply accelerate and move away from the shark, then fall in behind it once more and continue the fight.

The water was only about 3' deep and the motor had been trimmed up so that the propeller would not hit bottom or pick up grass. As I advanced the throttle, the propeller picked up air and began to cavitate. I knew that the shark was close behind and I had little time to waste. I began to lower the motor while still under power and expected the prop to grab and the boat to bolt forward. The transom of the boat was very near the water line due to the angle of the motor and its downward thrust. The cavatition of the prop did not stop nor did the boat bolt forward as I had intended. Chuck was in the bow and was looking back at the large brown form as it closed on the little skiff. I looked back to my right, in a field of bubbles formed by the cavatition of the prop, and suddenly the head of the shark broke the surface. It's forward momentum carrying the shark up on the rear deck where I was seated and mere inches from by backside. The jaws were snapping and the body was still swimming, trying to get to me. I was still advancing the throttle and white water was blowing from the prop. The shark began to slide back down the rear deck. I could hear jaws popping and teeth scraping as it's head entered the water. It quickly turned and the line began to smoke from the reel once more. We continued to fight the shark for another 20 or so minuets, avoiding several more attacks until it was brought along side where it promptly bit a large chunk of gel coat from the side of my boat, well above the water line. Chuck was thrilled with the experience and couldn't wait to get back to the dock to tell all that would listen, his views from the bow of the boat, certainly different from those views at the back of the boat.

We continued with the days fishing, often reflecting back on the others actions and reactions to the events of the morning. After returning to the dock, we found that the bracket for the trolling motor had been broken and the trim tab cylinder had been bitten and punctured by the teeth of the shark. The large gash on the port side of the boat would have to be filled and sanded, however there were no real lasting marks of our adventure except in our memories. Memories that belong to Chuck and myself, of "Shark Fishing" in Key West. Check out more fishing adventures at DelphFishingCharters.com