September is a notable month for inshore fishing. The flats are alive with baby tarpon, bonefish, and permit, although there are many other species available as well such as sharks, jacks, barracuda, snook, redfish, and jack crevalles. Typically this time of year though avid flats fisherman, both spin and fly fisherman, tend to visit our area for the trifecta of tarpon, bones, and permit. I have to say that the Dream Team is doing a great job with their clients at it too.
Just yesterday Captain Kyle of Dream Catcher Charters was out on the water with Mr Valentino and they got two of the three species on that list on a half day trip along with a few other fun species as well. They boated tarpon and permit as well as a few cudas. And Captain Chris “Sparky” Cahill boated tarpon and bonefish on his trip out to the Marquesas with Mr and Mrs Walker from the UK. They were quite happy, especially with the double bonefish hookup! They also caught a nice lemon shark.
Offshore has not slowed down either. I talked with Captain Joe and his mate Dave of the beautiful Charter boat Triple Time and they have been absolutely slaying the dolphin! In the last two days they boated over 90 fish! In addition to the fantastic mahi bite they have also gotten a few blackfin and skipjack tunas. Their clients must be happy as hell and hopefully they are hungry too with a catch like that!
Species such as dolphin are extremely prolific and great table fare. But other species such as out tarpon, bones, and permit are sport fish and not considered edible so we practice catch and release with these fish. Being ethical anglers is good for everyone. It allows the resources to renew themselves and allows the current fish to play another day, giving another angler a chance at the fight.
For those of you that are keeping a couple of fillets for dinner, several of our local restaurants are happy to cook your catch. They will blacken it, fry it, sauté it, bake it, broil it, or grill it; you just let them know how you want it prepared and they will serve you a fish dinner you won’t soon forget.
For more information about things to do and see in our island city, go to our Key West Web Site. You can also visit our Key West Events Calendar to see upcoming special events.
And for more restaurant reviews check out our restaurant review section of this blog as well as our restaurant reviews at www.gotothekeys.com.
