Key West Update
Key West update on what’s been happening here at Dream Catcher Charters . We have been pretty busy these last few weeks thanks to many of our repeat clientele as well as new clients that have called us to go fishing and boating.
It has been an interesting weather pattern this summer. Not as much rain as we typically get in June and July and into early August and we’ve had a little bit more wind than we are used to having in the summer, but that didn’t stop it from being super hot. Typically in the shallows in the middle of summer, the water temperatures can be very high, but this year the water temps did not skyrocket as in years past. I think this is mostly due to the consistent breezes. This had a positive effect in the shallows with great fishing.
We’ve been running inshore flats and backcountry trips on the regular with some great results. Deep sea fishing on board our 47 foot Viking the INXS has been a blast. Our Dry Tortugas fishing charters have also been very popular this year and with brand new Mercury Racing 300 R motors on our 36ft Yellowfin we are excited to get our clients out there.
Inshore
As flats fishing guides we often consider the months of July, August, September and October to be what we call the SLAM season. A Key West grand slam consist of a tarpon, a permit, and a bonefish all caught on the same trip. Many of our trips have been seeing all three in a single Trip.
Since I started Dream Catcher Charters back in 1995 I have never seen so many bonefish on the flats around Key West as we have these last few years. It has truly been amazing. Our bonefish have been numerous and ranging in Size from 4 to up to 9 pounds. Making Key West a great destination for bonefishing.
With the cooler water temps we are also seeing a good number of permit up on the flats and around the channels in amongst the tarpon that are moving through as well. I have to say, though that we have been using a lot of artificial lures for permit and bonefish because we are unable to get live bait shipped down here to us to Key West often times the live shrimp will die in transport from where they come from because of the heat on the road. Many of the tackle shops are running out of shrimp and crabs very quickly and it’s rare to see a tackle shop in Key West that actually has any live bait Such such as crabs or shrimp. I think this will get better in the next few weeks when the dead of summer is over.
As I mentioned in the August Tarpon Fishing report for Key West that I put out about a week ago. We are still catching some nice tarpon and showing folks are really good time. It’s that time of year where the baby tarpon have moved into the backcountry. This is great for our tarpon focused anglers as we get a chance to fish for two different types of tarpon. I think this is mostly due to the cooler water temperatures we’ve had in the back country so far.
To add to our amazing flats Fishing our sight fisherman are enjoying the opportunity to cast to some of the very large and numerous barracuda’s that are hanging out in the shallows that are eager to eat an artificial lure or fly and fight like hell. A fantastic target for new fly, fisherman or experience, fly fisherman, or people that just like a fish that fights hard pulls fast and gives up a really good challenge.
We have four technical Bay boats, ready to go every day all powered by Mercury Marine and built by Yellowfin Yachts. We are able to get out to the Marquesas keys or Fish here locally close to Key West at will getting in shallow enough water to catch bonefish and having the Range to go out and Fish shallow water wrecks west of the Marquese’s keys and Key West. On top of that we have two bay boats that specialize in carrying four persons. These boats can still get in the shallows and show folks a great time either fishing or visiting a sandbar or sightseeing. We do it all. A really fun trip that we have is the all day all in wonder backcountry fishing charter, where we fish for every single species that we can possibly catch with our people with different tackle methods and techniques to really let our customers experience as many different types of fishing as possible here in Key West.
Offshore
We do it all here at Dream Catcher Charters and that doesn’t stop when we have to head offshore. We’ve got two boats that specifically do offshore fishing. One is reef and deep sea specific and that is our 36 foot Yellowfin center console powered by three Mercury Racing 300 R outboard motors. We use that boat to fish the reef deep sea fishing, and our long runs fishing the Dry Tortugas. The other is a 47 foot Viking sport fishing boat called the INXS. This boat specializes in no limits Key West deep sea fishing.
So this time of year Key West deep sea fishing is very focused on mahi-mahi dolphin fish putting meat in the box is very important for our clients during the summer. Although the current has been very close to the reef and very strong, the longer runs are needed to catch nice dolphin and we’ve been making that happen. A typical full day finds us out beyond what we call “the wall”, which is about 20 miles offshore. Typically we are into schoolie dolphin or just above legal size and often catching what we call peanut dolphin very small or undersized. This year has been different. We’ve gotten into some larger mahi and our schoolies have been above average. The wahoo have been coming through on the full moons in the occasional Sailfish is always around to eat one of our baits. We’ve had a pretty good summer overall except for the days with the higher winds we have not had very many slack calm days this year but we are hoping the rest of the summer will provide some of those days. The INXS has been pretty busy.
Reef Fishing this year has also been very good, especially this summer and the last few weeks since the winds finally came down some of the higher winded days we were able to move our clients to backcountry fishing charters because of the higher sea conditions that we had on the reef. It’s nice to have that sort of option for our people so they don’t get seasick and have the best day possible for what the weather will allow. That said, the days we have gotten to the reef have provided some very nice yellowtail, fishing, mutton, snapper fishing, and grouper fishing.
Like I mentioned earlier we’ve run many Dry Tortugas fishing trips this summer. Out there the opportunities have been endless. The current has been gentle and the fishing has been pretty amazing for mutton snapper, yellowtail, snapper, red grouper and black grouper. The clients that have gone out with us this summer to the have said it was well worth the trip.
Snorkeling, Sandbars, and Lobstering
Our lobster trips have been pretty slow so far this year. While we never go out on Sportsman (mini) season which is the last Wednesday and Thursday of July we do offer lobster trips during the regular season, which starts August 6th. The lobstering has been pretty good this year. We’ve been finding some lobster in the shallow waters making it easier for our clients to catch a legal size bug.
We have been running quite a few sandbar trips here out of Key West at Dream Catcher Charters on a boat we call the “TOON TIME“. It’s a 27 foot Barlletta try tune that is as comfortable as any house. Lots of shade takes people out. They get their toes in the sand they get a drink in their hand listen to some nice island tunes and have a nice boat ride and hang out and just enjoy. This trip has become very popular for many people because how nice the boat is and of course how fun our crew is to hang out with summer is a great time of year to enjoy the Key West sandbars, especially since our our water temps are down.
Key West August Update
Key West is experiencing one of the slowest tourist seasons it has seen in many years. The boat charter industry has certainly felt it. I think a lot of it is to do with the economy and people pulling back their expenses. In addition Key West certainly set the bar for very high rates for a tourist destination back just after Covid and I feel a lot of people remember that. However, this is a great time to physic Key West and save yourself a lot of money room rates are very low lowest we’ve seen in very long time and it’s super easy to book last minute when you see there is a weather window with no tropical storms and still get yourself a quality boating charter for fishing, sightseeing or whatever you want to do.
When booking your Key West vacation be sure to give us a call. We have an entire website called The Key Wester that is dedicated to information all about our island city. Our very own island Genn writes all about our local Key West restaurants and things to do. Check it out. The only way anyone can book a charter with Dream Catcher charters is by calling us direct. We do things the old-fashioned way person to person that way you get exactly what you’re looking for.
— Capt. Steven Lamp
Office 305-292-7212
Text 786-847-3808
Email info@dreamcatchercharters.com
Dream Catcher Charters
5555 College Rd.
Key West, FL 33040