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Key West Fishing Report - Offshore
Capt. Ralph Delph
October 20, 2000
Key West - Saltwater Fishing Report
Well, I thought that I might get a chance to keep you up to date while we were tuna fishing in Cape Cod, however my accessibility to a computer was more limited than I had supposed. So now that the season is over, I will try to bring you up to date with the exciting and enjoyable season that we experienced.
After a rather slow start on the southwest corner of Stillwagon Bank where we landed only two giants of around 500 pounds, my son Robby and myself decided to relocate to the Chatum area of the cape where we would have access to both the bay and the vast area around the “B-B” buoy (about a 45 mile run, each way). Though we had fished this area in the past, it would require more knowledge in order to produce the action that we were looking for. That knowledge came with time and the help of friends.
The “B-B” buoy lies around 40 miles S.E. from Monamoy point on the S.E. tip of Cape Cod. There is a series of shoals that come up from nearly 200’ to as little as 30’, causing some rips that even on a calm day can get the attention of even the most seasoned skippers. On one calm day, ground swells from some distant storm were curling and breaking in excess of 15’ with white water nearly a quarter of a mile in length (from each wave) along these rips. On this particular day it was decided to circumnavigate this area rather than take the most direct route home.
We found an area on the way out where good quantities of live bait was available and soon found that the tunas had discovered the area as well. We had heard of a wreck in the area and wanted to find it and check it out. One day while in the area, I saw a float in the distance and ran over to check it out. It was just a free floater. I glanced at the recorder and to my surprise; we were setting on top of one of the largest wrecks I had ever marked. Robby decided to drop a large bait to the bottom in hopes of catching a giant codfish. Sounds good to me so down he dropped. The bait hit the bottom and as the line began to slowly move off, Robby started to reel. The rod doubled over and the mother of all cods was hooked. Soon it was understood that this was more than just the mother, it would have to be the whole family. It turned out to be a blue fin that took the bait dead on the bottom. This turned out to be one of more than 75 that we took over this season. This area yielded as many as a dozen fish per day from 200# to as mush as 500#, though the smaller were the more common. There were as many as 6 to 10 fish on the recorder at a time. This has me looking forward to some games with fly rods and lighter tackle next season.
In all it was one of the most enjoyable seasons that we have ever spent in Cape Cod and I know that I am already looking forward to next summer. My season in Key West will begin on December 1, 2000 so join me then and I will keep you up to date with fishing adventures and reports from “Key West”.
Tight lines and good fishing.
Capt. Ralph Delph
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