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Lost Cajun · Posted: Sun May 15, 2016 7:50 am Post subject: Pelagic fishing out of Port A

So I've had my 20' Key West four years now and have learned to structure fish for Snapper, Mackerel and the occasional cobia pretty well. This year I want to start chasing the dorado, BFT and Wahoo trolling and drifting. To get started the first thing I need to figure out is how far out we need to run to get into these fish. Does anyone here have some experience with this?

cbfishing88 · Finger Mullet Joined: 05 Apr 2014 Posts: 28

You will be really pushing it on a 20' boat. Normally wahoo, mahi, amberjack ect are found 40 + miles off. On some occasions late in the summer when the blue water pushes in you will find the mahi in closer but not in the regularity you will find them in 40 miles out.

With your boat size I would stick with state water trips I would not recommend going that far in a boat that small.

Lost Cajun · Posted: Sun May 15, 2016 12:49 pm Post subject:

Thanks for your reply CB and I appreciate your concern. The size of the boat does not matter nearly as much as the design of the boat. Key West boats are designed for offshore up to about 2-4 foot seas. I only go in seas 1-2 or less. I went out to old Double Yellow a couple of time before they removed it. That was about 30 miles out. In the right conditions and forecast, (one day out of 20) it's fun and safe. In the wrong conditions it's no fun at all.

OSOFARAWAY · Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 9:08 am Post subject:

cbfishing88 was correct on the distance to the fish, the key to 20' boat is pick your days (weather) and have the boat in good condition, take extra fuel, good safety equipment, and file a boating plan with the CG. Remember even under smooth conditions it takes quite a while to run back in case of an emergency.
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Central Scrutinizer · Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 1:26 pm Post subject:

"Key West boats are designed for offshore up to about 2-4 foot seas. I only go in seas 1-2 or less".

Those days are few and far between..... Confused

More likely 4-6 feet, with a 7 second period. I.E., a washtub!
Not a great place to be in a small craft, but the Captain's experience can compensate for that. Still, you would have to be judicious in 'picking your days'.

landlocked beachbum · Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 3:40 pm Post subject:

I believe the experience level of the driver is the most important factor here. With this comes good judgement about what one's boat can handle, as well as one's self. Wink

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grasscutter · Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 5:32 pm Post subject:

22 Proline Sport. Ones and twos no problem. Have come in on threes and fours with a short interval. Not fun. Also had a 24 proline. Lost the main motor steering and ran on the kicker in threes and fours. Definitely not fun. I run inshore up to 20 or so miles without too much reservation. After that, never done it. Probably wouldn't. But that's just me. I trust the Yamaha 150 a lot. But not that much.

Jetty Bandit · Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 8:43 pm Post subject:

I would also recommend sticking to state water trips, trust me.
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