Blackfin tunas and bonito rise briefly to baitfish over an Atlantic-side wreck.

There’s no arguing that Florida is the cradle of saltwater fly fishing. And at the end of the road, Key West’s pioneering anglers opened the doors to what is arguably the best wreck and bluewater fly fishing on Earth. The amazing variety of species in these fertile waters spurred fly fishers to try everything and anything, as a quick glance at the record books will attest.

You want variety? Blackfin tuna season starts in November on the Atlantic side and goes right through June on the Gulf side behind the shrimp boats. Sailfish and amberjack appear in winter and run strong through spring. Cobia appear around November on the inshore and offshore wrecks, and in December they move into shallow water, the harbor and the Northwest Channel, along with snapper, blacktip sharks and bull sharks, barracuda and permit. Now throw in the mackerels—kings, Spanish and cero. All of these gamesters take a fly, and are present in great numbers from March through June on both the Atlantic and Gulf side of Key West.

Many of the locally proven offshore flyfishing techniques, only now gaining popularity elsewhere, were developed and refined over 30 years ago in these waters by the likes of Capts. Ralph Delph, Ken Harris, Robert Trosset and Jose Wejebe. And three basic strategies for catching pelagics on fly still make the grade: chumming behind Gulfside shrimp boats, teasing with live baits over Gulfside wrecks, and live chumming with pilchards on wrecks and other hotspots in the open Atlantic. The common denominator to these techniques is chum. It’s a big ocean out there, so it’s a must to attract the fish into flyrod range, and keep them there.

Come spring in the Lower Gulf, blackfin tuna, bonito, kings and cobia flock to the shrimp boats to feed on bycatch when shrimpers cull the catch. Most blackfins come to anchored shrimp boats anywhere from 20 to 40 miles out of Key West. Some anglers barter with shrimpers on the spot for bags of various dead marine life—baitfish and crabs mostly. You can also buy suitable chum at some Key West marinas and baithouses.

Fish that are drawn to shrimp boats quickly respond to a few handfuls of chum thrown off your stern. Aggressive bonito usually surface first, while blackfins hang deeper. Be patient—tuna will rise after a few minutes. There are a couple of tricks you can use to separate the bonito from the blackfins. For starters, cast fly patterns that mimic tuna forage. There are pufferfish and squid patterns available, and bonito don’t light up to them. Also, as you drift away from a shrimp boat, bonito will run back to it while tuna tend to stick with you as long as you chum them.

Then there’s the bait-and-switch method. Teasing with hooked live baits over wrecks and casting flies to hot fish is exciting to say the least, especially when big cobia, amberjacks and barracudas are under your boat. This tactic requires numbers for good, productive wrecks and coordination among those on board. Often, you’ll draw multiple species over a wreck, and if you are selective about what you want to hook, it’s a challenge to choose your fish from the crowd and then get a fly into position so that others won’t beat it to the punch.

The third style, chumming with live pilchards, brings a lot of tackle-busting fish close enough to boats to reach with a fly rod. The drill is to net pilchards in the shallows before heading to the Atlantic side where blackfins, kings, plus passing cobia and sailfish may materialize. Tuna will often crash bait some distance from the boat, and when the entire pod is moving, accurate casting is required. When you’re anchored at a color change or a rip and the current’s running at a few knots, you’ll get a workout should you hook 20-plus-pound blackfin, which commonly sound to a depth of a hundred feet or more.