“Fly fishing for pelagics has changed a lot out of Key West in the last 20 years,” says Capt. Ken Harris, who holds a number of I.G.F.A. records on fly caught aboard his boat, Finesse. “In the mid-’80s, nothing was as cool as teasing, especially over the Gulf wrecks. We wouldn’t enter a cobia in the Met Tournament that was less than 50 pounds on fly. Amberjacks had to be 60 or 70 pounds to be noteworthy. By the mid ’90s, live-chumming with pilchards became the rage, and you could add yellowfin tuna to the mix.”

Harris claims that in the mid ’90s, the prevalence of yellowfins and tiger sharks was related to the position of the loop current in the Gulf. Fifteen years ago the loop swung east and brought those yellowfins close to Key West, but eight years ago it meandered west again. While the yellowfins still show in December and January and tigers are still around, neither are as plentiful as they were.

“Now, if we went out 160 to 180 miles to that current, as a couple of my friends did the other day,” says Harris, “we’d crush the big yellowfin, marlin and tigers.”

“There is nothing constant in saltwater fishing,” Capt. Joe Green adds. “Except that it’s constantly changing. The tides, the light, the current, it’s never the same as the day before, or even the minute before.”

“You know what’s really fun behind the shrimp boats?” asks Harris. “Take a really big popper and let it float and the bonito will suck it down and spit it and finally a tuna will take it and you set the hook and hold on.”

“I think kingfish are the coolest fish that we catch down here on fly on a regular basis,” adds Harris. “Especially when they’re going 30 or 40 pounds. I’ve taken them up to 51 pounds on fly. I like them even better than tuna. Kings skyrocket then sound, and they do require some good casting.”

Then consider that Key West has cero and Spanish right around the reef in the late winter and early spring. Record size ceros and Spanish can be caught on fly by anchoring and chumming over marked fish on the bar, just south of the reef.

“I’d like to see a wahoo on fly,” I said during a discussion with Harris.

“The problem with wahoo is that we’re not able to keep them around the boat,” Harris says. “Those schools move so fast, you just can’t target them. I don’t know anyone who’s landed a wahoo on fly out of Key West.”

The opposite is true of cobia. “A nice thing about cobia,” Harris says, “is that you head west to the wrecks in just 10 feet of water and see cobia on top. On cold, sunny January days they’re on top sunning, and it’s pretty easy fly fishing.” If the cobia stay deep and you can’t chum them to the surface, you can try sinking lines and streamers to get to them. Even undersize cobia give a good fight on 9-weight rods.

The best fish to target on fly in Key West, especially for starters in the sport, may be dolphin, because their runs are fairly predictable and they’re gullible eaters. Dolphin show by March around Key West with the biggest fish usually in May and June. They remain through late summer, though the big fish do move farther offshore by then.

Wood’s Wall, named for Norman Wood, who pioneered the area’s marlin fishery, is a prime dolphin spot. The wall drops from about 900 to 2,200 feet in a matter of acres. Other dolphin hotspots close by include The Hooters, named for their resemblance to anatomical features, and The Ups and Downs, presumably named for the character of fishing itself, if not the topography.