KEY WEST – High pressure that lingered over the Lower Keys for most of the week helped keep the fishing active.
 Captain Gene Chrzanowski on the Fatal Attraction out of A and B Marina splashed his newly renovated 53- foot Davis sportfishing boat just in time to catch the tail end of a great wahoo bite.
 You have to be in the right place at the right time, explained Chrzanowski.
Several boats including the Fatal Attraction were finding wahoo near the Toppino buoy in 170 to 200 feet of water. The following day some of these boats went back to the same spot only to find there were no wahoo. Instead the wahoo had been replaced by a school of sleek king mackerel. Chrzanowski tried the waters a little further west the next day and landed a 30- pound wahoo.
Wahoo take the bait and run, success with wahoo fishing is landing 2 out of 3,Chrzanowski said.
 Wahoo can crash a bait with such force and run so quickly that many times the line breaks. Several boats reported hooking 20 wahoo but only came home with five fish they actually landed.
 For more information on the Fatal Attraction visit their website at http://www.fatalattractioncharter.com/.
 King mackerel are surely going to be the focus for the next few weeks in Key West. The 11th Annual Hog’s Breath King Mackerel Tournament starts on January 26th and this intense two day tournament will have anglers running the distance for a winning fish. Last year the winning fish weighed 66.77 pounds. Team Lured Away conquered the rough seas making the 80 mile run to the Dry Tortugas fishing grounds.
 The Gulf waters have been a good bet for king mackerel and Spanish mackerel. Several of the larger sport fishing boats drag dead baits for these fish. For tournament participants it is more likely they will be slow trolling a live blue runner.
 Sailfishing has improved with our slightly rougher seas during the latter part of the week. Captain Rush Maltz on Odyssea reported landing two out of five sailfish hooked.  The sailfish were hooked on live thread herring.
 Maltz spent some time out at the reef during the rougher days fishing for grouper and snapper. He reported catching some sizable mutton snapper and red grouper up to 14- pounds. 
 Duncan Connelly Jr. of Atlanta, GA certainly celebrated his 13th birthday in style. Connelly received a fishing trip from his parents as a birthday gift. For a kid whose largest fish to date was a 5- pound brown trout, Connelly was certainly amazed to see a 20- pound permit up close.
 “It fought hard,” Connelly said. He had never felt the pull of a fish like this ever.
 Connelly did a great job listening to Captain Justin Rea as he instructed him where to throw the live crab in order to lead the fish. Permit prove to be an absolute sucker for a live crab.
 Connelly landed not one, but two permit that day. In addition he tested his fly fishing skills in several of the mullet muds landing ladyfish, sea trout and jacks on fly.
 I was fortunate to get some precious time on the skiff this week. In the days preceding our latest cold snap I had the opportunity to cast at several permit with my fly rod.
 Permit have to be one of the most challenging fish to hook on a fly rod yet there are professional anglers who make it look like any every day occurrence. Not for this gal. I was staring permit number three in the face just a few days ago. He ate my fly so fast that I didn’t have time to strip the line tight in time.
 It was certainly great to see these permit feeding. It is very apparent that they were feeding hard because they know that in cold weather there will not be much to eat.
 For more information on permit fishing with Captain Justin Rea visit his website at http://www.flyfishingthekeys.com/