Download the mobile app!
Hooking Up Anglers Since 2011.
Preparation is the key to consistent dolphin action. Before you leave the dock, you want to rig your rods and trolled baits. You’ll want at least one spinning rod with a 60 pound monofilament leader and 4/0 to 6/0 hook, and one rigged with a lure like a 1-ounce yellow jig or swimbait.
Dolphin are a lot stronger fighters than most people realize, which is why I like to fish 30 pound gear when targeting dolphin. You can always bring along some lighter gear in case you encounter school-sized fish, but the first time you hook a 30-40 pounder on 15-pound spinning gear will be the last time you throw light tackle at these strong gamefish.
These fish are sight feeders, so if you’re trolling ballyhoo or swimming mullet, it helps to put a brightly colored skirt in front of the baits. I like pink, orange or blue and white colored skirts when targeting dolphin, but green, pink and blue and purple also work well.
Dolphin (or mahi) are one of the most commonly sought species by bluewater anglers. They’re fast-moving, which makes them difficult to target. In my region the most consistent way to locate dolphin is to look for floating weed or debris which will hold small baitfish and crabs that dolphin like to feed on.
Knowing that, I’ll start my day by running until I find something that looks good: a rip, color change, weedline or edge. Instead of running to a specific depth and blind trolling and hoping to come across fish, I’ll run until I find conditions that typically hold fish, whether that’s floating weeds or debris, a good color change or rip or a flock of diving birds—just start your day on a promising location.
In my region dolphin fishing is best on a northerly or easterly wind, particularly if the wind has been blowing in that direction or several days. These wind directions push against the Gulf Stream Current and stack the weeds up, effectively moving a lot of the fish from the eastern side of the Gulf Steam over to the western side. Unfortunately, a lot of the biggest dolphin are caught in the roughest conditions.
Because dolphin are sight feeders, I like to add some splash and flash to my spread by deploying a squid teaser chain and a bait teaser chain. These teasers consist of five or six squid or live or dead baits one behind the other that is placed just behind the boat. Deploy your rigged baits just behind the teasers to give the impression of weak baits that can’t keep up with the school. The dolphin will target the easiest bait to catch first.
Always have at least one bait down deep, usually a double-hooked swimming mullet or ballyhoo to target the fish that are deep in the water column. As we get closer to summer, that deep bait will get hit a lot more. Be sure to rig that bait with #7 wire and two hooks, in case a wahoo takes an interest in it.
I like to always have a pitch bait ready to throw to any big dolphin we might encounter, so I have at least one spinning rod hooked to a live mullet, pilchard, threadfin or Spanish sardine. I’ll place that rod in one corner of the transom, with the bait already hooked and sitting in a five gallon bucket filled with water. If a big dolphin comes within casting range, you can quickly grab that rod and throw a bait to the fish. If you can’t get a live bait, dead baits like a whole ballyhoo, squid or mullet will work just about as well.
In April and May, I like to troll for dolphin, but once we get to the summer months where we have flat calm seas, I’ll switch it up. If we decide to troll, then I’ll use a strip bait with a skirt—something that we can troll fast and cover a lot of water. More often than not, I’ll do the run and gun, where we run for a mile and then shut down and scan the horizon in every direction with binoculars looking for floating logs, diving birds or good clumps of weeds. Turtles are another thing to look for. Turtles hold a lot of dolphin in calm weather. When we find something we like, we’ll run to it and toss live baits out and drift around the area until we get a bite.
If you encounter diving birds, the first thing you want to do is make a mark on your GPS, so you know where the birds started. Then try to get in front of the birds without driving over the fish. As you get ahead of the birds, you can shut down and put out your baits and let the fish come to you. Make a second mark when you shut down, and that should give you a general direction the fish are moving in, so if they do go down, you know which way to look for them. I’ll slow-troll the baits in that general direction until we see the birds diving again, and then try to get ahead of them.
Keep in mind that when you encounter a school of fish you want to keep a hooked dolphin in the water to hold the school in the area. The action with school fish is usually fast and furious, so you want to pay attention to the number and size of the fish you catch. It’s easy to bail the dolphin from a school of smallish fish, and then realize you have more fish than you really need, so take notice of how many fish go into the fish box, and try to conserve some for the future of the fishery.
This Fishing Report was submitted on 4/20/2014 2:50:15 PM by Seamus and last updated on 4/20/2014 2:50:15 PM.
Including GPX (Universal GPS Format), KML (Google Earth), and XLS (Excel) files.
Gives You Access To:
Download GPS files of fishing spots. Create Custom Maps of fishing spots. Fishing predictions w/ future date & location. Featured Listings for your fishing business.
$7 month or $49 year