Fishing The Lobster Pots
"Dolphin are high-speed swimmers capable of attaining bursts of speed in
excess of 50 miles per hour."
By Gary Diamond
Nearly every bluewater angler worth his salt is keenly aware that large
numbers of dolphin will inevitably show up sometime during mid summer. The
species is pelagic in nature, schooling in tropical and warm-water seas
worldwide. They are fast swimming, highly migratory and mainly found
inhabiting the surface of warm, deep ocean waters where they primarily dine
on schools of migrating, flying fish, squid and small baitfish.
Dolphin are among the ocean's most colorful fish, particularly the males,
which have an iridescent blue/green back, silver/gold flanks, bright-yellow
sides sprinkled with black and red dots, a bright silver belly and an azure
blue dorsal fin. Shortly after being removed from the water, the color
fluctuates between blue, green and yellow until the fish dies and all those
beautiful colors fade to silver/gray.
The males have high, vertical foreheads, appearing much as if they swam
into a brick wall at high speed. In contrast, the female has a more rounded
head, the colors are somewhat less striking and they are generally smaller
in size. A large female may reach 50 pounds at maturity, while the IGFA
world record for males was an 87-pound behemoth that was caught in Costa
Rica in 1976. While most of the dolphin caught during the past decade have
weighed significantly less, there have been reports of bull dolphin
weighing 40 to 50 pounds caught off the coast of northern Florida in recent
times.
Dolphin are high-speed swimmers capable of attaining bursts of speed in
excess of 50 miles per hour. They have an affinity for lurking in the
shadows of offshore buoys, mats of seaweed, pieces of board, logs or just
about any other object that floats. Last summer, one Ocean City, Maryland
captain boated a dozen mid-size dolphin that had taken up residence beneath
a Styrofoam cooler chest lid. A North Carolina captain stapled a few sheets
of newspaper together and carefully placed them on the ocean's surface,
marked their position with his GPS, then returned a few hours later and
tossed bucktails at the flotsam. Swarms of small dolphin had apparently
been attracted to the floating sheets of paper and they eagerly attacked
anything that resembled a baitfish.
Because the species is considered semi-tropical, it is mainly found in
waters ranging from 69 to 80 degrees, however, the most active feeding
takes place when temperatures range 73 to 77 degrees. They can be caught
using a variety of methods, but the most effective technique is by trolling
surface baits such as rigged ballyhoo, flying fish, squid, mullet and strip
baits. Artificials are also quite effective, particularly when trolled in
close proximity to a piece of floating debris, offshore buoy or lobster pot
marker.
T
I
P If the fish are a little finicky, you'll need to feed them some meat.
However, instead of tossing them chunks of butterfish or chumming with
ground, frozen blocks of menhaden, I prefer using fresh, red meat pieces of
tuna belly. And, if you can get some, I really prefer using small pieces of
Atlantic bonito or false albacore especially if they're fresh.
While the offshore buoys see lots of fishing pressure, the widely-scattered
lobster pot markers are not heavily fished. Consequently, they often hold
large numbers of small to mid-size dolphin, fish that may have never
encountered a skip bait or bucktail. Consequently, catching these two to
five-pound speedsters usually involves nothing more that tossing a bucktail
or jigging spoon in the vicinity of the buoy and setting the hook.
More often than not, there are larger dolphin lurking deep beneath them,
fish that may tip the scales at 25 to 40 pounds. Enticing these fish to
strike, however, is not an easy task, but it can be accomplished with a
little change in traditional dolphin fishing tactics. Captain Eric Blanks,
skipper of the Ravenous, has been chasing big dolphin in the offshore
waters from Maryland to Mexico for nearly two decades. Eric, like many
other captains, ascribes to the age-old approach of hooking that first fish
and keeping it in the water until you hook another.
"I've seen times, particularly when you're into bailers (smaller dolphin),
when someone gets a little excited and pulls that first fish out of the
water only to watch a school of 50 to 100 fish suddenly disappear. If you
hook up with a gaffer, one that weighs 20 to 30 pounds or more, and that
fish makes a few jumps and throws the hook, the other dolphin will often
follow the injured fish as it escapes. Therefore, when you're into bigger
fish, gaffers, it's always a good idea to use heavier line and tackle to
prevent them from breaking off. Sure, catching a big dolphin on spinning
gear is a lot of fun, but you may only catch one, and that's if you're
lucky." Eric said.
"Big, bull dolphin frequently explode from the ocean's surface with a
head-shaking leap."
Eric added "If the fish are a little finicky, you'll need to feed them some
meat. However, instead of tossing them chunks of butterfish or chumming
with ground, frozen blocks of menhaden, I prefer using fresh, red meat
pieces of tuna belly. And, if you can get some, I really prefer using small
pieces of Atlantic bonito or false albacore especially if they're fresh.
The trick is not to overfeed the fish, but just put enough in the water to
get their attention. If you provide them with a free meal, they'll fill
their bellies and leave."
The boat's position in respect to the lobster-pot marker or buoy is
crucial, particularly when the fish are somewhat finicky. Eric slowly moves
the boat uptide of the buoy, often jostling for position 50 or 60 feet
away. The distance from the marker is determined by the tidal flow. If the
currents are strong, the boat should be far enough away to allow the chunks
of tuna belly or butterfish sink to the same depth the fish are holding.
This may take a few minutes to determine, but once the fish spot the bait,
they'll become extremely active, zipping back and forth and grabbing each
chunk as it reaches the proper depth. It only takes a few more minutes for
them to determine where those chunks of fresh meat are coming from and
before you know it, they'll be right beneath the boat's stern.
Eric prefers using the same, fresh, red, tuna meat for bait. He usually
rigs a relatively heavy spinning outfit with a single, 5/0 to 6/0 drum hook
attached to 30 to 50-pound monofilament. If the fish are somewhat spooky,
he may resort to adding a length of fluorocarbon, thereby making the leader
invisible. The hook is totally imbedded in a small chunk of meat, the
reel's bail is opened and the meat is free lined with the other chunks so
it appears to be floating naturally with the tidal current. Under ideal
conditions, the action will be nonstop and everyone onboard will catch fish
until they're too tired to catch another. Under less than optimal
conditions, you'll encounter sufficient numbers of big dolphin so that
everyone will catch one or two before the school disappears.
Eric says the largest dolphin, those often referred to as gaffers, can be
quite difficult to entice. There has been times when he has resorted to
lowering a large bucktail 20 to 30 feet beneath the surface, then using a
rapid jigging motion, retrieving the lure, hopefully attracting the larger
bulls closer to the surface. It one slams the bucktail, there can be a
slight problem. Big, bull dolphin frequently explode from the ocean's
surface with a head-shaking leap that can easily dislodge the bucktail. A
one-ounce bucktail ejected from the shaking head of a leaping fish can be
come a high-speed missile armed with a 6/0 hook. Eric says when using
bucktails, use moderate line pressure and always be ready to duck your head.
Dolphin are considered among the best tasting fish inhabiting the offshore
waters. When fresh-caught dolphin are served in local restaurants, they're
referred to as mahi-mahi, mainly to eliminate the possibility of someone
mistakenly believing they're being served "Flipper" steaks. The meat is
snow white, sweet, delicate and somewhat oily, which makes it great for
char-broiling. It also lends itself to hickory smoking after three to five
days of being marinated in a relatively sweet brine solution.
Depending on where you fish, the lobster pots are situated 10 to 50 miles
offshore, depending mainly on the whims of Mother Nature and where the best
lobster fishing historically takes place. When the pots are encountered by
local charter captains, most record their exact location on their Loran-C
or GPS so they may return to it after a day of fishing for other species.
Some captains will share this information with individual anglers, however,
this is not always the case. Most of the marker locations are well-guarded
secrets. Under these circumstances, it's just a matter of running offshore
and hoping you see that telltale, red buoy bobbing on the distant horizon.
If you're fortunate enough to find one or more markers or buoys, you're
gonna' have a ball.
T
I
P A North Carolina captain stapled a few sheets of newspaper together and
carefully placed them on the ocean's surface, marked their position with
his GPS, then returned a few hours later and tossed bucktails at the
flotsam. Swarms of small dolphin had apparently been attracted to the
floating sheets of paper and they eagerly attacked anything that resembled
a baitfish.
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