Catch More Dolphin

Want the chance to catch one of the best pelagic gamefish in the world, the dolphin, a.k.a. dorado, a.k.a. mahi-mahi?

Now is your chance, with reports coming in from the western edge of the Gulfstream of epic catches of big dolphin. These are no schoolies. One angler who was fishing a weedline a couple miles past the South Ledge reported filling the boat's fishbox in minutes with 10-25 pounders. Rising water temperatures mean that big bulls aren't too far behind. Ledges like the Deli, the Triple Ledges, South Ledge, the Hump, all are holding scores of dolphin at this time.

To gear up for dolphin, first you'll need a boat that can make the often-choppy 50-80 mile trek from the Low Country coast to the Gulfstream. In July through September the water warms enough that the dolphin move in closer, usually into around 100-150 feet of water, but until then they stay within the Gulfstream. 25-50 pound conventional or 20-40 pound spinning tackle is necessary, as even a small dolphin can put up a titanic fight. Good conventional reels include the Shimano TLD series for standard trolling, but if you want to go high-end, try either the Shimano Trinidad or Torsa reels, both of which are great for chunking and casting to dolphin, and feature heavy drags for their small physical size. If you like spinning tackle, which helps if you're doing casting in the wind, the Shimano Baitrunner or Quantum Cabo reels spooled with 50-65lb braided line are good choices. As for rods, you'll want a medium-heavy to heavy power rod with a fast action, meaning the tip has a good flex but the blank is stiff near the handle.

Trolling is the main way to target dolphin. The standard trolling speed is around 7 knots, usually in a waving, or zig-zag pattern. If you can locate a weedline, eddy, or a change of water color, use this trolling pattern parallel to these points of interest, which usually hold dolphin cruising beneath the surface. If these points of concentration can't be located, try locating a ledge or livebottom, and run the zig-zag pattern down its length.

Live or frozen baits are best trolled on a wire leader complemented with a flashy, colorful artifical lure. Rattle-Jets, Islanders, and squid skirts are all good additions to a rigged bait, usually either a ballyhoo or cigar minnow. The best colors are usually chartreuse or pink, but sometimes they will key in on another certain color for some reason. Teasers or teaser dredges are good too use as well, though they seem to attract more of the small "schoolie" dolphin then the big bulls.

When you get a hookup with a dolphin, its always wise to take your time with the fish, and even leave it in the water with the drag fairly loose for awhile. The reasoning behind this is that other dolphin will try to school up with the fish you're hooked into, increasing the chance of getting more hits on other baits.

Remember when boating your dolphin, though, that these delicious fish have lots of meat on them, and unless you plan on selling your fish at market, just one or two fish will easily feed a whole family with leftovers to freeze, so take only what need.

Go Fishing!

Its that time of year, after the cool spring days and just before the dog days of summer when it's truly a mixed bag on the Low Country coast. I've been slack in posting lately because I've been too busy -what else- fishing! Saltwater inshore is teeming with seatrout, redfish, cobia, flounder, sheepshead and more, while offshore the snapper and grouper are biting on bottom and kings, wahoo, and dolphin are heating up on top. Soon tarpon will be rolling into the area sounds and inlets as well. In freshwater the shellcrackers, redbreast, and bluegill are biting, along with big catfish in the Altamaha River and Santee-Cooper lakes. Bass are biting well across the area, too.

So what are you waiting for? Get out there like I've been doing, and have some fun! Take your family or at least your kids and share your love of fishing. When I get a chance I'll be back to fill you in on the fishing outlook, as well as the story of my huge ladyfish caught off the beach, with pics!

Fishing Outlook

Cobia Main Event
The annual run of cobia in the Broad River/Port Royal Sound has begun, as reports of lings ranging from 30 to 80 pounds have been coming in. The action will be centered around the Beaufort area, but thats not the only place you''l find them. They should be fairly easy to find in the Georgia sounds and nearshore wrecks, and are moving their way up the Carolina coastline towards Charleston as we speak.

When fishing inshore for these big suckers, fishing on bottom in deep holes that run out into deeper channels is a good bet. Use live or fresh-dead menhaden or eels with a "fishfinder" (i.e. slipsinker) rig. However, if you want the action of sight fishing, search channel markers, bridge pilings, sea turtles, big rays, etc. If you see one, try casting a big tube or artificial worm (a 10 or 12 inch worm works great as an eel imitation), or also a bucktail jig. Try to anticipate where he's going when you make your cast, as you want to bring the bait a few feet in front of his nose.

Inshore Outlook
The tides aren't very big for the next few days, so the water will be a little sluggish and that tends to make inshore fish on the Low Country coast a little skittish. Your best bet will be to find a river inlet or slough that has some brisk current to keep the baitfish, and the predators, active. Sunday and Monday will bring some thunderstorms as a light front moves through, that the chance of storms increases again on Wednesday and Thursday. Fishin just before and after a storm comes through is usually hot, but be cautious when dealing with lightning.

Offshore Forecast
Winds and seas will remain quite moderate until late next week, though conditions will get rough in and around thunderstorms.
Steve Rashke of Bass Pro Savannah reported trolling the R6 tower on Thursday and landing 14 kings, including one 25 pounder. The water temperatures are just about reaching the point where the kingfish will really start to invade area waters.
Bottom fishing is still getting into high gear with quite a few more reports of big snapper and a few grouper coming in. As the weeks progress, expect more brown color to be added to the red hue of the bttom fishing reports.
The GulfStream wahoo action has been very hot lately, too, with several reports of trashed tackle due to these violent rig-choppers.

Bottom Fishing Report 4/3

After a week of watching the marine forecast and crossing our fingers, we were able to take a trip to the Savannah Snapper Banks yesterday with Captain Johnny Fulcher of Amick's Charters aboard the Scamp. The boat, which handles smaller trips than Steve Amick's big Scat II, just had a new engine installed that tops the boat out at over 30 knots. While choppy 3-5 foot seas kept us from reaching that speed, the maiden voyage of the Scamp was very quick, getting to and from the Snapper Banks in about 2 hours.

Cpt. Johnny put us on the spot and our 5-man group quickly limited out on beeliners. We got 4 good red snappers, including one in the 15-pound range, and a couple of keeper scamps. I caught one gag grouper which was barely undersized, but the law's the law. Other catches included some big black sea bass and triggerfish. One common pattern on the southeast Atlantic coast is that sharks become highly active after a period of blustery conditions. This was the case again yesterday, as we caught about 10 reef sharks, each causing fishing to stop for awhile as the shark circled, tangling lines. At one point a shark tangled the lines of every angler on the boat!

Despite shark troubles, it was a great day and the conditions smoothed out as it went along. The only bad part was the 50 pounds of fish I cleaned when I got home! Pictures of the trip coming soon.