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So, My Son and I trolled for Dolphin and...

BarryB

BarryB

Contributing Member
City
Pembroke Pines
Today was the first time trolling for Dolphin. Well, I still have the bait.

Shakespeare rod and reel with 20lb test mono. Swivel and 2 feet of flourocarbon leader and a quick clip on the end. I attached the pre-rigged ballyhoo and trolled at about 4 knots. Not a bite.

From what I've read, I had to look for weed lines. Did not find any except patches of seaweed.

Is there something missing from the rod setup and rigging?

Is there a really good book on fishing, which fish are good to catch (for eating)? Not just a basic "Dummy" guide.
 
barry in the gulf where i fish you have to go out pretty far to catch dophin dont know about where you are but you are doing the right thing by fishing weed beds and tide lines might not be out far enough. in the gulf you have to go out 20 + mile or more. we find weed beds and throw jigs at them with spinning reels the dophin will be under the weed beds and come out after them.. if you do fine some keep them around the boat with small pieces of cut bait hope this helps and good luck.
 
Dolphin

I see your location is Florida. If you are West Coast, dolphin would be a long ride. If the East Coast, Lauderdale and Stewart area may be 5-10 miles, mabe less. Jacksonville, 35-45???

In NC, out of Hatteras, blue water is 18-25 miles. Cape Lookout, 22-30 miles, Wilmington, NC forever to the Gulf Stream and I have no experience down there.

Dolphin, Wahoo and Yellow Fin Tuna are all good when invited to dinner but are all blue water fish. Sometimes a swirl from the Gulf Stream will push blue water in close. Satelite temp. images will help
 
species

berry this site florida outdoors .com might help you with some salt water species or you can do a web search florida saltwater species.. i have pull in some fish out of the gulf that i had no clue what they were just that they were fish. but its imporant to know what you are catching because of the laws each state has....spanish and cobia are real good to eat troll for spanish with silver spoons and black steel leaders they have bad teeth and look for birds feeding on bait fish good chance spanish or blue fish are near by. you can chum up cobia with a chum bag fish top or bottom useing live bait best is eels cobia will hang around floting things in the water and oil rigs .... good luck
 
BarryB,
I've linked to a FL Keys fishing website that gives some recent info on the dolphin bite. It sounds like depths of 450-650 and then out to 1000 ft are the best areas. I have no clue how far out that is down there. We're going down to Islamorado later this month and dolphin are one of the species I'm hoping to bring to the boat as well. This will be our first trip down there, so it may be more of a fishing than catching trip, but we'll be out there trying. Post a followup to let us know how you did (GPS spots are also helpful to share amongst fellow Triumph folk :)

The Weekly Fisherman Magazine

http://www.islamoradasportfishing.com/howto5.htm
 
dc if i had some gps spots in 450 to 650 ft of water i would share them with you.. but thats way over my head so to say.:):).. good luck lets us know whats for dinner... just now getting the frist rain we had in two week i am amazed that were is any water around here to put a boat in......
 
glehav,
Any reports involving fish being caught must be independently validated by others in order to be believable. Isn't that some sort of fishing rule? Otherwise people may think fisherman are apt to tell tall tales. ;)

We got our first rain in at least a month on Tuesday and Wednesday. It was a welcomed sight.
 
yes you are right thats why i always take a friend with me. a good friend the kind that lies...:)
 
Course 090 from Port Everglades Inlet

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the info. I've found that not too many people caught anything yesterday (Wednesday). One fishing fellow said I should look where the bottom starts to drop off from 100 feet down to 600. He said the reef line is where some Dolphin like to congregate. I was looking for a "weed" line but did not find any.

Oh well, the Ballyhoo are in the freezer (you should have seen the look on my wife's face when she saw that!) waiting for the next round.

I was watching one of the fishing shows on Sun Network. The show was about catching Dolphin and during the outing, they spent a number of hours trolling with no luck. I'll just give it more time.

Meanwhile, there is always Pizza :)
 
That's why it's called "fishing" and not "catching". Keep at it and you will be rewarded. And be sure to give me a call when you throw those fillets on the grill...yum!

Good luck.
 
We vacationed in Key Largo a couple of years ago. You definitely need to get beyond the reef to catch dorado. I was amazed that we went "out" 10 miles out of Islamorada, to come up on sections 2 ft deep. Scary actually. Once we crossed the far side of the reef, it dropped from a depth of 30ft (5 fathoms) to 210ft (30+ fathoms) in a stretch of 100 yards. Just beyond the reef there was a very loose weedline and it was crawling with chicken dolphin (in the 5lb range). Just be wary, the experience of the ocean changes beyond the reef... we went from more or less calm conditions inside, to solid 5 - 7' rollers beyond the reef. It wasn't rough, just big IMHO. We trolled cedar plugs parallel to the reef line (the same direction the dorado we cruising) North to South. With no wind, and a couple of semi-seasick kids we weren't able to stay out very long. Dorado are not very elusive... when you find any kind of floating debris this time of year, it will have at least some small dolphin on it.
 
Barry,
I lived in Boynton Beach (east coast) for 15 years. We fished offshore nearly every Saturday when the ocean allowed. Experience has taught that Dolphin can be found nearly anywhere but weed lines and flotsam are the best bets. We've taken them from under floating bamboo logs, pallets, even "square grouper" (pot bales that we left untouched). Our largest (43 lbs) was taken within a quarter mile of Boynton Inlet along a scruffy weedline, others out of sight of land. The smallest was a tiny 3" fish taken while netting shrimp at night on the inlet jetty.

Generally speaking, we'd head east from the inlet, put the lines out when we hit about 200 feet depth & troll east til we hit a weedline then troll alongside it. If we knew (or strongly suspected)weeds were offshore, we'd often run to the weed line before putting lines out. Other times we high-speed trolled with lures toward the suspected weedlines & would pick up stragglers where no floating structure was evident. We trolled two lines on outriggers, a third one flat off the transom & another on a downrigger at varying depths to 100 feet. That down rigger often saved the day & accounted for a lot of Wahoo, Kingfish & a few Sails. We varied our trolling speed (you'd be surprised what 100 rpms difference can make), watched the baits constantly, changing them when they swam or skipped poorly. Our baits were ballyhoo that we rigged ourselves on 4/0 to 7/0 hooks with number 7 stainless wire leaders. We often added a plastic skirt over the head of the bait. Green & chartreuse worked best on the surface. Blue & white from the downrigger.

Good luck fishin. Summer is the best season to fish for Dolphin. Keep at it. Ask questions at the bait shops & boat ramps. You'll catch 'em. One other point: rinse all your gear thoroughly with freshwater after every trip. It'll prolong the useful life of your gear considerably.

Hope this helps.
BobW
 
Thanks for all the Help

From what I've read, it sounds like we were doing the right thing. I think my son and I became impatient. We only trolled for about an hour, then gave up and bottom fished.

I've seen some fisherman use the skirt in front of the Ballyhoo and I've seen them without the skirt.

The seas look great for the next six days (East winds 5 - 10, seas < 2 feet) so we will try again either Tuesday or Wednesday. I'll bring the camera, and if successful, I'll send photos.
 
I've read that blue/white Billy Baits are good as well. Also in pink/blue's and pink/whites. I picked up these along with some Williamson ballyhoo lures at Bass Pro over this past weekend. So far, I imagine the fish we catch will average about $200/lb by the time we get there. This doesn't count the new truck transmission that I just got tagged with today. But I'm still looking forward to getting down there this time next week.
 
Still no fish...

Well, I went out today (Friday) by myself. Wind was West at 5 knots, seas were smooth. Little 170CC ran like a mini tiger. Rigged the ballyhoo. Found a weed line and followed it for a few miles. Not a bite. Followed some other boats trolling too. I don't think they caught anything either.

Went on to drifting and bottom fishing. Just grunts and small Yellow Tail Snapper (legal size in Florida is 12"). Then, the storm hit. The crack of thunder got my attention, so, I ran in the opposite direction. When the lightening ceased, I turned around and entered the squall. It was a complete whiteout. Put on the PFD, turned on the running light (first use) set a course with the compass and followed it out of the storm.

It was late, so, home I went. Still have the ballyhoo, back in the freezer it went.

I did see something cool today. See the attached photo of a submarine. It was being towed to a scrap yard. I heard the coast guard call the tow boat and heard the sub was from the WWII era. However, it looked bigger than the one's I had seen in movies.

Well, perhaps next week, I'll do better.
 

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We just arrived today in Islamorado. I was tieing off the boat in the slip behind the house we're staying in and got to talking with a couple of guys in the house across the canal. They've been here for two weeks and, at least say, that they haven't caught anything. They say it's the worst trip they've had over the past six years coming here. Man, I didn't want to hear that. Oh well, they're out there and got to be hungry sometime. After the travel down, and an "eventful" time of getting situated at our house, we'll rest up tomorrow and hit the water Wednesday.
 
Florida Fishing Weekly says...

Hi DC,

Welcome to the summer season of hot mornings and great thunderstorms in the afternoon.

According to Florida Fishing Weekly, the dolphin in the lower keys are "still in close from 300 to 600 feet under frigate birds and debris. Wahoo show up during the full moon in some of the same haunts as our big dolphin. Mutton snapper and mangrove snapper are biting good on the reef".

Also, the Burdines Waterfront Fun Fishing Tournment in Marathon is June 27 through 29th.

Good luck, tight lines, lots of action.
 
Well it figures that we're here and chomping at the bit to get out fishing...but not in 20 knot , 4-6 ft small craft advisory conditions. Oh well, I guess we'll have to lay around soaking up sun and doing some 12 oz. curls. It could be worse, I could be at work this week.
 
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