Jarhead

My sons and I have fished for years from piers and whatnot because I didn't have a boat. I've taken them on charters and fishing with my buddies every chance I got but they were always snapper trips. I've caught snapper and redfish until I'm blue in the face. I just bought my first boat and we went for the fish we always wanted to catch. Namely Mahi ! I've read everything I can and listened to every buddy I have about how to catch dolphinfish but as soon as I got out I realized I don't know jack. I put the lures in the water and trolled for hours never having any idea if this was even the right lure to use. It's hard to know if they're biting if you don't know if you're using the right bait. Considering that I've fished every chance I got since I was a kid it's hard to admit that I'm lost but I am.



We lucked up and got a couple chicken dolphin on a king lure. I left it in the water," like I was advised" and hooked one more but the rest wouldn't bite. At the end of the day I ended up with 4 fish in the box. My sons freaked and all I hear now is dolphin, dolphin.





What lures are best and I keep hearing that "Natural Bait" is best. On this show I watched this guy hooking live bait on the lure? Please, any advise would be greatly appreciated and keep these boys from realizing their dad is clueless.



Thanks



Semper Fi

lobsterman

Blue and white Islanders with ballyhoo, sea witch with ballyhoo or bonita strips or mullet strips. Red and white also works and pull a black and red,black and purple or black and orange for wahoo. They will also hit stretch lures and pitch baits. Find a good rip or weed line or anything floating in the water and drag a bait by it and see what happens.

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reelfinatical

x2 for the Ilander/Ballyhoo Combos

Also try some feathered lures. Like they say, there's not 1magical lure. What they hittoday they may not hit tomorrow.

I myselflike dolphin weenies with strip baits- easy, cheap, and catches fish .

Jarhead

By "strips" do you mean strips of cutbait or a type of lure. I wasn't kidding when I said I was lost..



Thanks for the reply.. I'll dedicate my first big Mahi to you guys..

David Ridenour

http://www.georgepoveromo.com/60secondstripbait.htm

Check out his archives too for good tips.

Jarhead

Great website!! Thanks a lot....

sc23

Yep, look for a tide line or floating debris. You can even throw newspaper on the water and come back in a few hours, but, be sure to pick it up.



I like to troll one green machine in my spread.

Jarhead

Thanks for the response. I've been using just the two back rod holders. I'm researching outriggers but there are so many to choose from. Any suggestions as to Outriggers/downriggers?

Daydreamin

My experiences with chicken dophin is that the trick is to get them feeding. When they are the others will hit almost anything. When they stop it can be a puzzle to solve. I have gone through practically everything in the tackle boxes to get them turned back on again...once they do you have to get them as quick as you can.

We got on a school of them and they were hitting everything and suddenly stopped. Turns out a big cow was hanging below them just out of our sight. While we were frantically throwing everything at them we had she came up to stare at a whole dead cigar minnow. It was like a stare down...I told my buddy to just twitch it and she immediately inhaled the bait. The chicken doplhin went crazy and we got 30 in 20 minutes.

Island24

Is there a way to locate a weed line other than just running out and looking around? Does Hilton or Roffs charts help?

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