Alvin was excited to add a new tactic to his arsenal and I was happy to gift him my lures at the end of the trip. We deployed the two Islander spread and tried various trolling speeds between 2 and 9 knots, and we produced two small mahi which we released along with a beautiful bull on a Yo-Zuri high speed vibe that I placed down the middle of the spread. However, I wanted to see if we could find a long line of weeds in an unbroken formation that we could troll blue/chartreuse, and blue/white Islander jets to see if there was life with a rigged ballyhoo. After looking over his maps on his Simard, we fished a tide line near an upwelling that he had driven past on numerous occasions, and it just so happened to have some small scattered pods of weeds. “Let’s do this,” he said gamely, happily engaging this as another way for him to target these fish with something they never saw before. When it was my turn, out came my assortment of feathers, jets, plugs, and soft baits, prompting a wry smile from Alvin. “Having a single, fast-skipping bait in the water is like a flying fish fleeing which he sees most of the time and it is sure to get bit as dolphin will compete for this bait,” he explained. He explained to me that he uses one rod to maneuver quickly if the bird takes off in another direction his eyes were better than mine when following a dolphin as he sees many solo fish in these vast waters unlike in the Northeast where we can see schools working together. We continued to search and landed a few more on this very simple rig and I was impressed with the simplicity of this style of fishing and how well it produced. Did we hook up? Sure, a beautiful bull and Alvin was feeling all good about himself as I laughed as we exchanged a high five as lunch was caught. SouthĪlvin spotted a single frigate bird patrolling the blue water and we deployed the single bait on the troll which was the only rod in the water with two pitch bait rods on the ready with a single goggleye rigged and ready. There were no signs of weed lines, flotsam, high-flyers, or any commercial gear, so the hunt for dolphinfish was going to be all about current, clean water meeting turbid water, temperature breaks, and finding a single bird or birds.Įffective lures for your summer mahi arsenal include the Yo-Zuri Mag Popper, Williamson Albacore Feather Rig, Yo-Zuri High Speed Vibe, Hogy Epoxy Shrimp, Hogy Slow Tail Bone, Hogy Protail Eel Bubblegum and the ever-popular Spro Bucktail. We agreed to split the trip with his tackle and techniques for the first two hours, with New Jersey style tactics thereafter but I knew I was at a disadvantage being the away team. Reels were rigged with 30-pound Spiderwire Blue Camo braid, and 40-pound Yo-Zuri fluorocarbon leader. We ventured out using conventional tackle with 30-pound Berkley Big Game mono on Penn Fathoms and Shimano Trinidad reels along with Penn Slammer spinning reels in the 4000/5000 series class. It is a time-tested true all-round hook, which can be used to present any bait for species ranging from sea bass and cod, to bluefish and mahi. The classic O’Shaughnessy hook has been an all-time favorite with saltwater anglers this forged wire hook is perfect when using long natural baits, such as whole fish heads/tails, squid, or crabs either inshore or offshore, and is ideal for both trolling and stationary fishing. to target mahi Jersey style, just to see how it stacks up against the way he targets them there.Īlvin set up with a simple 7/0 inline O’Shaughnessy hooked to a dead goggleye sliced just above the tail and all the way up the backbone to just below the head to keep the fish upright and skipping on the surface. We had become friends over the winter and just started talking about all types of fishing, techniques, and what I can bring him from the U.S. Thomas for a day of offshore mahi fishing last October. Alvin for a day trip on his 37-foot Calypso center console Emanuel out of St. Often considered more a Caribbean or South Florida exclusive, mahi (aka, dolphin, dolphinfish or dorado) can be found not far from the Jersey Shore from July through September, sometimes even into October.Īs ocean temps heat up, keep an eye out near those high-flyers and weed lines.
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