a Couple of questions about trolling for Dolphin

[chris305]

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Hey guys quick question, im really new about running a boat. My family and i rented a boat last year in the florida keys and went dolphin fishing. I just dont know what speed im suppose to be trolling at, people are saying 4 knots 6 knots lol this may sound foolish but i only understand it by RPMs.. I was trolling at about 2000 RPMs..is that about right? also what kind of skirts do you guys recommend trolling for these fish? also how far back do i let them back from the boat? sorry for so many questions just trying to learn as much as possible...

[signmansez]

Ask 10 guys and you will get 10 different answers on this one.

I like to troll at higher speeds, 8-12 knots, depending on baits and conditions. Dolphin are voracious eaters and when hungry, will bite anything resembling food that is swimming or floating nearby.

Higher speed trolling allows me to cover more area, create a more "exciting" trolling presentation and elicit a more aggresive strike from the fish. The higher speed will also set your hook for you in the event of a strike.

One of the most important things to remember once you do get a strike or hookup is to NOT SLOW THE BOAT DOWN!! Dolphin are schooling fish, where there is one there are more. Keep the boat at your trolling speed or even speed up and your chances of a multiple hookup will increase dramatically.

Give it a minute or two before you do slow the boat to fight your hooked fish. Have some spinning rods ready rigged with fish chunk baited hooks.

Once you have control of the hooked fish, have the others on your boat cast the spinners in hopes of catching the fish from the school. Throw handfuls of cut bait over to further entice the lurking school.

Once you have another fish hooked on the spinner you can boat your original fish. ALWAYS LEAVE A HOOKED FISH IN THE WATER, this will keep the school around the boat. They may disappear for a moment, but they will be back. They don't usually leave a free meal. If they do disappear chances are they are spooked by something below.

Have a rig ready for THAT FISH, it could be a wahoo, marlin, sail or other pelagic looking to eat from the buffet you have created. Large live baits work great in this instance as the smaller dolphin won't bother with them, allowing your bait to sink down or swim outside the school where the BIG ONES lurk.

Catch as many in the school as you will eat. Leave some to grow bigger. No reason to be a PIG in this case.

Trolled ballyhoo with blue/white islanders, blue/white mylar C&H Alien, and any color/weighted Sea Witch are my choice baits for Dolphin. Look for weedlines, floating pallets, trash, etc. Fish these structures for awhile. In the Keys look for the tell tale fishfinder, a frigate bird. Know what one looks like, nothing else looks like this bird. Find a frigate and you will find the fish!

Good luck and enjoy your Keys trip.

Below are pics from a trip last April out of Port Canaveral, Fl.
The bull in the pics weighed in at 58lbs. The cow was caught on a spinner when she followed the bull to the boat, she weighed in at 38lbs. We also caught a handful of schoolies on spinners weighing in at 10lbs each.

[signmansez]

Originally Posted by chris305

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Hey guys quick question, im really new about running a boat. My family and i rented a boat last year in the florida keys and went dolphin fishing. I just dont know what speed im suppose to be trolling at, people are saying 4 knots 6 knots lol this may sound foolish but i only understand it by RPMs.. I was trolling at about 2000 RPMs..is that about right? also what kind of skirts do you guys recommend trolling for these fish? also how far back do i let them back from the boat? sorry for so many questions just trying to learn as much as possible...

Chris, to answer your trolling speed question. Realize different boats move at different speeds in relation to RPMs. To determine a good trolling speed for your particular spread, the baits should be swimming THROUGH the water not jumping or popping along the surface in an erratic action. Distance behind the boat is up to you. Again look how your baits are swimming at each distance. I always have what is generally know as "the county line" as far back as a 100 yards or more. The rest of the spread is spaced within that county line bait.

If action is slow, switch up your speed, distance, bait/skirt combos, etc. Definately have a bait swimming in your prop wash right behind the boat.
Use a wire leader on this one as the toothy critters (wahoo, cudas) are attracted to the prop and the wash and will come up and bite what is in there.

There isn't much wrong you can do if the dolphin are in the area and hungry, but there are a whole lot of things you can do right to increase your chances of hookup.

[vettnman]

Some very good advice from Signman here. The only difference we do is we usually troll at 6-7 mph. BUT, we've also caught mahi on the drift with trolling baits while we were bleeding tuna in the boat. Our baits sank down a little and I guess she was hungry. Point of the story is, The speed don't always matter. If there's mahi around, they'll eat anything. Follow some of those pointers from Signmansez and you won't go wrong.

[LieAbility]

Dolphin Tips

Original author unknown

Material that you will need for the rigs:
Most Dolphins are caught on the surface, so most of the rigs should be surface rigs. I start with a spool of 80# monofilament, a box of Tru-Turn 8/0 hooks, several hooks on bead chain rigs (this is a single hook about 8/0, straight shank that has is attached to a bead chain rig), several Sea Witch skirts in blue and white and in lime green, some other skirt type baits such as Zukers in lime green, and an assortment of C&H Lures skirts, all in lime green, a pair of wire cutters, the biggest pair of pliers that you own, swivels, rigging wire and a rigging needle, a cooler about 20 to 30 quart size, a bag of ice, a big box of rock salt, a big box or baking soda, about a gallon of water and I almost forgot the most important part, Ballyhoo, about four to six dozen, medium in size.

Triple hook rigs:
Take the TruTum 8/0 hooks, the wire cutters, the pliers, some four foot sections of the mono, some barrel swivels, and some of the skirts. With the wire cutters, place the cutting jaws on the hook at the eye where the end is bent to the shank (the opening) and squeeze. This will spread the gap wide enough to get another hook through the eye. Run the point through the eye with both hooks laying the same way. Do this one more time, so you have three hooks joined together, all pointing the same way. Now take the pliers and squeeze the eyes closed, so the hooks will not come apart. From here tie on a piece of 80# mono about four feet long, then slide one of the shirts on the mono and finish by tying a swivel to the other end of the mono leader. After you have made about 12 of these wrap each up and place each in a separate zip lock bag.

Single hook rigs, Skip baits:
Take a ballyhoo and run the rigging needle, the end that is bent, from his mouth through his innards and out his anal opening. Slip the eye in the bead chain rig in the eye and pull the rig through his mouth, so the bend of the hook is not pulling on the anal opening. If the hook is pulled snug against the anal opening, the bait will spin and this will not work. Lay the beads along the beak and with the rigging wire, wrap the beads to the beak. Make sure this is warped good as this is where the ballyhoo is going to be pulled from. Tie on your mono leader, coil up the line and set him aside, until you have about two dozen rigged.

The brine:
In the cooler place the water, the rock salt and the baking soda. With a stick or spatula, stir this mixture until the salt and the soda are just about dissolved. Now add the ice and all of the ballyhoo, both the rigged and unrigged. This will make the baits like leather, thus keeping them from washing out and allowing you to troll longer with the same bait. This step needs to be done the night before your trip and make sure that you have enough ice so it doesn’t melt before the next morning.



The Spread:
After your boat comes off of a plane, slow your speed to about 6 to 7 mph, this is your trolling speed. The skip baits are already rigged so send them out first. These I usually send out in the outriggers or the rod holders on the sides of the T-Top. Send these out about 100 feet behind the boat. These baits should skip or slide across the surface and should NOT SPIN. If they are spinning then you have the hook pulled too tight against the anal opening. You can fix this by re-rigging this bait or taking your knife and making the anal opening larger so the hook is not pulling on the flesh.

Rigging the Ballyhoo:
Now for the hard part: You have a cooler full of brined ballyhoo and some triple hook rigs, how do I get the hook in the ballyhoo, so it DOES NOT SPIN in circles. First, break the beak off, even with the other mouth part. Take the hook that is tied to the mono and hook the ballyhoo thru the top of the head and run the hook out through the bottom of the jaw. Take the ballyhoo and bend him sideways at about a 90 degree angle, take the second hook and stick it in his back. As you straighten the ballyhoo, the hook will ease down into him. Do the same with the third hook and you are on your way to catching fish. Send the first of these out about 200 yards behind the boat; put it in the center rigger or the center rod holder in your T-top or transom. Send out the next two, one on each side of the boat. Stagger them so one is about 200 feet back and the other about 300 feet back.

Things to check:
With the exception of the bait way back, you should be able to see all of the rest. If you see any of them spinning in circles, pull it in and fix it or replace it. Check the baits every 20 or 30 minutes to be sure that it has not washed out. If it has, then replace it with a fresh ballyhoo. The person driving the boat should keep an eye on the lines when making a turn, so they do not turn too sharp and tangle up everything.

The hook up and the battle:
After you have found and hooked a dolphin, expect him/her to run from one side to the other and jump several times. It is usually a good idea to get all of the other baits close to the boat at this time. DO NOT take all of them out of the water as it is common for one or more dolphin to follow the hooked one to the boat. If this happens, leave the first one in the water and send out a bait to the other ones. If you have more than one at the boat at one time, you should be able to catch several of them before they leave the boat. If you have other dolphin at the boat, leave one in the water until they have all left. Catch some - leave some!

[prockvoan]

Think popper on a spinning rig if you sight them.Can't beat fishing them that way off weedlines or floating trash.Just cast past them and reel real fast back.

[Nick092186]

Just recently caught this one this past week. It fell to a bomber CD30 trolling at about 7 MPH.

[novomarine]

Just buy some live bait and drift for them, or run and gun, it's much better and way more productive then trolling..... I caught this one on a kite....

[Prop Blast]

Some good info here As a fall back, I'd recommend you buy one or both of the following:

1. George Poveromo's DVD on Dolphin Fishing. Its available on his website.

2. Florida Sportsman Magazine's Book (includes a DVD) on Dolphin Fishing. It's available at a lot of tackle shops and online at their website.

Both products have a TON of INFORMATION on Dolphin fishing.

PB

[Greg Manning]

We catch them at all speeds....match your speed to your bait. Dead bait 5-9mph...live bait 1-2mph. Also keep a good spinner set up with a popping plug tipped with squid.....pitch to the mob when you catch one and have it boat side.

[fishnutz]

Originally Posted by chris305

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Hey guys quick question, im really new about running a boat. My family and i rented a boat last year in the florida keys and went dolphin fishing. I just dont know what speed im suppose to be trolling at, people are saying 4 knots 6 knots lol this may sound foolish but i only understand it by RPMs.. I was trolling at about 2000 RPMs..is that about right? also what kind of skirts do you guys recommend trolling for these fish? also how far back do i let them back from the boat? sorry for so many questions just trying to learn as much as possible...

Chris- As mentioned by signmansez, the relationship between RPM and speed will vary with different boat/motor combinations. Even if you don't have a speedometer, you should be able to read your speed off of your GPS. Even most handheld models will read ground speed. Once you figure out that relationship, then you can use the tach if that's what you're more comfortable with.
As far as what speed to troll at, there's already been some good advice here. I generally start at 7 Knots (1 knot = 1.1 MPH). If I feel like there should be fish around but I'm not raising anything I'll vary my speed & try faster or slower. Another thing I've had some success with is to occasionally pull the boat out of gear for a few seconds & let the boat glide while the baits sink, then go right back to to trolling speed.....sometimes the baits racing back to the surface like that will entice a strike on an otherwise boring day.
One other thing to consider: Some days they're just not there or just not biting. Don't be afraid to try another area or have a back-up plan to just find some structure and go bottom fishing.

[ccat]

C&H Lures Lil Stubby, blue and white pulled rigged with a 7/0 or 8/0 hook. I always pull one or two of these and its always one of the most productive lures I've trolled for dolphin especially when there is a lot of sargassum weed around. lot of times ill pull in the baits i have rigged with ballyhoo and pull mostly this type of lure to help with clearing the weed when its scattered. They can be deadly at times

[doctodd]

it hasnt been mentioned, but i always wondered why we keep the fish in the water to try to entice the others. The reason is because when a fish is hooked and fighting, they throw up their stomach contents, which is what all the other fish are looking to eat.

[Jack Hexter]

I don't use speed or RPM's at all when determining if I like my spread. I watch the baits and make sure they are doing what I want them to do, that is, swimming 90% of the time and breaking water the other time. I adjust my engines to get this action. A lot depends on water conditions, wind, and direction. If I'm pointed south and there's a 3 knot North current, your ground speed might be 2 knots. Conversely, if I'm headed north with the current, ground speed might be 7 or 8 knots. If there is a short chop, i slow down or drop the baits longer to keep them in the water and not in the air.

[SimonFL]

Stumbled across this thread... Great info here!

[awscwi]

Thanks for the info

[lumberman]

Originally Posted by doctodd

it hasnt been mentioned, but i always wondered why we keep the fish in the water to try to entice the others. The reason is because when a fish is hooked and fighting, they throw up their stomach contents, which is what all the other fish are looking to eat.

The reason we do it here is mainly because when you have one hooked up.. there usually will be atleast another one or two shadowing him as you bring him in. You may see them, and you may not but they are usually there. When we know we are going after Mahi, we always stop on the way out and jig up live bait. We try to get around 15-20 in the bait tank for the pitch rod. When one hooks up, (after we hit the MOB) we keep trolling for a minute to see if others will hook up as well. If not we will stop the boat and fight that fish. That is when we pitch a live line out and let him swim behind the boat. When you get the first fish to the boat.. if there is another one with him, he will have seen the live bait and HE WILL eat it. Gaf the first fish and repeat the pitch pole for another fish. When you bring all the mahi to the boat and nothing has hit the pitch pole, reel it in and troll back over the MOB spot to see if there are more there. We do pretty good with this in NC

[TunaTeaser1]

We normally keep one in the water too, but it depends on conditions and how good the bite is. Tactics vary depending on time of year.