Catching dolphin can prove just as fun as wahoo

For years I have been hooked on wahoo fishing. When the bite is on, wahoo fishing can be one of the most exciting types of fishing there is.

With sheer power and equally incredible speed, these fish act like a greyhound dog as compared to a basset hound. A perfect case in point happened this week when I was out in the Gulf Stream with Grant Kaple, Will Thompson and Richard Kerr, and we got into some dolphin.

No, I’m not talking about Flipper — rather, mahi-mahi, a name I will never get used to. For me they will always be dolphin.

Though we had entered the Hilton Head Harbor Wahoo Shootout, we knew our fishing time would be limited to just a few short hours because Grant had important social obligations planned that evening. A big slob wahoo would be great, but our goal was simply to have fun.

Arriving in the Gulf Stream, it was weird. Most days when the sun is shining and the water appears a vibrant blue, but the water that day was almost gray. A thick haze had dulled the entire ocean. It was as if the ocean was void of life, and everything looked the same no matter what direction you looked. No flying fish, no schools of bonita, nothing. It just didn’t feel right.

Regardless, I had no choice but to put out my best lures and pray that at least one fish inhabited this drab section of water.

We didn’t take a hit until around 11 a.m., when the sun tried to peak through the haze. It amazes me how one slight change in conditions can trigger fish to bite. I saw a dolphin doing cartwheels across the ocean, so if we didn’t get a wahoo, at least we wouldn’t go home empty handed. I knew it wasn’t a wahoo, though, because had it been, line coming off the reel would have been a blur.

But one thing about dolphin is that where there is one, there are usually more. Since we were primarily fishing for wahoo, the baits I was using were fairly large — maybe too large for the size dolphin we just boated. Luckily I thought to bring smaller baits, so we switched out all our lures to sizes and colors dolphin prefer. Yellows, chartreuse and pink are proven colors for dolphin, and no sooner had we put the new baits in the water — wham-o, fish on!

I would have preferred wahoo, but dolphin are a hoot to catch too. They are such a visual fish. Not nearly as fast as wahoo, you have a chance of seeing them coming if you keep your eyes open. I saw two or three shooting across the surface of the water from sixty yards away heading for our baits.

It’s awesome because their dorsal fin is raised out of the water, and right when they reach one of the trolled baits, they often make a hairpin turn and come up behind the bait, swerving right and left like they are lining up for the perfect shot, and then in an explosion of water, the bait disappears.

If that isn’t visual enough, before they bite they are a vibrant shade of blue, and immediately after being hooked, they instantly turn a neon green and yellow with orange and blue spots. Even this description doesn’t do the actual scene justice.

In other news...

After my day in the Gulf Stream, Al Stokes from the Waddell Mariculture Center called me, and it appears the new cobia regulations by the state have passed and will become law. In a nutshell, no cobia may be taken out of state waters during the month of May. The boundary line starts at Edisto and extends to the Georgia state line, including waters up to three miles offshore.

During the rest of this month and up until June 20, the boat limit is three fish in these waters. Then on the federal level, ALL cobia fishing in both state and federal waters will close on June 20 for the rest of the calendar year. According to Al, last year the recreational quota exceeded its recommended level by 250 percent.

As Porky Pig says, “Th-th-th-th-th-…that’s all folks!”

This story was originally published April 23, 2016 at 3:59 PM with the headline "Catching dolphin can prove just as fun as wahoo."