Dolphinfish Fun!

By Sean Bekkers

The dolphinfish or mahi mahi has been one of those fish that I grew up dreaming of catching and never had the opportunity to chase, until recently. The cool, vibrant colouring of yellows, blues and greens when lit up, their reputation for being an excellent sportfish, with their airborne antics and blistering runs, have always intrigued me and kept them high on my bucket list. Over the past 12 months or so I’ve been able to get out a little wider with good mate of mine Beno and when possible, we’ll stop past the FADs and have a crack at the schools of dolphinfish. So, what have I learnt over the past couple of trips?

Like a lot of fish, just because you can see them doesn’t mean they are going to bite. The very first time I saw them I was on the edge of my seat casting, retrieving, and hoping to see them take a metal, stickbait, plastic, basically anything that I had rigged up at the time. The result… not so much as a follow. It was at this point that I knew it was going to be like any other fish, you really need to dial in on their menu of the day. Another thing to consider is that they are hanging around a FAD (Fish Attracting Device) and/or navigation markers and these areas are commonly frequented by a lot by anglers throughout the day, months, and year. So, they would have seen just about every presentation on the market.

On the first trip out, we were lucky enough to have the FAD pretty much to ourselves and really got some time to cycle through a few presentations, including metals, stickbaits and plastics, until we found that they were happy to climb all over a ZMan Slim SwimZ, lightly weighted and freespooled back in toward the FAD. On this occasion we managed to land a few smaller fish, before they shut down and we moved onto some trolling instead. In this case we were targeting fish around the 50cm mark, using a 1-3kg rod and 3000 size spinning reel. This was not the outfit that I had envisaged my first dolly being landed on, but I had an absolute ball doing it, as well as ticking the dolphinfish off my bucket list. Once on the troll Beno managed to hook a respectable fish, that took off like a freight train, going straight to the air. It was epic to watch Ben playing this fish and he managed to get it all the way to the boat, before some poor landing choices cost us the fish and the lure.

Fast forward to our most recent trip and we had a solid game plan to target some bottom dwelling tasty fish right on daybreak, before heading out to a FAD to try our luck once again on the dolphinfish. As with some days fishing, things don’t always go to plan, despite what the sounder is saying. On this occasion the sounder was showing all the right signs but only the small fish wanted to play. So, off to the FAD we went. My daughter Kaitlin joined us for this trip and was keen to hook onto a dolphinfish, her fingers crossed that by the end of the day she’d hold another PB over her dad. For those of you that don’t know, holding a PB fish in our house is a serious competition, with absolute sledging rights granted.

On this occasion there were a few boats coming and going and the dolphinfish seemed to be hanging deeper in the water column. Like on our previous session, we went through a series of presentations trying to find one that would get the nod. Not even the mighty slimy could get a look in. So, we shot off again in search of some new ground to try.

Fast forward a few hours and it was time to start making our way in. Ben threw the idea out to hit the FADs on the way back and try again for a dolphinfish. Without hesitation myself and Kailin answered, “hell yes”. Like before, we rocked up and could see the fish, however they were not in the mood. The odd follow here and there but no real presentation standing out as the one to get us hooked up.

By this stage I was dead keen to tangle with a fish and ripped out some fresh baits. The interest factor went up but still no real commitment. So, I stripped everything back to a circle hook only and threw a couple of bits of bait over the side as burley. The fish started showing interest and coming right to the back of the boat. On this occasion I was using my Okuma Komodo baitcast setup and free spooling the bit of bait out the back. It was easily recognizable when I got a look in because the free spooling became dramatically quicker. After counting a few seconds, I was locked onto a fish that did all the right things, including dramatic runs with fast direction changes and airborne cartwheels. It was literally action packed all the way to the boat, before spitting the hook. It didn’t take long to get locked onto another one though.

After some time, I managed to convince Kaitlin to rig up my Okuma Cerros rod / Cedros reel combo and free spool out a bait herself. I need to mention here that Kaitlin hardly ever fishes with bait, but she really wanted to catch herself a dolphinfish and was happy to come over to the dark side on this occasion. After a while she was locked and loaded onto her first dolphinfish. Once again, it did all the right things, jumping all over the place and ripping around the boat at a thousand miles an hour, before some good rod management saw Kaitlin holding her first ever dolphinfish.

Like anytime the fish turn it on, it soon becomes chaos. This day was no different, with the bait going back in the water as soon as the hook came out. Before we knew it Kaitlin and I were on a double hook up, with tangled lines and fish going in completely different directions. Before we had time to untangle my line broke, leaving Kaitlin to battle on with hers. After a flurry of activity both Kaitlin and I had landed three dollies each and unfortunately for me, Kaitlin now held bragging rights in the house by holding another PB over me. Her biggest fish went 87cm.

As much as I tried to convince Ben to get in on the action, he was happy cycling through different presentation trying to get a hook up on an artificial and wasn’t keen on changing over to bait. If I’m being honest though, I think he was getting a laugh at the mayhem going on in the back of the boat and trying to steer clear of it. A massive thanks goes out to you Beno for getting us onto the fish and giving myself and Kaitlin the opportunity to land a fish that has been on our bucket list for some time.

Like all fishing, figuring out what is going to work on the day is key and dolphinfish are no different. It’s all about gearing up and dialling in the right presentation, be it a finesse plastic like a ZMan Slim SwimZ or a floated bait. As the opportunity to chase a dolphin doesn’t come up all that often for us, it’s even more satisfying when you get it right.

Screaming dragz, Sean

Sean’s Tackle Box:

ZMan 2.5” Slim SwimZ / ZMan 3” Slim SwimZ
TT HeadlockZ HD Jigheads – 1/4oz 1/0
TT DemonZ Jigheads – 1/4oz 1/0

Okuma Cerros Spin Rods – CER-S-701L 7’ 1-3kg
Okuma Epixor XT Spin Reel – EPXT-30
Platypus Bionic X9 Braid – 10lb
Platypus Hard Armour FC Fluorocarbon Leader – 10lb

Okuma Cerros Spin Rods – CER-S-701H 7’ 5-12kg
Okuma Cedros Spin Reel – CJ-4000
Platypus Bionic X9 Braid – 20lb
Platypus Hard Armour Leader – 20lb Supple

Okuma Komodo Baitcast Rod – KM-C-661XH 6’6” 8-20kg
Okuma Komodo Baitcast Reel – KDS-364
Platypus Bionic X9 Braid – 20lb
Platypus Hard Armour Leader – 20lb Supple