Due to my job, some bad timing, boat issues, and all kinds of other circumstances, I’ve missed the last few Mahi seasons in my own boat. I was so excited to get a small crew together and hit the water with everyone else on Saturday and get at some Dolphin. My crew was my 11 year old son, who has been out bottom fishing with me before, but never on a trolling run. My other was my wife’s friend from her triathlon team.
We left Remley’s after 5, ran out towards the 380. We stopped about 10 miles or so short of the 380 when I saw the temp changes go up from 70 to about 74, and some rips. We stopped and put out the spread. About 30 minutes in, I was messing with the left outrigger, trying to adjust my new outrigger cords, and the clip popped. I thought, “Dang it . . . . now I’ve gotta reset the line.” Didn’t take too long, and the rod started to sing! It was then I realized I didn’t mess anything up and it was FISH ON!! I quickly gave the rod to my son, and he fought his first Dolphin. He did it like a champ. He had the reel upside down, but said it was more comfortable that way, so I didn’t argue with him. Check out the video link to see the whole fight.
After about another half hour, we picked up a stray female. A slinger that came up all blue! She was beautiful. About a half hour after that, we picked up a nice small gaffer female. Then . . . . . nothing for two hours. We were zig-zagging north to northeast of about ten miles West of the 380 between 300 and 350 feet of water. Timing and fuel (still working that two-stroke) dictated that we start pointing the bow back towards the jetties. I couldn’t find a rip in the built up wind blown chop, no weeds, and no fliers. Nothing to hang my hat on, so we just started trolling in shallow. After a short while, the fliers started to show up everywhere, and In 290 feet, we had a triple knock down! One of the lines broke, and the other two stayed on. Our tri friend brought in the biggest of the day, and my son brought in a good sized female. Th
