My brother and I loaded up his son (almost 7) and my fiancee (older than 7) in the 21 Sea Pro, and we decided to test the waters yesterday for a few hours. Left Dunes West at 0600. Got beat up a good bit on the way out, but we were bound and determined to check out the validity of this recent “shallow” (90’-100’) dolphin bite. About 8 miles inshore of Y-73, we hit a wave that tosses the missus around pretty good (Sorry!). We decide this is as good a place as any to drop a few lines and troll towards our intended destination. Two lines in at 0855, and 10-15mins later a nice king skyrockets the bait–Got him about 10 feet from the boat, and he decides that the hook doesn’t taste that good and spits it…10-15 more minutes go by, and another determined king hits a bait, misses it and hits again. The missus gets it 10 feet from the boat and Mr King decides that the 7/0 looks better with a little “straightening”. Third time is the charm, as we let the young one boat this one (showing us how it’s done)–He goes about 20-25lbs. Hits continued at about 20 minute intervals for a little while–Some landed, some mystery cut-off. Turned around at Y-73 and started trolling back from where we came–Still hadn’t seen the elusive dolphin…Saw a pod of flipper-types that played around the boat for 15-20mins while we trolled, but that didn’t help the fish box. 10 miles inshore, in 65’ water, lo’ and behold, we see dolphin in the spread (we’re up to 4 lines now). We double back and hit the spot again–Port outrigger unclips as a ballyhoo is consumed. My brother grabs the rod in time for it to lose tension, drops the (now) unbaited lure back and it gets hit again! Minutes later we get a 5lb slinger in the box, and we’ve justified the trip! We pull lines and begin the moderately sloppy ride back…We only planned on trolling a few hours (we did). We didn’t want to come back empty-handed (we didn’t). We hoped for at least steady action (got it). Not the most impressive report, but we were satisfied!
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