Top Sportfishing Captain Says Expect Large Dolphin in South Florida
MIAMI _ Here’s some happy news for South Florida dolphin anglers who haven’t hooked into the big ones yet this season: Slammers might soon be in your future.
According to top Miami sportfishing captain John Louie Dudas, “Fishing has been pretty slow, but some big fish should start to show up soon.”
Dudas said the 15- to 18-inch sublegal chickens now prevalent in South Florida offshore waters soon should give way to larger fish that are mostly traveling south.
Big fish generally head south because their superior size and strength allow them to feed into the brisk, northbound current of the Gulf Stream instead of drifting along with it. Flocks of birds can be key to locating these slammers and gaffers.
According to Dudas, one of the most important pieces of equipment to carry on a boat (besides a raised tower) is a good pair of binoculars with a compass.
“Look for birds and try to catch what the birds are doing,” he advised. “If they’re traveling, they’re not on fish except bonito. If they’re low to the water, it’s dolphin. Get a compass course when you see birds. Don’t wait to run over the fish and spook them.”
If you spot a flock of low-hovering small terns with large frigate or man o’ war birds flying above them, Dudas recommends following the small birds because they are a more precise indicator of the dolphins’ location. Then get to the south of the flock and cast baits to where they are hovering. Or you could troll a quarter-ounce blue-and-white feather behind the boat.
“Stay ahead of the school of fish,” he said. “If you get behind, it’s very hard to catch up with them.”
Dudas and crew use sturdy spinning rods with wind-on 60-pound-test leaders and 6/0 salmon hooks. He recommends carrying several kinds of live bait _ such as blue runners and pilchards _ and dead bait such as flying fish, bally hoo and bonito chunks.
When you catch a schoolie dolphin, Dudas said, keep it in the water while trying to catch more because the hooked fish regurgitates what it has eaten and draws more fish in.
Big fish usually will follow the schoolies, so save your bigger baits for them.
If you are under way early enough to come upon a weedline a few miles offshore with no one else around, you can troll small baits until you spot a big fish worth casting to. But Dudas said if there are no signs of life around the weeds, such as small jacks, filefish or tripletail, then keep heading offshore.
“Most likely, you’ll go 15-20 miles offshore, unless we have a strong, easterly wind,” he said.
If you come upon a hard blue-green color change and enough breeze to fly a kite, Dudas said, you have a good chance of catching a large dolphin.
About three weeks ago, Bob Vail of Lantana on the Pompano Beach charter boat Crowd Pleaser caught a potential state-record 81-pound dolphin while kite-fishing with a goggle eye on a blue-green edge in 200 feet of water off the Fort Lauderdale “steeple.”
If you want to catch something a lot bigger than a gaffer, Dudas suggested deploying a schoolie dolphin on a heavier outfit to catch a blue marlin.
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