Dolphin, also known as dolphinfish or Mahi
Mahi are summertime visitors along the coast of Virginia.
Dolphin usually appear when local waters reach roughly 70
degrees, which is normally in June. In rare cases, dolphin are
found in warm water eddies, which can appear as early as late
May.
Dolphin are most common from the 20 fathom
line and beyond, but are occasionally caught within sight of
land.
Dolphin can be fished for a number of ways. The simplest and
most common is to troll around sea bass pots or lobster pots. Weed lines and floating
lumber or other objects are excellent places to look. Dolphin sometimes orient to
objects as small as a coffee cup. When targeting dolphin around objects,
trolling ballyhoo at about 5 knots can be productive. A number of different rigs
work, and weedless rigs may be needed. If I
work a weedline, I prefer to use a small vinyl "octopus" skirt and a device
called a hoonose on the leader. The hook gets hidden inside the fish with no point
exposed. This rig allows me to troll slowly down the weed line without getting the lines
fouled. The drag is left very loose so the fish can eat the ballyhoo.
Anglers may also pull up to structure and
throw out bait to dolphin. It's best to keep one fish hooked up at the boat until the next angler
has one on. Anglers rotate so that there is always one fish hooked and swimming near the boat.
This keeps the school at the boat. Casting lures can be productive for dolphin. A 2 or 3
oz. single hook metal jig is very effective. Also surface poppers or Gotcha
syle plugs work well.
Many anglers
prefer pitching cut bait to dolphin. A good local bait is a strip of skipjack tuna, false
albacore or bonita belly. Frozen silversides can be another good
bait.
Mahi Mahi is very much sought after as a food
fish and their table
quality is excellent. The flesh is mostly white, easy to
fillet, and the fish yield a good amount of meat. Most anglers
skin the fillets, which helps to remove some of the
dark meat along the midsection.
Mahi Mahi is excellent grilled, fried or
broiled.
