Wed. eve- Thur. morn

[fishtailz]

Got to SSP at 5 pm. Caught some bait and proceeded to fish just past the baithouse.  Tide turned out at sunset.  A few dolphins hitting our pinfish from time to time.  Nothing.  At midnight a school of ladyfish showed up.  We caught 5 on bomber long-A plugs in no time.  Time to get serious.  Cut the ladies in half and had 3 rods going.  I remember thinking this is good.  We don't have to worry about flipper now because we are using dead bait.  Wrong.  First rod goes off.  Dolphin on.    Within a minute or so it ends up under the pier and swims around the pilings.  Within 5 minutes the other two rods go off.  Same thing.    Both swim under the pier and the line gets cut.  Switched sides around 1:30 and in short order another dolphin.  Under the pier.  Line cut.  Using pinfish on the rockpiles Flipper must grab the bait and pull it off the hook.    Tried cutbait for snappers with no luck.  Saw no fish caught around us.  Tarpon rolling around the pier.  About 5 cars on the pier when we got there.  97 degrees.  Didn't see one Pelican.   If I rated the trip by fish caught, bummer.  If I rate it by the experience, success.  Sloppy Joes I fixed on the tailgait helped.  Fun being out there but could do without all the Dolphin activity.  Better luck next time. 

[shot33gun9]

97...yowza boss. Just for your sake and all other fisherfolks, I suggest you not post that you actually hooked a dolphin. Now we got a storm brewing in the western Carribean, 60% chance of developing, and depending on its trac fishing could get good here or we could be running to the hills

[fishtailz]

I think you're right. I found an edit button and cleaned it up. Last thing I want is to get to the gait and have 50 animal rights activists cursing and yelling at an irresponsible fisherman. I just made that story up to make the post interesting. I would never hook a dolphin. Fish story. Turn the pier into a dolphin viewing area for tourists. No fisherman past the gate. Thanks for the heads up.

[Flatsrunner]

Maybe if enough if those thieving critters get hooked they may stop stealing baits.

[stuckintherocks]

Understand the sentiment about the dolphin, no one wants to see a friends of the dolphins activist group rising up… but in terms of legality it’s just as fishtailz said, who’s to say if he’s telling the truth or if good ole fishtailz is telling a bunch of fish talez hahaha.

I was out there Tuesday eve-Wednesday morn and had similar luck my friend. I dealt with that same dolphin, it’s a smaller one so it isn’t strong enough to just muscle through and rip baits off the hook, that’s why it either wraps you around a piling, or pulls you into a rock pile. The f*ckers are as smart as they come. As a matter of fact they harass me way more than I’ve ever them, there should be some sort of law or activist group that keeps those damn dolphins away from bullying me hahaha.

Flipper doesn’t discriminate, large or small, dead or alive. I’ve had flipper steal whole stingray wings, and even little tiny mud minnows smaller than your finger used for snapper bait..

The secret with larger baits is a well timed balloon, gotta get it out while the current is moving decently fast inbetween passes of flipper, needs to be sent out on a strong setup that can hold a lot of line. Flipper knows casting range and that’s where it patrols for easy meals, but I have never had flipper steal a bait from 250 yards out on the bottom.

But when you’re fishing in the land of giants you have to do so responsibly.
If you don’t want flipper to see it you gotta pop the balloon and sink the bait on the bottom, some people use regular balloons and let ‘em Fck up the environment, some people use biodegradable balloons and hope for the best. I use a three way swivel with a stinger rig with a tiny hook attached to it and then hook the balloon onto the stinger rig, this allows me to float the balloon out as far as I want to and then give it a good yank and it will actually pop the balloon while leaving the balloon on the hook, allowing me to dispose of it properly after reeling in. I’ve also talked about the importance of crushing barbs on hook if planning to catch and release these larger fish safely. It is a ton of hard work and why often on my trips I’ll say I was too lazy to fish for monsters.
But I can absolutely understand and resonate with the almost sense of “wanderlust” for lack of a better word, associated what that gut feeling of wondering what the biggest baddest fish out there is and wantin to do battle with that mther f*ker hahaha

My gear matches the fish I am chasing, so I’m not using giant cables or multiple feet of wire, because I do not have a $2,000 setup to reel in a 12 foot hammerhead.
I use less than a foot of 70lb wire with a standard haywire twist. Attached to a mono shockleader around 60-80lb, this way the absolute worse case scenario if you hook a fish too large is that your mono frays, and the fish is only left with a small hook and tiny bit of wire in its mouth. Obviously not ideal under any circumstance but to a 300lb bullshark that bites chunks out of its mate, probably not the worst thing in the world.

Sometimes you get nights where flipper isn’t around at all and you can just cast baits all night long and they just get constantly crushed by black tips and spinner sharks and tarpon, and despite what anyone says or thinks no matter what there is always the chance of a giant cobia creeping around.

But I will say if you send out another bait the second flipper finish’s stealing your first, that mammal is going to use you as a source of food for the whole entire rest of the night, constantly checking your spot for a new tasty treat.

[stuckintherocks]

Sorry for the giant post.. feel free not to read it.. that’s all I got for this Ted talk until next time folks

[Flatsrunner]

Aug 24, 2023 19:48:32 GMT -5 stuckintherocks said:

Sorry for the giant post.. feel free not to read it.. that’s all I got for this Ted talk until next time folks

Those dolphins are all over the bay stealing baits from piers, boats and shoreline. I've seen them a 100 miles offshore. Tree Huggers can't ban fishing everywhere, As someone posted on here before, There is about 3 generations of dolphins stealing fish from anglers.

[shot33gun9]

Outlaws! I stopped feeding those bandits 5-6 yrs ago, true I've lost some macks to them but not that many..I've learned that when I'm on some macks it's just a matter of time before flipper shows up so I'm fishing and watching as well. If I can get a mack to the surface, he's mine. Of course flipper will eventually run off all the macks then it's time to move to another spot, or have a can of King Arthur sardines, some crackers, and a cold Modelo....I like that option

[fishtailz]

I live in Englewood and the Dolphins down here have some manners. They don't bother you unless a fish is being reeled in. The bait stealing is a learned behavior. If a person could see them coming and just reel in the line before the theft occurs that would be nice. Usually not the case. Stuckintherocks is right about the "zone". They cruise about the same distance off the pier searching. Watched one swim into my line then hang a sharp left. 3 seconds later and here we go. But they are so cute. Oh look, a Dolphin. When I used to watch Flipper on TV as a kid I don't remember seeing any baitstealing. He always saved the day for the boys. What the heck?