Little baits bring big results in pursuit of dolphin
If they absolutely had to catch a dolphin, most anglers would typically head offshore with a dozen or more live pilchards in their livewell. But Capt. Abie Raymond has an even more effective way to catch the colorful, acrobatic fish this summer, which has become the prime dolphin time in South Florida.
The Miami Beach native uses tiny, minnow-like baits that he nets before he goes out of Haulover Inlet to attract dolphin to his boat around weedlines, weed patches and floating debris. He also tosses out some of the little fish with his bait net if one of his anglers hooks a dolphin on a trolling lure as Raymond skippers his 28-foot CHawk center console in search of grass and debris.
“It fires the dolphin up and it gives you more opportunities,” says Raymond of the little baits, which are actually inchand-a-half-long pilchards. “They keep the dolphin around your boat. You’ve got fly-fishing opportunities, you’ve got jigging opportunities, plug-casting opportunities. And you don’t have to worry, ‘Oh, where’s my rod? Where’s my bait?’ while the dolphin are swimming by.
“You just grab a scoop and throw it overboard. The baits swim back to the boat for shelter and the dolphin bust them all over the place for 10 minutes while you’re taking your time, rigging your rod, tying a new plug on, a jig, whatever you want.”
Raymond, whose Go Hard Fishing (www.gohardfishing.com) offers offshore and inshore charters, as well as trips in Miami-Dade County’s freshwater canals for peacock bass, largemouth bass and clown knifefish, was the longtime mate for the legendary Capt. Bouncer Smith.
His idea to fill his livewell with little pilchards for dolphin came from his years of experience catching the tasty fish with Smith, who retired a little over a year ago after 54 years as a Miami charter captain.
“I just started doing it,” Raymond says. “The original reasoning for this is that when these dolphin spit out baits, that’s the size of them. Tiny, little minnows. Their stomachs are packed with them. That’s the kind of stuff they’re picking out of the seaweed.
“So I figured they’ve got to eat the heck out of them and they’re not going to get full on them. That’s the beauty of it. You’re not going to overfeed them, like you would with a big bait. You take these and toss them out, a nice scoop, even if the fish shut off, you throw a scoop and they start blowing up. It turns them on immediately.”
The tactic worked to perfection on a trip last week with Raymond and his father, David, out of Bill Bird Marina in North Miami Beach.
After Raymond spotted a couple of dolphin near a weed patch from the tower of his boat, he climbed down, dipped up about eight of the little baits and flung them into the water. Those two dolphin and a bunch of their schoolmates quickly surrounded the boat.
Raymond baited several lightweight spinning outfits with small pilchards, as well as bigger pilchards that he’d bought before heading offshore from Capt. Lester Wenger of Lester’s Live Bait. The hookups were immediate.
At one point, David Raymond and I were both reeling dolphin to the boat and a third fish was on an outfit that Raymond had hooked while he was trying to reel up the bait to get the line out of our way. He stuck that rod in a rod-holder so he could gaff our fish.
Raymond’s dolphin outfits — a 10-pound Ugly Stick spinning rod with a 3500 Penn Slammer reel spooled with 20-pound braided line with a 2/0 J hook — produced a fun, exciting fight with the schoolies, which weighed 5 to 10 pounds.
“The braid is so strong and so durable,” Raymond says, “and those little reels now are so capable dragwise, it eliminates the need for heavy tackle.”
Back at the marina, when Raymond cleaned the six dolphin that we’d kept, their stomachs were filled with the little baits that Raymond had chummed with, as well as tiny triggerfish, filefish and blue runners.
The good dolphin fishing in South Florida should continue through September. That’s a change from past decades, when May and June were the prime months.
“July should be really good,” Raymond says. “I think the last few years, August is the peak. September usually has some big ones, but not as many numbers.”
So if you’d really like to catch some dolphin, go now and be sure to bring plenty of little baits with you.
‘‘ [PILCHARDS] FIRES THE DOLPHIN UP AND IT GIVES YOU MORE OPPORTUNITIES. Capt. Abie Raymond