Catching Mahi Mahi requires the right bait & tackle

Mahi Mahi is probaly the best saltwater fish to eat in my opinion, to catch a school of them you will need the proper bait & tackle. The first thing you will have to have is an offshore boat that can go offshore about 5-15 miles or so. The further out you are the larger the dolhpin fish get.

This method only applies to fishing for dolphin fish in Florida, particulary the Keys. To be successful in landing dolphin fish you will need 5-10 trolling rods in the water. Even if you have a smaller sized boat this is still possible if your boat has out riggers, which keeps the lines from crossing and tangling up. The best bait that I have used to catch dolphin fish has been the ballywoo rig, a dead frozen ballyhooon a hook that has colorful strings on it. This will attract the Mahi Mahi's attention. So make sure you have some colorful hooks and good leader line in your bait & tackle arsenal.

You can start making up all of the rigs on your way out to sea, you will have about 5 miles or more until you will start trolling to find the big catch. Once you get out far enough start releasing all of the lines. Keep a couple 50 yards and a couple 100 yards behind the boat. Make sure you set the drag loose, not loose to where line will still be going out when the boats moving but just a tad bit before. If your drag is set to tight the fish will break off every time. Troll the boat at about 8-10 miles per hour, keeping an eye on all of th erigged lures in the water making sure that none of them tangled up or caught in seaweed.

While you are trolling you are going to be looking for two basic things, boards in the water, and birds. Lets start with the boards. If a large board has been floating in the water for god knows how long then there is likely a big school of dolphin swimming around under it. There are boards everywhere out in the sea and ocean, sometimes they can be hard to spot but are usually worth it once you spot one, because as soon as you ride past one with all of your lines out you will more than likely get a fish on.

The other thing you look for, the birds, when you are 5+ miles out in the sea or ocean the birds can be difficult to spot, and rare, but in reality they are all around. If you have binoculars this will make this task much easier. But once you find some birds you want to keep following them to the best of your ability, if the birds are diving, this is almost a guarentee that you will hook up with some dolphin fish.

Now once you get a Dolphin fish hooked from trolling stop the boat and start reeling in the line or lines. If you have 2 or more on line then reel one in and land it, reel the other one up to the boat and let it swim around the boat, the distressed dolphin fish in the water will attract all of the schoolys to it, throw some spinners in the water with some frozen squid and you will get a hit within seconds. Keep repeating this until the dolphin fish catch on. Remember Mahi Mahi travel in schools and if you hook one and leave it in the water close to the boat the school will follow. If you think you have a 40 lb dolphin fish on line land that sucker no matter what. If you have a smaller one on keep it in the water and try and catch the school.

If you have right offshore boat, the proper bait & tackle, and are willing to troll for hours then you will catch some mahi mahi. In my experience 30 minutes before sunrise is when they are most active.