Boca Grande Sailfish and Dolphin Technique

Capt. Darel Carter
May 14, 2015
Boca Grande - Saltwater Fishing Report

This report is from a fishing trip out of Jupiter inlet on Tuesday. This same technique can and has been used out of Boca Grande Pass before.
We started out catching cigar minnows, sardines and threadfins on sibikis in 38 feet of water. The color of the sibiki was an issue also. We normally use several colors to find out what they want to hit. It turned out that on Tuesday they wanted white with red. The large schools of threadfins were moving around on the top and we would have to keep up with them. The drift was about 3 miles per hours with some 12-foot rollers at times. We caught the cigars and sardines on the bottom. On the first drift, live bait was free lined out behind the boat. I caught a small sailfish after about 50 yards. We used 50lb fluorocarbon leader with a 6/0 circle hook.

We moved out to deeper water to find drifting grass. We found small patchy areas at about 90 feet. No fish in the area. We kept moving to deeper water and trying short drifts. Nothing but flying fish. We stopped at 225 feet and used anchovies as chum as we drifted. It did not take any time and two large Dolphin swam to the boat. I guess they can in from the side and did not see our three baits drifting with the chum slick. We reeled in quickly and a 44" Bull dolphin slammed my bait about 20 yards out. Five jumps, three line screaming runs strait down later, and he was in the cooler. On the third drift in the same depth, a 25" dolphin ate my bait. It slowly swam side ways to our drift.

I was using 65ld power pro line with 50lb fluorocarbon leader. I normally do not like to us power pro off shore, but I also used a longer leader. We also caught a 25lb Jack Carville. I also hooked a giant sea monster that tested 60lb line and me on a 4/0 reel. Never saw it, but the line was cut like a knife, after about 4 minutes of fighting.
If you want to charter a inshore trip for Tarpon, Shark, redfish, Snook, or a buffet of other fish contact Capt. Darel Carter at 941-456-0415 or check out the web site www.hookedoncharters.com

Target Species:

Tarpon,Snook, Redfish,Shark,Trout

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