Dancing with the dolphins is a real possibility for North Carolina’s offshore fishermen in April

Colorful and aggressive, a hungry dolphin will hit just about anything in front of its nose that even remotely resembles a meal.

One of the ocean’s most-colorful fish will fall for colorful baits as the spring season kicks off.

Peanuts. Gaffers. Slingers. Bailers. Goats of the sea. These all reference the fish known as dolphin or Mahi-Mahi. They are the most plentiful of offshore sportfish, and though they primarily course the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, by late-summer, anglers can catch these fish in nearshore waters around wrecks and natural reefs.

Fishing techniques from almost any port that bluewater boats call home are generally the same: find warm water, find structure, find something that floats, and eventually a dolphin will find a hook. For Durham natives Phil Young and Ed Roberson, dolphin fishing is how the warm and windless days of spring and summer are best spent, and on one occasion it is how a record dolphin was boated.

Young has many years of experience fishing the bluewater off the North Carolina coastal and other tropical locations. In 2006, he was part of the crew aboard the Reel Time that boated the largest dolphin ever caught in the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament, a 77.9-pounder. Roberson frequents Hatteras and the offshore buffets that exist a short ride from our easternmost ports.

“Fishing for dolphin is about the most-diverse form of fishing there is for offshore anglers; they will eat anything,” Young said. “From Morehead City, you cannot go wrong putting out at the 90-foot drop and trolling to the Big Rock. From there, it is just about looking for fishy waters and locating structure.”

“The fish can be anywhere and under any object, and they are just voracious feeders,” Roberson said. “From Hatteras, there are known structures like the areas around Diamond Shoals to the Rock Pile, and just about anywhere where you can find warm water blended with cooler water – and absolutely where there is structure like floating weedlines or even a discarded cooler lid.”

Young takes a “shotgun” approach to dolphin, meaning he will divide his baits among different colors.

“My go-to color is the same as everyone else: blue and white. That particular combination has probably landed more fish than anything else ever pulled behind any boat,” he said. “I also like chartreuse, and pink and white are also very effective.”

Roberson agrees, but says, “Sometimes it doesn’t matter what you have behind the boat, they feed on anything.”

What makes dolphin such an efficient target is that typically, the fish school and feed together.

“It is very likely that if you get one knockdown on a rod, that a second is going to be right behind; they are very competitive feeders,” Roberson said.

“I try to take everything the landscape has to offer and use that to locate fish; birds, weedlines and the current all play a part in where fish can be found,” Young said. “One of the great things about fishing for dolphin is that they often hang so near the surface, either beneath a floating object or free swimming near a column of bait.

“When you pass, they dart like launched torpedoes towards lures, and because of how they attack bait, they are almost always a certain hook-up,”  Roberson said.

Young said that bait presentation and trolling speed are key factors to consider when targeting dolphin.

“Generally, the trolling speed is going to be between five and seven knots,” he said. “Yet much of that has to do with how the current is pushing and the direction you are going — into or with the current. If you make looping turns or change direction, all of that can affect your tolling speed.”

Ballyhoo, a slender baitfish, is the typical bait. It’s fished dead on a standard J-hook, threaded through the fish and punching out about a third of the way down the belly. While a ballyhoo fished without a skirt , aka a “dink bait” might be teased behind the boat, outlying lines, flat lines and lines fished down the center, well behind the boat, have baits typically dressed with skirt colors in varying patterns.

“The fact that it is cloudy might affect how a lure is seen, or if the sun is bright or if the water is clear and flat – all these factors affects how a dolphin sees bait and presents for the attack,” Roberson said.

“I can’t say that even the most-popular combination of skirted ballyhoo will work every day on every fish; it is all about finding what is popular with the fish then, and that might even change from morning to afternoon,” said Young, who believes that dolphin fishing from Morehead City is built mainly off of the flow of the Gulf Stream.

“The fish are congregated early in the year, like April and May, and then, as the water transitions to warmer temperatures and (the) bluewater pushes more towards the beach, the dolphin will move closer. Sometimes, they can be caught 12 miles off the beach,” he said. “There are not any particular holes or areas that are more productive than the other. The fish are transient, and they like to eat and will follow the bait wherever bait can be found. Generally, the ledges and steep dropoffs that give the Big Rock her personality are home to hungry, stream-weaving, mahi-mahi.”

DESTINATION INFORMATION

WHEN TO GO/HOW TO GET THERE — Bluewater sportfishing boats leave through Beaufort Inlet for dolphin from April through the fall when numbers of fish thin out. The biggest dolphin of the year are often caught in spring; by summer, the majority of fish taken are smaller bailers. Morehead City is best accessed via US  70, which runs across North Carolina from west to east. Many offshore boats run from the Morehead City Docks a few blocks east of US 70; many run from marinas along the causeway from Morehead City to Atlantic Beach. Most fishing takes place out from the 90-foot drop offshore; as water temperatures warm into the summer, dolphin will move to nearshore areas as close as 10 to 12 miles off the beach and in 60 feet of water.

TACKLE/TECHNIQUES — Trolling tackle for dolphin can be relatively heavy, 30- to 50-pound class gear, with naked or skirted ballyhoo, the skirts coming in multiple colors, with blues, chartreuses, pinks and whites often very productive. When smaller fish are found, they can be chummed to the stern of a boat and targeted with medium-action spinning tackle and a chunk of cut fish or squid on a J-hook on a leader from eight to 20 feet long.

GUIDES/FISHING INFO  — Capt. Bobby Freeman, Sunrise Charters, Atlantic Beach, 252-726-9814, www.sunrise-fishing-charters.com; Capt. Mike Webb, Pelagic Sportfishing, Morehead City, 252-904-3361, www.pelagicsportfishing.com; Capt. Thomas Wood, Dancin’ Outlaw, 252-504-2342, www.dancinoutlaw.net; Capt. Joe’s Bait and Tackle, 252-222-0670, www.saltwaterbaitandtackle.com. See also Guides and Charters in Classifieds.

ACCOMMODATIONS — Crystal Coast Tourism Authority, Morehead City, 252-726-8148, www.crystalcoastnc.org.

MAPS — Capt. Segull’s Nautical Charts, 888-473-4855, www.captainsegullcharts.com; Sealake Fishing; Guides, 800-411-0185, www.thegoodspots.com; Maps Unique, 910-458-9923, www.mapsunique.com.