Cover Story

There's a lot to love about dolphin.

These super-fish of the open ocean grow like crazy, fight like the devil and taste mighty fine. Best of all, they're not that hard to catch.

They are, in the words of one Charleston charter captain, "pigs." Once you've found a school of hungry fishi- and they're always hungryi- just about any type of offshore trolling lure will draw strikes. Simply casting some cut-up ballyhoo or pieces of squid will often do the job.

The key to filling a freezer with top-notch fillets often boils down to simply finding the fish - which, of course, is easier said than done. It's a big ocean out there, and despite their reputation as the go-to offshore game fish, dolphin can still prove elusive.

Luckily for Charleston's fleet of offshore anglers, May could be be the best month of the year to give dolphin a shot. Somewhere, out there in the great blue yonder, massive schools of these beautiful, iridescent fish are migrating north from the Florida Coast and the Caribbean Sea. These particular fish, part of the first big wave of the annual dolphin migration, are the bruisers of the bunch. Here's where you'll run into the 40- to 60-pounders, the true trophy fish. You may even find that unbelievably massive bull that can crack the new state record, a 77.5-pound beast caught early last summer.

Catching the wave

So why is May such a productive month for dolphin? If anyone knows the answer, it's Don Hammond. The Charleston marine fisheries biologist and former Department of Natural Resources scientist runs a private fisheries research company that uses archival and satellite tags to learn more about the migration and behavior or dolphinfish. Few people know more about this premier game fish.

Under Hammond's program, more than 1,200 participating anglers from the U.S. East and Gulf coasts and the Caribbean have tagged more than 10,000 fish. Once a tagged fish is re-caught, Hammond uses the information to determine how far and how fast it has traveled, and how much it's grown.

Hammond also oversees the use of high-tech and expensive satellite tags, which can document not only movement of fish, but how deep a particular fish dives and how long it stays down.

The information Hammond has collected paints a fascinating picture of life in the fast lane for these voracious fish. A dolphin recovered in 2004 set the fastest rate of travel so far, a blistering 130 miles per day. Another fish showed that dolphin could travel almost the full length of the U.S. Atlantic territorial waters (Key West to Nantucket) in less than two months.

Though dolphin will linger in some parts of the Caribbean, the ones cruising by our coast seem to be moving fast, Hammond says. This migration is triggered by changing water temperatures andi- above alli- the movement of prey items such as flying fish, ballyhoo, scad mackerel and sardines.

"They have such a high metabolic rate that they demand a large amount of food to keep their systems going," Hammond says. "Once they find food, they'll stay with it and follow it."

This never-ending quest to fill their bellies brings dolphin into range for Charleston anglers in late spring and early summer.

"The middle of May to the middle of June has historically been the peak period for dolphin fishing," Hammond says, adding that catches in this first part of the season are "primarily larger fish, 10 pounds and above."

"Apparently, those fish are the ones that lead the migration coming off the Eastern Bahamas, and coming up the U.S. East Coast."

So why do the bigger fish lead the charge northward?

"That's just self-preservation," Hammond says with a laugh. "If the smaller fish got in front of the bigger fish, guess who would be eaten?"

Dolphin, it appears, are enthusiastic cannibals. In fact, the record bull taken last summer had a 5-pound schoolie dolphin in its belly.

"Dolphin are food for everything," Hammond says, "including their own kind."

South Carolina fish

With so many years of research under his belt, Hammond has developed a number of interesting theories about the dolphin that appear off our coast.

For one, he believes most of our fish are not arriving from the Florida coast, but rather swimming through the open ocean from the eastern Bahamas.

During the past seven years, Hammond says, thousands of dolphin have been tagged and released off the south Florida coast. But not one of those fish has been reported caught off South Carolina. North Carolina anglers, however, have recovered 27 Florida tags, which suggests fish from Florida swim further out to sea as they head north, then come back into range off North Carolina.

Hammond's research also hints at an interesting change in behavior for dolphin once they reach the waters off South Carolina, a finding that could lead to new fishing tactics for offshore anglers here.

Most anglers fish for dolphin by trolling baits and lures at the surface, a technique that mimics flying fish and ballyhoo. This method works well, especially off south Florida, where the narrower Gulf Stream keeps bait fishi- and therefore dolphini- concentrated at the surface. But data from Hammond's satellite tags show that off our coast, dolphin often dive deeply to feed, most heavily at night but also during the day.

It appears that dolphin swim down to hunt squid, paper nautilus, rock shrimp and other animals, then return to the surface to recharge in warmer waters and look for flying fish.

This may explain why anglers off Charleston often experience a red-hot bite in the morning, then an hour or two of no action, then another good bite. The dolphin are still therei- they're just a few hundred feet below the boat.

"Off Florida, they spend most of their time at the surface," Hammond explains. "Here, they spend a lot of time at night down to 400 feet. They are relying on those deepwater forms for a greater portion of their food up here off South Carolina."

Where to find the bite in May

For much of the summer and early fall, anglers can find dolphin off Charleston in waters as shallow as 90 feet. Some dolphin even chase bait into water as shallow as 60 feet.

But by and large, the most productive dolphin fishing grounds begin near the edge of the shelf in about 160 feet of water, and continue out into the Gulf Stream, where the sea floor plunges hundreds of feet and the water turns a brilliant cobalt-blue.

At 50 or more miles offshore, water depth may be a good indicator of productive spots, but most experienced anglers see water temperature and the presence of bait as the real determining factors.

Hammond has documented dolphin going into water as cold as 61 degrees and as warm as 84 degrees but advises anglers to remember that dolphin, overall, are very sensitive to temperatures.

"In that early part of May, the shelf waters will lag behind, and the fish tend to stay deeper in the warmer waters of the Gulf Stream.

"In South Carolina, they really prefer 77 to 81 degrees. But they're going to go where the food is. If the bait fish move into 70-degree water, they're going to go to 70-degree water. They may stay there for a short while and then move back out to warmer water."

The first step in catching dolphin is to scour the open ocean for these relatively small, ever-moving pockets of life. When anglers start spotting flying fish and diving seabirds, they usually start putting out lines.

Ben Polk, who captains the 56-foot charter vessel Jabez (jabezcharters.com), concentrates his efforts around temperature breaks and rips, where currents collide to create upwellings. These areas don't just hold bait - they also tend to collect floating debris and clumps of sargassum, a floating marine algae commonly referred to as "weeds."

Dolphin, Polk points out, are "extremely structure-oriented fish," and often will school up around any type of floating structure. Some of the biggest concentrations of fish can be found where wind and current push together these clumps of sargassum to form huge "weed lines."

"We work weed lines for dolphin, and sometimes you'll have wahoo or blue marlin mixed in feeding on dolphin," Polk says.

Capt. Reid Bost, who captains the 65-foot Dem Boys for Charleston Big Game Fishing (thancock.web.officelive.com), looks for the same conditions: hard current edges, good temperature breaks and nice weed lines.

"Anything floating," Bost adds. "If you find a board or big piece of rope, anything like that, it's probably going to have some dolphin on it.

"Some people will just stop the boat at a weed line, cut up bait and chum them in. They break out spinning rods. It's very fun. Especially if you're got kids on boardi- that's a fun thing to do."

Chris Rourk, an experienced offshore angler who regularly fishes on the Ruthie D and Stardust, says anglers serious about getting into the dolphin this month should start by searching the Internet for up-to-date satellite thermal images of the waters off our coast.

"What I am looking for in those pictures is an eddy of (warmer) water that has been holding," Rourk says. "I am also looking for good noticeable temperature breaks."

A good area to start looking would be southeast of Charleston, he says.

"The general area would be around the 380 hole, 226 hole, and Edisto Banks," he says. "The depth that I start depends on how far the Stream is pushed in or out. I usually start on the ledge in 180 feet to try and pick up a wahoo then move out to deeper water."

What to pull

In the simple terms, offshore fishing works this way: Anglers cruise along at a speed between 5 and 7 knots, using multiple rod-and-reel combos to pull a series of lures and baits set at staggered distances behind the boat. The standard bait is usually some kind of lure paired with a ballyhoo, a small bait fish that anglers buy in frozen packs. Anglers use small pieces of wire to rig the ballyhoo on a hook directly behind the lure.

A standard dolphin rig might consist of barrel swivel, followed by 6 feet of 130-pound monofilament leader that's threaded through a soft plastic chugger-style lure and then tied or crimped onto a J-style hook. A small piece of copper wire twisted onto the hook eye will allow a ballyhoo to be secured to the hook. (The Internet is awash with how-to-rig-ballyhoo videos.)

Anglers should make sure to keep hooks very sharp, use the freshest ballyhoo available and always make sure the finished rig "swims" nicely in the water and doesn't get fouled by weeds or other debris.

Setting up a successful trolling spread with six, eight or even 12 lines is an art form. It requires concentration, attention to detail and a boatload of experience. Lure types, leader strength and length, and the distance that lures are trolled behind a boat all vary widely depending on the target species. For marlin, crews might pull a variety of large "teaser" mechanisms followed by large lures rigged with heavy leader and giant "horse" ballyhoo. For toothy wahoo, they might use downriggers and planers to troll wire-rigged baits deeper in the water column. For finicky tuna, crews might deploy very long, very light monofilament leaders with small ballyhoo rigged "naked," without an accompanying lure.

Luckily for seafood lovers the world over, dolphin just aren't that picky. Nearly any of these specialized offshore trolling spreads will produce dolphin by-catch, and most anglers targeting other species still count on dolphin to fill their coolers.

"Dolphin is the one fishi- if they're bitingi- you can throw just about anything out there and they'll eat it," Bost says. "Ballyhoo, obviously, is the best bait. But if they're hungry, it doesn't much matter."

For anglers dead-set on dialing in the dolphin, Bost, Reid and Rourk all recommend building a trolling spread that raises a ruckus. That means pulling daisy-chain squid teasers, putting birds in front of lures and rigging ballyhoo behind lures that are flashy, splashy and bubbly.

The whole idea, Bost says, is to create a commotion that dolphin can see from a long way off.

"You'll see them 50 yards out, flying in from the side" to hit your baits, Bost says.

Just don't be afraid to be bold. Remember that dolphin live fast, die young and eat like there's no tomorrow.

"Dolphin definitely like the bigger stuffi- they're pretty much pigs," Polk says. "The bigger the bait, the better with dolphin."

Building a spread

For those with a basic knowledge of offshore fishing tactics, here's a detailed dolphin game plan from avid offshore angler Chris Rourk: "I will normally run eight lines. Naked split-bill ballyhoo on the flat lines and mouse trap, chugger heads on the short riggers, Seawitches on the long riggers, and usually an Ilander, Iland Cruiser, or Express on the shotgun. "Occasionally I will put out artificials on the short riggers or the mouse trap while we are covering ground. On a calm day, I sometimes put a 9-inch Boone bird in front of an Ilander on the shotgun. "For teasers, I run two 9-inch Mold Craft squid daisy chains chased by either a large Mold Craft Super Chugger or Wide Range. I also put Iland Sea Searchers and Iland Expresses behind them as well."

Hooking Up

• If you hook a small one, leave some lines in the water and keep trolling while an angler fights the fish. You'll often get multiple hook-ups that way. (If the fish you're fighting is big, clear all the lines and concentrate on boating that fish.)

• As soon as you hook a dolphin, enter the spot on your GPS unit. Circle back around and try to run your baits through the rest of the school.

• When some anglers catch smaller dolphin while anchored or drifting, they will fight the fish to the boat, then put the rod in a holder and leave the hooked fish in the water. This might draw the rest of the school to the boat.

Want to help?

Don Hammond (above) founded Cooperative Science Services LLC to continue the dolphin research project the state started in 2002. With every tagged dolphin recovered, anglers are learning more about how far the fish travel and how long it takes them to get there.

With the help of satellite tracking devices, Hammond also monitors the depths dolphin reach, shedding new light on their feeding habits. It costs $6,000 for one such device and satellite time to use it.

Anglers interested in funding the project, tagging fish for the program, or those who recapture a tagged dolphin, should contact Hammond at Cooperative Science Services LLC, 961 Anchor Road, Charleston, S.C., 29412-4902 or at 843-795-7524 or dolphintagging.com.

Contact Tideline Senior Editor Matt Winter at 843-937-5568 or matt@tidelinemagazine.com.