How-To Catch Dolphin - Florida Sportsman

How-To Articles & Videos • Where’s The Bite • Regulations • Recipes • Conservation

The Dolphin, Coryphaena Hippurus

A blaze of blue and yellow or deep green and yellow when in the water, and sometimes shows dark vertical stripes as well when excited. Small dark spots on sides. Dorsal fin extends nearly from head to tail. Head is very blunt in males (bulls); rounded in females (cows).The Pompano Dolphin, Coryphaena equisetis, is often mistaken as a female or juvenile male Dolphin. It is found in most of the same waters, grows to about 5 pounds, distinguished by the rounded shape of the underbelly.

SIZE: Schooling fish run in similar sizes, from around a pound to nearly 20 pounds at times; larger fish are loners, or else pairs—bull and cow. Big bulls often reach 50 pounds in weight and can exceed 80 pounds on rare occasion. Large cows generally top out at 40 pounds or so. World record 88 pounds; Florida record 77 pounds, 12 ounces.

FOOD VALUE: None better.

GAME QUALITIES: Top of the heap in any weight class—speedy. Strong and acrobatic.

TACKLE AND BAITS: With the Dolphin, anything goes. Private-boat anglers seek to find a school by trolling or by running and searching for visual signs. Once a school is located, it can usually be kept around the boat by restrained chumming with cut bait and/or by keeping at least one hooked fish in the water at all times. A hot school will eagerly accept jigs and all sorts of casting baits, including flies and popping bugs. If strikes slow down, cut bait often does the trick. Big or wise fish may insist on live baits. Countless Dolphin are also caught, both by design and incidentally, on the entire gamut of rigged trolling baits and artificial trolling lures.

FISHING SYSTEMS: Trolling; Drifting; Casting.

OTHER NAMES:

Dorado

Mahi Mahi

RANGE: All offshore waters of Florida, the Bahamas and the Caribbean.

HABITAT: Dolphin roam the open sea in a continuous hunt for food. Anglers seek them along rafted weedlines and around any sort of large floating object.The location of schools may also be given away by feeding birds, particularly frigate birds.

GALLERY: Offshore

1 of 226

<h2>Port Canaveral Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Port Canaveral Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Panhandle Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Keys Trio</h2>
<h2>Big Phin!</h2>
<h2>Like Father, Like Daughter</h2>
<h2>February Phins</h2>
<h2>Bugs and Phins</h2>
<h2>Port Canaveral Phin</h2>
<h2>Southeast Bull</h2>
<h2>Big Southeast Bull</h2>
<h2>Dolphin on the Other Side</h2>
<h2>Dolphin for All</h2>
<h2>First Phin</h2>
<h2>Dolphin for Two</h2>
<h2>Southeast Bull</h2>
<h2>Inflatable Phins</h2>
<h2>Mahi Girls</h2>
<h2>Boynton Bull</h2>
<h2>Dolphin on the Yak</h2>
<h2>SLI Phin</h2>
<h2>Success on the Hump</h2>
<h2>Port Canaveral Phin</h2>
<h2>St. Augustine Bull</h2>
<h2>Ponce Inlet Dolphin Run</h2>
<h2>Ft.Pierce Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Abaco Dolphin</h2>
<h2>First Bull</h2>
<h2>Easter Dolphin</h2>
<h2>CostaRica Dolphin</h2>
<h2>First Phin</h2>
<h2>Offshore Fun</h2>
<h2>Huge Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Tournament Winner</h2>
<h2>Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Bull</h2>
<h2>Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Mahi Mahi</h2>
<h2>Little Mahi</h2>
<h2>3 for 3</h2>
<h2>Keys Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Mahi Mahi</h2>
<h2>Mahi</h2>
<h2>Mahi</h2>
<h2>Mahi Mahi</h2>
<h2>Mahis for All</h2>
<h2>Mahi Mahi</h2>
<h2>AMPED Phins</h2>
<h2>Marathon Bull</h2>
<h2>Stuart Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Stuart Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Travis's Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Keys Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Hell-Bent for Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Veteran's Day Bull</h2>
<h2>Bull Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Which ones the better catch?</h2>
<h2>Reel Time Mahi</h2>
<h2>Solid Dolphin</h2>
<h2>ampedhooandphin</h2>
<h2>Big Phin</h2>
<h2>Harrison's Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Beardmore with a Mahi!</h2>
<h2>Dolphin Days</h2>
<h2>Urban Renewel Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Tripp's Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Keys Dolphon</h2>
<h2>bull</h2>
<h2>Cudjoe phin</h2>
<h2>Andrews Phin</h2>
<h2>Guys Catch</h2>
<h2>Tropical Storm Mahi</h2>
<h2>These Girls can fish!!</h2>
<h2>New Smyrna Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Robs Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Dolphin Haul</h2>
<h2>Lunch time Bull</h2>
<h2>Fort Pierce Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Father's Day Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Big Bull</h2>
<h2>Kids Love Fishing</h2>
<h2>Nice Schoolies</h2>
<h2>Big Bull</h2>
<h2>Mahi Mahi Lakewood Ranch Fishing Club</h2>
<h2>Kayak Mahi</h2>
<h2>Keys Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Abaco Wahoo and Dolphin</h2>
<h2>5th Place Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Father and Sons Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Auggie Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Big Pine Key Dolphin Trip</h2>
<h2>60lb Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Kents Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Nice catch!</h2>
<h2>Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Key West Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Key's Slammer</h2>
<h2>Erika's Mahi</h2>
<h2>Candice and her Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Father/Daughter Mahi</h2>
<h2>Big Pine Key Dolphin Trip</h2>
<h2>Big Pine Key Dolphin Trip</h2>
<h2>Lots of Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Mahi-Mahi!</h2>
<h2>Jupiter Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Dolphin Days</h2>
<h2>Family Vacation Catch</h2>
<h2>Summer Bull</h2>
<h2>First Time Around</h2>
<h2>Offshore Fishing</h2>
<h2>Emalee's Dolphin</h2>
<h2>10 lb. Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Bull Dolphin on a Ballyhoo</h2>
<h2>Cudjoe Key Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Team Effort</h2>
<h2>West Palm Bull Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Southeast Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Fathers Day Dolphin</h2>
<h2>36 Miami Dolphin's</h2>
<h2>Shell Shocked Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Massive Bull Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Janet's Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Luke's Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Keys Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Boynton Beach Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Family Catch</h2>
<h2>Key West Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Baby 'Phin</h2>
<h2>Towered Bull Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Hillborough Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Brotherly Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Up for the Fight</h2>
<h2>Keys Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Tastes Like Chicken</h2>
<h2>First Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Dolphin and Hog Snapper </h2>
<h2>Ft. Pierce Dolphin</h2>
<h2>First Time Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Bull Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Isla Mujeres Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Pushy Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Jacksonville Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Cooper's Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Big Bull Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Best Catch</h2>
<h2>Stuart Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Cinco de Mayo Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Little Man, Big Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Christina's Dolphin</h2>
<h2>St. Lucie Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Hollywood Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Islamorada Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Donna's Port Canaveral Dolphin</h2>
<h2>11 Dolphin in Islamorada</h2>
<h2>Alexis's First Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Stuart Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Terri's Jupiter Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Miranda Egan's Dolphin Catches</h2>
<h2>Lynn's First Dolphin!</h2>
<h2>Dom Scala's Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Jupiter Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Dolphin Day</h2>
<h2>Member Ripnlips with a Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Fishing with Friends</h2>
<h2>Mackenzie's Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Islamorada Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Sebastian Dolphin Bag</h2>
<h2>Haley's Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Dolphin and King Combo</h2>
<h2>St. Augustine Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Dolphin on the Fly</h2>
<h2>Palm Beach Dolphin</h2>
<h2>First Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Boynton Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Wahoo, Dolphin, Tuna</h2>
<h2>Key West 50-pound Cow Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Summerland Key Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Tuna, Dolphin, Kingfish</h2>
<h2>Key West Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Dolphin Delight</h2>
<h2>A Boat Load</h2>
<h2>Lunkerdog's Dolphin</h2>
<h2>South Dade Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Fowey Rock Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Blackfins and Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Nasty Weather Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Father & Son Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Hollywood Dolphin </h2>
<h2>Fort Lauderdale Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Keys Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Juno Beach Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Jupiter Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Keys Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Stuart Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Bull Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Panama City Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Jumping Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Dolphin Gaff</h2>
<h2>Dolphins Galore</h2>
<h2>Dolphin Delight</h2>
<h2>Dolphin Digging</h2>
<h2>Dolphin Dash</h2>
<h2>Beautiful Dolphin</h2>
<h2>A Dolphin at Last</h2>
<h2>Stuart Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Dolphin</h2>
<h2>A Boy and his Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Ft. Pierce Bull</h2>
<h2>Dolphin Trifecta</h2>
<h2>Duck Key Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Trolling for Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Spring Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Annual Keys Trip</h2>
<h2>Islamorada Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Dolphin for Dinner</h2>
<h2>Mathew's Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Bill Taley and Gang</h2>
<h2>Will Fey's Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Boca Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Leader of the Pack</h2>
<h2>Day with Dad</h2>
<h2>dolphin-perry-se</h2>
<h2>Dolphin</h2>
<h2>Big Bull</h2>
<h2>Carlie's Tampa Dolphin</h2>

Dolphin

Reel Time Florida Sportsman

Florida Sportsman Expo

Get the Florida Sportsman Email!

Reel Time Florida Sportsman

Florida Sportsman Expo