With the Mexican holiday of Cinco De Mayo once again timed with the peak of the dolphin migration it was time for another fiesta on the ocean. The 5 a.m. start time suffered a minor setback when the Palmetto Guard had an overheat alert sound off just before leaving the harbor, causing Captain Chip Campsen to turn her around and head back to the dock. The 'good news' is that after affecting some minor repairs we left port at 6:30 a.m. and headed to the 170-line to troll for dolphin. Boats that fish offshore frequently encounter such issues, and is just one part of the saltwater lifestyle, where having an experienced crew aboard always matters. A west wind had the weedline scattered and that was exactly how we found the mahi bite - infrequent and spread out. However, we did have a mahi in the baits first thing, and rounded out the day with a wahoo at 3 p.m., so the bite was steady all day - just not a real hot bite. One blue marlin was seen free jumping in the 74-degree water but there was little sign of birds and flying fish. In one instance of feeding birds we managed to catch the nicest mahi of the day, about an 18-pounder that topped off the ten tasty fish on ice in the box. The mahi bite on the weekend on April 26 and 27 seems to have been the best of 2014 thus far, with charter captains having luck the following weekend, but not on a widespread basis. Some of them were able to find the fish again and some had fishing conditions like the this 2014 Cinco De Mayo outing. Still it was a beautiful day on the ocean, with a crew of ten gents who love saltwater fishing and who appreciate the theatre that can only be generated while trolling lines on the deep blue sea.
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| Lots of lines out means lots of angler action |
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| Somewhere between a slinger and a gaffer dolphin |
To view past blog entries on Migratory dolphin off S.C. click 2015 - 2013 - 2012 - 2011 - 2010 - 2009 - 2007
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