After a choppier than normal April, we can only hope that this May is a little more normal. Aside from grouper season opening, May is traditionally one of the best months for big dolphin. It’s a great time of year to slide a couple bigger baits out and cover some more ground by increasing your trolling speed. In addition to my normal ballyhoo spread of four smalls, I will usually pull a couple horse ballyhoo or even marlin lures in my short riggers these next few months. Scylla Lures makes a couple great heads which troll very well at slow speeds and big dolphin are suckers for big baits. This time of year, I will often sacrifice a dredge and replace it with a planer rod or down bait fished off of my Cannon downrigger. The downrigger on cycle mode works especially well on hotter, calmer days. I feel like cycling the 10ts definitely triggers bites from lazy fish. A wire leader with either a ballyhoo or mullet covered with a Hawaiian Eye is a great bait for that rod. Focus on depths from 130 to 500 feet of water, but dolphin are definitely one fish that can be found anywhere, especially on the deeper side. Keep your eyes out for pieces of float, color changes and weed lines. I’ve already seen much more sargassum weed compared to the last couple years, so I suspect this May we will see some epic weed lines and good dolphin fishing as well. A couple other favorites of mine in May would be running the beach looking for tarpon, permit, cobia and jacks, and heading out to the trenches in 1600 feet of water targeting swordfish. We’ve caught some of our biggest fish this month, so I know we’ll be heading out there again as much as we can. May is also a great time of year to fish the bottom. Make sure you check out Capt. Rocky’s report to hear all about the snapper and upcoming grouper season! Looking forward to fishing with you soon, and I hope your next trip is Off The Chain!
FORECAST BY: Capt. Scott Fawcett
Off the Chain Fishing Charters
Phone: (772) 285-1055
Email: fishscottyf@bellsouth.net
www.offthechainfishing.com
