Larger predators sometimes steal your catch, but mahi-mahi don’t usually end up on the winning end of the scenario. Coastal Angler reader Kent McNeal, who generally fishes out of the Boynton Inlet on south Florida’s Atlantic Coast, has a story to tell. He and a buddy were fishing a weed line when they got onto the kind of small dolphinfish often referred to as peanuts.
It is standard technique to leave the first dolphin on the line and in the water by the boat, as others will feed around the hooked fish. When the second angler hooks up, the first fish is brought onboard. The second angler then holds his fish by the boat while the first angler re-baits for another cast.
McNeal and a buddy employed this technique for to fill the cooler with a half dozen keepers. Then it happened.
“Out of nowhere, this big dolphin come boat side and began attacking the peanut I was hooked up with,” said McNeal. “I had the little dolphin right by the side of the boat, less then 5 feet from me. The large fish was so hungry and focused on her prey that she had no idea she was only feet from a boat. The predator was thrashing and twisting so much that water was splashing up over my head onto the deck of my 23-foot Mako. The smaller fish appeared to be too large for the big mahi to swallow, so she was chomping and tearing at the smaller fish’s dorsal fin. I yelled to my buddy, Sean, to grab the gaff. By now the smaller fish was halfway down the throat of the larger, so I began to slowly reel both fish a bit closer for a clean gaff. I have spent countless hours on the water in my life, but I have never seen something quite like this.”
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