by Capt. Joel Brandenburg
When we are on a charter we’ll fish on a floating object for as long as the mahi keep coming. When we are fishing a tournament, we’ll leave a floater if all we’re catching is schoolies. I‘d say 90 out of our last 100 slammers (big trophy bull dolphin) have been caught under diving frigates (war birds).
If you are looking for a trophy bull dolphin keep trolling underneath the war bird. Big bird, big fish and big seas big fish. Understanding the frigate and mature mahi’s relationship is important for targeting trophy bulls. A frigate can’t get its wings wet like a pelican, seagull or osprey. The frigate’s wings don’t wick water like most sea birds as their wings absorb water. If a frigate lands on the water it will most likely die. It won’t be able to take back off to flight and would eventually drown.
Frigates stay up in the air sometimes for many days in a row. They fly thousands of feet up into the thermals, set their wings, close their eyes and go to sleep falling an inch at a time and that’s how they sleep when they are out to sea. Because frigates can’t hit the water, they dive down and pick fish out of the air with their beaks only. They have a hearty diet for flying fish. A frigates’ dream situation is to be flying over a big bull and cow corralling flying fish to the surface. Once the dueling dolphins force the flying fish out of the water and into the air, that’s prime time for the frigate to pick off the frantic flying fish. The frigate has to do this with surgical precision, their lives depend on it. When you get three or four frigates following a couple big mahi, we like to either troll right under them or cast a full ballyhoo right into where we’re anticipating they’ll be. Sometimes we even sight cast them.
If we catch a small mahi we’ll keep it in the water as a decoy dolphin and chum around the decoy dolphin and bring in other dolphin and get a mahi rally going. For big trophy mahi bird is the word and the bigger bird the better with the frigate always being the number one big bird for trophy mahi. That frigate has eagles’ eyes and big range. If a frigate is circling or diving in the middle of the ocean it’s for a very good reason. That frigate could be anywhere in the ocean it wants to be, but it’s right there right now. If you see a frigate you’ve got to dig it. No matter what give it five minutes of respect and troll under it. It’s your very best bet for boating that monster mahi. Bird bird bird is the word! Good luck finding your trophy mahi this dolphin season.
For a charter with Ana Banana Fishing Company Marathon Florida Keys call 813-267-4401 cell or office 305-395-4211
or visit us in person at Ana Banana Marina at
12699 Overseas Highway Marathon Florida Keys or
Captain Joel Brandenburg 570 Sombrero Beach Rd Marathon Fl.33050 marathonkeyfishingcharters@gmail.com 305-395-4212
or 813-267-4401 us at marathonkeyfishingcharters@gmail.com