The dolphin are here and they are hungry. The smaller dolphin of June and July have grown from 3-5 pound fish, to 6-10 pounders, some even bigger. Dolphin grow extremely fast. When dolphin reach this size, they break from their schools of 50 plus fish, down into smaller hunting packs made up of 8-10 fish. This makes for a lot more schools of dolphin around offshore and they are easier to find. These schools of dolphin gather nearby a seaweed line or other floating debris for protection and a place to find food. The secret to offshore dolphin fishing is territory coverage. The more territory you can troll your lures over, the more of a chance you have to run over some fish. It’s a big ocean out there offshore, almost a desert, until you find a floating piece of driftwood… an oasis in the middle of this saltwater desert, loaded with dolphin. When you find something good to fish next to, make sure to pull some deep running lures by it too. Wahoo typically hang around floating debris offshore as well, but they stay much deeper and rarely come near the surface. Pulling a planer or downrigger bait by it will often yield a nice wahoo to compliment your catch.
Sportfishing closer in on the reefs is nearly non-stop action. Bonitos are everywhere on the reefs. They are so abundant that I actually have to try to avoid them sometimes to give the anglers a rest. Trolling the reef is great right now for bonito, kingfish, barracuda, wahoo and even a rare sailfish. It’s not sailfish season yet, but there are always a handful of them caught in August. Wreck fishing is particularly good this month. Black, snowy and warsaw groupers are all being caught deep dropping around the wrecks. Amberjack, almaco jacks and cobia are showing up on these same wrecks and biting good on live bait. Out in 400 ft of water, just about everywhere, gray tilefish are all over the bottom. You can catch these by dropping a multi-hook rig baited with squid and catch them 3 at a time.
There is a lot variety out there this month. This is the last great month for action before we get into our fall big game fishing season, so get out there and catch some fish. Tight lines everyone.
Capt. Bobby Diaz
New Lattitude Sportfishing
(954) 707-2147
www.newlattitude.com