Five Tips for Catching More Peanut Dolphin

When it comes to finding pelagics relatively close to shore, peanut dolphin are the best game in town. You never know just where they’ll show up, but any time you’re in water over 60 or so feet deep and you see something floating around, there’s a chance of finding them. The only remaining question is, will you then catch them? Boost your chances, with these five tips for catching more peanut dolphin.

1. Always carry a box of squid (you can see one sitting on the cutting board, right behind the angler in this picture). Cut squid makes a great bait for dolphin, but if you slip your hook into the tip of a squid’s mantle, pull it down until the eye of the hook is inside the squid, pop the hook point out through the side, then let the whole squid free-fall in the ocean, a dolphin that spots it is almost always going to attack.
2. Pay attention to any flotsam the size of a five-gallon bucket, or larger. Smaller items, balloons, and cardboard will rarely hold fish and you shouldn’t waste time on them. Weed paddies, wood beams or logs, and pallets are prime.
3. When offering lures, keep them moving and keep them moving fast. Mahi get excited when their dinner seems to be escaping, and a fast, erratic retrieve or troll will beat slow and steady any day of the week.
4. When offering bait, if it gets rejected drop leader size. Often peanut dolphin will eat just about anything. But when they get finicky, dropping to 30-pound fluorocarbon can make a night-and-day difference.
5. When trolling, try a simple three-inch pink squid skirt. These things seem so small and plain, you wonder why a mahi would bother chasing one down – but they do, and with abandon. For whatever reason, little pink lures wiggling along trigger those fish to feed.

And always remember, where you find one peanut, there’s usually more – so get ready to load up that cooler with fresh fish dinners.