June is a good time of the year for just about everything that swims in the Gulf of Mexico, but its also probably the best time of year you can get for Dolphin. They can always be caught a the rigs while your Tuna fishing, but if you really want to fill the ice holes with these tasty fish the best way I know is to hit the rip with some Ballyhoo rigged behind Islanders and live bait. On the Poco Loco we always put two Islander/Ballyhoo rigs on the riggers and pull a couple of X-Raps up close and down deep. The X-raps will catch both Wahoo and Dolphin so make sure and have them down. If one of your rigger lines gets hit but does not come tight immediately put the reel in free spool, dropping the Ballyhoo back to the fish for 3-5 seconds and then slam the reel into strike and reel like crazy skipping the bait across the surface. If nothing jumps on it drop it back again for the same 3-5 seconds and again lock it up and reel. Don't give up. Sometimes it will take three to five times for the fish to come back after the bait, but sooner or later he will. Sometimes you will feel him pick up the bait on the drop back. If that happens go ahead and feed it to him, after he has had ample time to really get a grip on it lock up the reel and hang on!! Sometimes you'll see the fish coming after the bait as you are reeling like mad skipping the bait across th e surface. Marlins have a really bad habit of doing this. If this happens keep reeling until the fish gets right behind the bait with its mouth open, then put the reel in free spool and drop the bait in. You should feel him pick up the bait, give him a little bit of time and lock up the reel. Game on!! Something else you will want to pay attention to is which way the fish are swimming on the line. Often they will all be swimming in the same direction. If that's happening I try to pull in the opposite direction they are swimming, thus increasing the number of encounters with a fish. Another thing that needs to be done to increase the number of fish you put in the box is to have at lest one spinning rod rigged with live bait. If you pull your baits past a Dolphin and no lines go down spin the boat around and run back up the line until you see him. Throw your live bait on top of him and hang on. He won’t be able to resist the live bait!!!
Good fishing!
Capt Jerry Allen