# What to throw at Mahi?



## NoMoSurf (Oct 2, 2007)

Last time out, I was vertical jigging with a butterly jigand got bored. So I started casting it and jigging horizontally on a whim.... And Dolphin/Mahi started chasing it. I hooked two, but never got one to the boat. On about the 5th cast, I got cut off. I'm guessing a Mackerel hit it. I never felt a thing.

Anyway, I tried tying on other color butterfly jigs, and several other lures. Rapaly X-raps, Mirrodines, etc. But nothing chased it again.

If you guys happened upon a group of schoolie Dolphin, what would you throw at them?


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## jim t (Sep 30, 2007)

A big piece of squid on a bare hook.

Jim


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## Chapman5011 (Mar 7, 2013)

I bet the old flying lure would work. It could be cast to a grass mat, and the lure would make it's way under the mat deeper and deeper, for those that remember the flying lure. I bet that would work.

I tried everything I could find in my boat this week fishing the mats that were floating out of orange beach. It was loaded with small 12 inch mahi. I tried little pieces of squid. I threw a white crappie jig with a pink jig head. I even cast way up from the boat with a bobber with squid about 6 feet down, and nothing. 
I gave up


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## NoMoSurf (Oct 2, 2007)

No grass mats where I was. As a matter of fact, we have never seen Dolphin that close to shore. We dont go far enough out to get them. So we were totally unprepared. We are not fishing the Pensacola area. We are talking about Mexico Beach. You usually have to be about 13-15 miles out to get to them. We were only 8 miles. There were no weeds, mats or any other floating matter. I guess they were just associating with the reef were were fishing.


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## Tobiwan (Apr 27, 2012)

Frozen cigs, any dead bait really. If it has to be artificial I'd throw a bucktail.


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## jim t (Sep 30, 2007)

Cool story, (a "No Shitter", for you ex-Navy and former Marines). We were off Key West when a big school of Schoolies showed up behind the anchored boat. We caught a bunch. Then we jumped in with fins, mask and a snorkel and a camera. They would allow you to get pretty close (6') as they circled the boat as long as you looked away. But as soon as you turned your head toward them they would retreat to 20 feet or so.

Jim

PS that was ALL true, except for the " We caught a bunch" part.


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## saltwater redneck (Aug 8, 2011)

my go to schoolie rig is a 2 jig speck rig white & yellow they always eat it :thumbup:


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## badonskybuccaneers (Aug 19, 2013)

Our experience has been that they would get wise to a jig quickly unless baited with a bit of cut bait. We did very well with live cigar minnows while throwing some bits of cut up bonito. We could have caught the whole school if we had more live cigars. You have to make some effort to keep them interested to stay around.


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## Bigg J (Nov 7, 2007)

I'll second the spec rig. A gotcha plug will also work. If you're into fly fishing, whip a clouser minnow out there.


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## lowprofile (Jan 6, 2013)

Tady A1, Tady 45 or just a big chunk of bonito/skipjack

poppers can be fun too and the waxwing works well.


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## reelthrill (Oct 3, 2007)

It all depends on what size they are. The big mahi grow fast and have to eat all the time, so any traditional bait such as a cigar minnow, herring, ly, will usually immediately entice a bite. If you get a school of chicken dolphin around the boat, you usually can catch a few on a pompano size jig, but then go to a bare hook with a piece of bait and no leader.


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## Florida-Lis (Mar 5, 2014)

I 2nd the above comments.

Little chickens : We use gotcha's , pompano jigs , speck rigs, cut squid bare hook.
Bulls and cows: Live bait is our go too on bare hook. Large gotcha's, cobia jig, beat up dead bait. 

Always try and leave one mahi in the water. It helps with multiple hookups. They stick together because they like sloppy seconds. When you hook them they normally tend to spit out their left overs. The other fish like to scarf it down.


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## Crimson Tide (Jul 24, 2009)

*D.o.a.*

A couple of weeks ago, we were slaying the schoolies with DOA shrimp. The only downside was that they were so aggressive that they would tear them apart after a few fish. No luck with live pinfish (probably too big) or cutbait (cigs). I've also read that the DOA's can be good for triple tail which is why I had them.


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## Realtor (Oct 1, 2007)

these are mahi killers..... just restocked... Note, I swap the factory hooks with something a little more substantial....


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## NoMoSurf (Oct 2, 2007)

That's pretty much EXACTLY what I was hooking them on. Except they had the top dangling circle hooks. When I got cut off, I tried a few other colors that I had in the box. They wanted nothing to do with them... Funny thing is, I was throwing them and jigging back to boat.


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## lobsterman (Sep 30, 2007)

F6 Yozuri Crystal minnow. Deadly


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## lowprofile (Jan 6, 2013)

Use those babies for marlin and wahoo bait.


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## Realtor (Oct 1, 2007)

NoMoSurf said:


> That's pretty much EXACTLY what I was hooking them on. Except they had the top dangling circle hooks. When I got cut off, I tried a few other colors that I had in the box. They wanted nothing to do with them... Funny thing is, I was throwing them and jigging back to boat.


 Yep, I reel them as fast as possible. I sometimes even skip them across the surface of the water. the faster, the better.... to slow and they shy away.


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## Water Spout II (Feb 26, 2009)

two jig speck rig. they will eat any color off that thing


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## lobsterman (Sep 30, 2007)

Realtor said:


> Yep, I reel them as fast as possible. I sometimes even skip them across the surface of the water. the faster, the better.... to slow and they shy away.


You sir found the magic combination. Reel like your tail is on fire. It makes them go crazy.


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## capt'n slim (Feb 8, 2008)

gotchas for small ones and yes reel like your pants are on fire. larger one any bait on a hook usually works for us


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## sniperpeeps (Mar 5, 2011)

For schoolies the best is cut squid. The key is like 12-15 lb flour and small hooks. They can be surprisingly leader shy sometimes. Pompano jigs would be my 2nd. They will usually eat anything that moves.

For big dolphin I like swim baits that I can cast a good ways or if they are right at the boat a whole squid or ballyhoo worked across the surface.


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## NoMoSurf (Oct 2, 2007)

So how in the world would you throw cut squid on a small hook any distance. I'm sure you could add weight, but we were aleady fishing with cut squid dropped under the boat and they never touched it. The school was about 50+ yards off the boat. Heavy jigs was all I could get out to them. They were not coming closer unless they were chasing a jig back.

I went to bass pro last night and bought 3 more of that color butterfly jig. haha


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## sniperpeeps (Mar 5, 2011)

NoMoSurf said:


> So how in the world would you throw cut squid on a small hook any distance. I'm sure you could add weight, but we were aleady fishing with cut squid dropped under the boat and they never touched it. The school was about 50+ yards off the boat. Heavy jigs was all I could get out to them. They were not coming closer unless they were chasing a jig back.
> 
> I went to bass pro last night and bought 3 more of that color butterfly jig. haha


Cut up several pieces of squid. Get them to your boat chasing the jig. Toss a few pieces of squid out and start feeding them. If they are hungry they will not leave your boat and you can catch as many as you want. Just let the squid sink slowly on the hook. Like I said, small leader small hooks. Sometimes they don't want squid and the pompano jig will get them. Rarely do neither of those work, usually one or the other gets it done.


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## NoMoSurf (Oct 2, 2007)

Ah, I see. This particular instance, they were not coming close enough to the boat for that. They would chase the jig and bump it until it got to about 25-30ft from the boat. Then they would peel off and be gone. You would only see them for a half a second. I couldn't even tell what they were at first. I thought they were spanish until I saw them flash yellow and green.


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## Benw86 (Aug 16, 2011)

We caught a box of schoolies on a 4/0 hook and a piece of cut bait last week no weight and about 5 ft of 30lbs floro leader. Drug a daisy chain close to the boat and they seemed to follow it around. Wound up catchin about a 10 pounder the same way.


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## stauty trout (Jul 19, 2012)

cut bait on a hook and leave the first one you catch in the water


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## lowprofile (Jan 6, 2013)

NoMoSurf said:


> Ah, I see. This particular instance, they were not coming close enough to the boat for that. They would chase the jig and bump it until it got to about 25-30ft from the boat. Then they would peel off and be gone. You would only see them for a half a second. I couldn't even tell what they were at first. I thought they were spanish until I saw them flash yellow and green.


did you have music playing or a lot of people? I've seen Yellowtail and Mahi steer clear of boats with music playing. Even out here, on one stop we were playing music, only caught tuna down deep. reset and turned off the music (album just ran out) and the Mahi were under the boat. 

change it up, you never know.


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## my3nme (Oct 9, 2007)

3" new penny gulp. Mahi crack


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## 20simmons sea skiff (Aug 20, 2010)

ive caught the tar out of them on squid, when schooling around boat


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## NoMoSurf (Oct 2, 2007)

Nope, No music. 3 people, all quiet. Sound travels ALOT better through water than air...

AS for Gulp.... So THAT is what will eat Gulp. I've tried that stuff several times and caught ZERO fish off of it. One of three things always happen for me. Either the tails get eaten off of the gubs, the legs get eaten off the peeler crabs, or nothing eats the shrimp... NOT a fan of Gulp. haha

As all the recommendations for squid, we will try that if we can ever get them close enough to the boat. We are headed back down in a couple of weeks, so we will give it a try. Bringing more jigs and more squid!!!


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