dolphin tagging
Summer means dolphin fishing and the Don Hammond of the Dolphinfish Research Program, Charleston South Carolina offers this current offshore report and an invitation for anglers to help out and win valuable merchandise.
Anglers who tag five or more dolphin and captains whose vessel tags 10 or more dolphin in one year will receive a program T-shirt. Anglers reporting a tag recovery also receive a T-shirt.
At the end of each year awards are presented to the boats and individuals tagging the most fish. Six Shimano TLD reels on Star Standup rods will be given to the top taggers in each division Runners-up in each category will receive a gift package from Costa Del Mar, which will include the winner’s choice of a pair of their world-famous. To sign up, and for more details go to dolphintagging.com.
Here’s what Hammond has to say about this season:
The dolphin fishing from Key West to Cape Hatteras is in high gear. If you want to catch dolphin in the South Atlantic Bight, now is the time to be fishing. The really trophy bulls, 50 pounds and up, appear to be scarce, but the abundance of fish 20 to 30 pounds is more than making up for it. In the few marina visits that I have made to collect data in South Carolina I have only seen two dolphin less than 30 inches brought to the dock. Out of roughly 300 landed, that’s not bad. South Carolina anglers report that they are catching smaller fish. They just throw them back.
There is just one problem in the South Atlantic Bight. Frequent high winds are preventing boats from leaving ports on many days, especially weekends. It has been common for the rough weather to last for up to three and four days, killing well-laid plans for putting dolphin in the freezer. Fishermen say that they have to stay ready to go, so that when that good day comes, they can take advantage of it.
