Mahi on an 8 wt.

[Capt. Ahab]

Last trip of the summer for me before i head off to school friday. A friend's dad keeps an offshore boat at Pirates Cove and invited me down this weekend to do some marlin fishing. I brought a fly rod to fish the pier and jetty. I hadn't even thought about using it offshore until Captain tells me his boat caught some mahi on the fly down in the Bahamas. I got really excited at the thought of landing a mahi on the fly. Saturday blew 30 kts. all day, no fishing. Sunday it layed down enough to get out. We had one big blue marlin come into the spread, take some line, and spit the hook. A little later we hooked and released a small white marlin. We were beginning to talk about heading in when a fish hits the long bait. My brother is hooked into a nice dolphin and has it about 15 yards from the boat when we see other fish around it. In a frenzy, i rigged the rod and began to cast. I was so excited my hands were shaking as i tied on a large pink over white clouser. Captain told me to just troll the line, but being a bit of a purist, i had to give it a roll cast to make it "official." I saw the strike as it happened, and set the hook hard because i knew he'd jump. The fish took me way into my backing, and i was beginning to see spool. Then the other fish was landed, and the captain could focus on backing down on my fish. 20 minutes later the fish was gaffed and in the cooler! I was really impressed with the fight in a dolphin. I really had to put a ton of pressure on him just to turn him to the boat. I was using a TFO TiCr X 8 weight matched to a Okuma integrity 8/9 with a Sci Anglers intermediate and 20 lb. tippet.
the strike

a jump

closing in

mine!

[catch my drift]

Very nice my man..


how heavy?

[flies only]

sweet bro, that is one of my favorites to get on fly.. strong and a jumper. congrats. gonna be ishing for them and bfts for the next 5 days.....

[flydunn]

Dolphin on the fly - GOOD STUFF! 8wt at that... nice job.

[mike cozzens]

Very Nice!

Mike

[BAY DOG]

Enjoyed your reports this summer! Hope you picked a school somewhere near saltwater - TonyH

[TimeFlies]

I tried my luck last Friday, but we only caught 7-8 False Abecore's trolling - no chance at the fly rod. Nice job.