Article by Capt. Franky Pettolina
Those of you that have followed my fishing exploits for any length of time know that one of my all time favorite fish to catch is the Coryphaena Hippurus. The fish so nice they named it twice. Mahi-mahi. Dorado. The Dolphinfish. Mahi are great table fare. They are acrobatic fighters. From an early age they are aggressive and eager to take a bait. Brightly colored with varying shades of green, blue, yellow and silver, they make for great photo opportunities and are also a sought-after trophy for the taxidermy enthusiasts. When they are young we call them peanuts or bailers. As they grow up a little they are given the moniker of hoister. Once they reach maturity, names like gaffer and slammer are added to the mix. Then there are the truly huge ones. Hammer is a term I hear used often these days (not sure where that one came from though). Another one that I heard on the VHF radio recently was Frankenstein. I really liked that one as it made sense. The large males, or bulls as they are called, have a distinctively squared off head, and who is the most famous block head of all time? No, not Charlie Brown. Frankenstein of course. And the monster’s skin had a green tint so it makes even more sense to put that tagline on mahi of monster proportions.
Speaking of monstrous mahi, 2019 will definitely go down in history as the summer of the super slammer. I kind of saw it coming when I was following the internet reports during the early spring season on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. My southern buddies were stacking up the gaffers. Thankfully, they didn’t catch every last one before the fish moved further up the line to the Mid-Atlantic Canyons. On my second canyon trip of the season I filled the box with gaffers. When the Canyon Kickoff Tournament rolled around a tournament record was set with a 52.4 pound bull caught aboard the “Mackenzie Rae”. Throughout the month of July there were multiple mahi over 30 lbs., 40 lbs. and even another 50 pounder was caught. Then it happened on Monday, July 29th. A new state record was caught when angler Jeff Wright aboard the “Layin’ Lines” landed a 72.8 pounder! Truly an incredible fish, but as big as it was I just had a feeling that this year was going to be different. There were just too many full grown twelve cylinder slammers around.
At the start of the White Marlin Open I told my friend, Eric “Sluggo” Blanks, that I thought the state record mahi would be toppled again with the number of boats fishing the tournament. Old Sluggo disagreed with me and as it turned out he was correct. The state record survived the onslaught of boats during the Open and the old bull didn’t run down the hill with the young bulls. He just waited a few days and fell for a lady during Captain Steve Harman’s Poor Girls Open.
Throughout the winter months when I am wishing I am fishing, my friend Howard Lynch is hunting billfish down in Costa Rica. I scan my social media anxiously every evening to see his reports, as well as those of my other friends in far away fishing paradises. Howard seldom disappoints with his daily recaps. He also knows of my love of the mahi-mahi so he includes those statistics in addition to his marlin and sailfish numbers. This past winter the mahi report sort of took on a life of its own and several other friends of ours chimed in with dolphin data from all over the tropics. There is even a Facebook page called Mahi Maniacs! But I digress. On the second day of the Poor Girls Open, my buddy Howard put a pic up on his social media and tagged me in it. I was out at dinner while this occurred so I was a bit surprised when I looked at my phone later in the evening and saw that I had several dozen Facebook notifications. Fishing was a little slow for him that day, but one of the two bites he had was one that truly mattered. The picture that I was tagged in was of Howard’s mate, Burro, sprawled out on the deck next to a mahi of Shelley-esque proportions (yup, I went there - a Frankenstein’s Monster Mahi). Howard put lady angler Kristy Frashure on a 74.5 lb. bull. Wow! A new state record was set and the fish also won the mahi category for the tournament. Really incredible. The summer of the slammer dolphin.
The quality of the mahi this summer cannot be questioned. There has been a lack of quantity though. Usually by this point in the summer, every pot marker and piece of debris offshore will be loaded up with bailer or hoister sized dolphins. This has not been the case lately. A few fish have been found in weed edges. There have also been some small mahi closer to shore in 20 fathoms or less. But again, not what we are used to seeing. I am wondering if the masses of mahi will show up in September?
Also along those lines I have another mahi question. How many of you, my loyal readers, know what a Pompano dolphin is? Not a Pompano. A Pompano dolphin. In the 80s and 90s, I used to catch them mixed in with other school sized mahi (peanuts and bailers) with regularity. I was thinking about it the other day and realized that I have not seen a Pompano dolphin in at least a decade. They have the same coloration as a standard mahi. Their shape is different though. More rounded. And they do not get as big. The All Tackle record is something like 8 lbs. As a matter of fact, that fish was caught here in Ocean City during the White Marlin Open in 2008, I think. Maybe Larry can find some clip art to attach to this column so everyone can see what the Pompano dolphin looks like (I will probably get a beating over this - my deadline was missed and I am giving Larry extra work!). If any of you have caught a Pompano dolphin lately I would love to hear about it. Feel free to hit me up with mahi stories on social media or at the docks! Love me some mahi….
Capt Franky Pettolina is Co-Captain of the charter boat, “Last Call”, owner of Pettolina Marine Surveying, Inc. and multi-term President of the Ocean City Marlin Club. If you would like to book a charter on the “Last Call”, please call 443-783-3699 or 410-251-0575.
