Dolphinfish Video

It was Christmas day and I changed my mind. Instead of fly fishing for bonefish and permit on the flats, I decided to fly fish the blue water. We found the only captain here in the French West Indies that practices catch and release and decided to go with him. My 9′ ultra sinking line and 9′ #12 floating are ready, I’ve tied some half eaten baitfish flies and some popper flies. Before we could even fish, we had to travel 3 hours by boat to reach the first DCP artificial alimentary chain in the middle of nowhere, 30 miles off-shore. The ocean swells were between 6 and 8 feet high and I’m surprised how well the 21 foot boat handled in these conditions. We arrived on the first DCP and made a first drift. The wind was blowing strong. Almost immediately a school of dolphinfish came close to the boat. First cast and I had on my first fish. The dolphinfish was about 10 pounds and fought very hard. It made many nice runs and jumped several times and tore off plenty of backing. When I finally got back all of my backing and fly line the fish saw the boat and wen for yet another blistering run. I was in heaven as my reel was screaming. For the second time, I brought the fish close to the boat and she started sounded. Again, the fishing took some backing. I finally got her on the side of the boat, and we were preparing to land the fish with the boga grip but she spit the hook without taking the time for a picture. We made several more drifts but nothing happened for me. We decided to move to another DCP. I made drift, and just like before, a school came of dolphinfish came by and I hooked one on the first cast. But this one was, bigger. Much bigger! The fish made a dazzling 218 yard run, jumping with every chance. I fought the fish hard as she made 3 more awesome runs. When she came close to the boat she sounded and took me 54 yards into the backing. I used a little more strength and finally managed to land her. These dolphinfish are a beautiful fish. I will always remember this fish as it was my first one and it weighed 16 pounds. We were back in harbor at night, rinsed, washed and salty but happy. Really happy. Blue water fly fishing was worth the 30 mile bumpy trip off-shore.