The Mahi Mahi Were Jumping!

We got a late start on this overcast day, and headed out to the VV FAD (Fish Aggregation Device) near Keauhou. We checked out what the other boats were fishing there, but it turned out to only be small aku or skipjack tuna,Katsuwonus pelamis, not to our liking. From there we headed out to C buoy, trolling with 4 rods as we went.

Three miles offshore of Kealakekua Bay (where the famous Captain Cook met his maker) we came across a nice pod of short-finned pilot whales, Globicephala macrorhynchus, heading in the opposite direction. This was not unusual, as we often see dolphins, beaked whales, pilot whales and more in this area. On this day, however, we knew the BBC was filming on the Big Island about oceanic whitetip sharks, Carcharhinus longimanus, which often accompany pilot whales, so we called our contact, marine photographer Doug Perrine, to identify the whales' location. No word yet if we actually aided the BBC effort.

We continued south and had no luck trolling. Then the ocean, which had been a bit rough, suddenly went flat, like glass. For a while we didn't see any boats around us, but after we passed C buoy, we spotted several fishing boats ahead of us. We knew something was going on there. As we approached, we started to see pantropical spotted dolphins, Stenella attenuata, leaping high up in the air. It was a large pod of dolphins, and they were head slapping, tail slapping, mothers and calves alike, putting on a real show. They were excited, it seemed, about the school of bait fish right below! Just then, a humongous yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares, popped out of the water, right in front of us! If we were going to catch anything today, this was the spot!

Masa, who usually has a good sense of how to position the boat for fishing, tried a maneuver. He went to position us in front of the dolphin pod, as spotted dolphins and yellowfin tuna often travel and hunt together, and that would put the tuna heading in our direction. The move didn't work, though, and the pod went the other way. The dolphins were moving with the bait fish, and apparently those bait fish were avoiding all fishing boats, dolphins and tuna down below.

The direction of the pod was very unpredictable. Although we weren't quite in the right spot, Masa dropped a jig down deep hoping for a mega-bite from a huge yellowfin tuna. However, as the jig decended, the pod of dolphins moved farther away from us, and we quickly understood there would be no chance for a tuna. We tried several times to predict the direction of the school, but we finally got tired and drifted away from them. The pod of dolphins was now way off in the distance, and as Masa reeled in his jig from the deep, he spotted something following it. Then we saw them - about 7 or 8 mahi mahi, Coryphaena hippurus, trying to bite Masa's jig under the boat!

Mahi mahi, as you probably know, are great eating and popular in all the restaurants. They're also known as dorado or dolphinfish. The latter name has fallen out of favor in restaurants, as people (in the West anyway) are not eager to eat anything called "dolphin." Mahi mahi (the Hawaiian name) are fish, and have no connection to dolphins, except for their high leaps in the air.

As Masa had been using a huge jig for monster yellowfin tunas, he switched to a much smaller one for mahi mahi. As he cranked his reel, a mahi hit his lure. Yes, fish on! Hana Pa`a! Unfortunately, immediately after the hook-up, the mahi shook his head hard and got away. Other mahis hit the lure a few times, but they didn't get hooked up for some reason. Soon they started losing interest in jigs.

Masa started throwing real bait into the water and got out every rod he had in the boat - about 10 or 12, and put on an assortment of lures. The mahi mahi kept circling, but no bites. After a while, Masa threw out a hook with some bait and caught a hagi (a spotted triggerfish; a junkfish for fishing). He kept it on the line as a decoy to keep the mahi mahi interested. He then got out his new chum box full of last week's fish guts. Masa keeps the previous catch frozen for just this purpose, and he tossed it in. Unfortunately, the knot untied and Masa's brand new ChumPro box slipped into the blue. See ya, $29.99!

After about 2 hours of watching the mahi mahi swim races around the boat, we finally hooked one on a baited line! It leapt out of the water about 10 times, and got as high as 8 ft out of the water. Several times it jumped up and landed on its side with a big slap! When we got it in, it was over 3 ft long and about 15-20 lbs, a beautiful yellowish-green with blue speckles. Masa was so happy, as we'd been out all day. About an hour later, we caught another by jigging.

After we reeled in the second one, all the mahi mahi disappeared, like they'd suddenly got the idea we didn't have their best interests at heart. Masa released the poor hagi (he was ok!) and phoned his wife to tell her we were heading home. Then just as we got underway, all the mahi mahi came back for one more lap around the boat. Oh well, we'll see them next time!

On the way back, we passed VV buoy again, the one we started at this morning. There were two guys out there fishing from their jet skis, with their coolers of beer on the back. It was like Easy Rider out there, three miles into the ocea.