Dolphin tales
Tourists love the cute marine mammals. Fishermen? Not so much.
By David A. Brown, Times Correspondent
Published February 16, 2008
If you want to see a tourist grin, point to a dolphin.
If you want to hear a fisherman groan, point in the same direction.
Fishermen don't categorically despise the playful marine mammals, but spend enough time on North Suncoast waters and you'll come to learn that the dolphin's perpetual smile belies a calculating predator with no regard for recreational anglers.
Party crashers
In a common scenario, you launch at dawn, run to the perimeter of a quiet grass flat and gently ease toward the sweet spot. You're confident that the 30 minutes you've spent moving stealthilyinto position will pay big dividends when you reach the potholes you intend to fish.
Then you hear it - that unmistakably damp blast of a dolphin surfacing for a breath.
Muscular bodies propelled by horizontal tail flukes look like submarines surging across shallow grass flats. Twisting and turning in hot pursuit of fleet-footed prey, these relentless hunters will blast a pod of redfish, snook, trout or mullet with such force that you'll think they're using depth charges.
Occasionally, you'll spot a mother dolphin schooling her calf by catching a redfish and flipping it across the surface for the youngster to grab.
The show is unquestionably entertaining, but you can forget about fishing that spot. The dolphins can't eat all the fish on a flat. But the fish that escape will be too busy looking over their shoulders to consider bait.
Opportunistic theft
Dolphins have as much right - if not more so - to the fishing grounds as do anglers.
The problem is that these seemingly harmless creatures have figured out how to score a quick meal from their human counterparts.
From attacking hooked fish to ambushing those recently released, dolphins clearly know how to achieve maximum results with minimal effort.
Capt. Troy Sapp of Palm Harbor knows the nuisance well. "It's gotten to where you can't even fish some spots anymore because the dolphins have learned that a boat means an easy meal."
Having suffered dolphin encroachments while guiding and tournament fishing, Sapp has discovered a deterrent. Tying a 4-ounce sinker to the leader of a medium-action spinning rod, he'll cast the noisy weight a few yards from the intruder.
Intentionally casting any object at marine mammals is a big no-no, but the sharp sound of a sinker plunking close by is often enough to annoy dolphins into leaving.
"You're not trying to hit the dolphin, but their sense of hearing is so acute that the noise of that sinker hitting the water will irritate them," he said.
The other option, Sapp said, is to simply stop fishing until the dolphin loses interest and moves elsewhere. "If you keep catching and releasing fish and feeding that dolphin, he'll stay with you all day."
Don't fuel the fire
Anglers and sightseers often unwittingly perpetuate the problem by feeding dolphins. Whether it's an unwanted bycatch fish tossed out or a load of unused baitfish discarded, dolphins are eager for a free meal.
But feeding wild animals - directly or indirectly - alters their natural behavior and puts them at risk of harmful entanglements with fishing tackle.
For these reasons, feeding dolphins is illegal under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Dolphins aren't going to disappear any time soon, and that's a good thing. These amusing animals add a pleasantly ambient element to the fishing scene. The responsibility for minimizing negative encounters belongs to all who use marine resources.
To report injured or entangled marine animals, call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission toll-free at 1-888-404-3922.
A plan for prevention
In the interest of improving the relationship between humans and dolphins, a cooperative effort among the National Marine Fisheries Service, the Chicago Zoological Society, Mote Marine Laboratory and Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute yielded this set of best practices:
1. Never feed wild dolphins.
2. Reuse or share leftover bait.
3. Reel in your line if dolphins appear.
4. Change locations if dolphins show interest in bait or catch.
5. Release your catch quietly away from dolphins when and where it is possible to do so without violating any state or federal fishing regulations.
6. Check gear and terminal tackle to avoid line breaks. Fishing line and tackle left in the water presents entanglement risks.
7. Use circle hooks and corrodible hooks. The latter dissolves in seawater. The former reduces the risk of deep hooking dolphins, sea turtles, etc.
8. Stay at least 50 yards from wild dolphins.
9. Recycle fishing line. Same logic as No. 6.
10. Stash your trash. Littering is illegal, and it can be harmful to marine animals that ingest it.