Dolphin taking a livie

[kc]

Did not think this ever happened but I was at the reef last week on a glass calm day and watched a big dolphin swim around a live fusalier I had out for a mack before ever so carefully pulling it off the hooks, clean as a whistle and all with 20 feet of the boat. I have had them look before and even swin upside down underneath billfish baits but have never heard of them actually taking a bait. Amazing to watch as it clearly sized up where the hooks were placed and pulled the bait free. Worth losing a good mackrel bait for the experience and wondered if anyone else has ever had it happen.

KC

[MEG-A-BITE]

Hi KC,
I have seen this before once I had the same thing happen to me. At first did not think it was a Dolphin as the bait was just being removed from the hooks. But then saw the Dolphin taking the live slimy off the trace. They so cleaver.

[Si]

yeah seen it quite a few times, especially around the beacons. they are smart enough to see hooks and stuff which is a good thing i guess.

[marto78]

Have had it happen a couple of times while fishing livies on the bottom, the line would go slack as it headed back up past the front of the boat then the dolphin would surface before we even had a chance to wind up the slack. They usually just hang around waiting for all the undersized fish to be thrown back.

I did see a young dolphin get hooked a few years ago at Amity Pt, it took a livie a guy had out on his old alvey surf combo and it took off into the night doing about a half dozen back flips before breacking the line. I guess he hadn't perfected the art of bait stealing yet :P

[kc]

Interesting to hear it was not a "one off". Also likewise glad it did not hook up but it was amazing to watch how carefully it looked at the bait and made sure to avoid the hooks, which included a free swinging treble stinger.

KC

[snapperbasher]

Funny Marto78 I actually hooked one at amity off the jetty a few years ago... i was skipping gar across the surface for Longtails just on dark and a dirty big dolphin came up behind it so i tried to wind like hell to get it out of there but he smashed it and got hooked. i stuck my hand straight on the spool and broke it off.

They come in there at night and chase the pike. He probably thought it was a pike......

[BLOOEY]

Yep, had one try to steal a live mack tuna being slow trolled with 2 trebbles and a big single at the front. He couldn't pull it off the big single at the front, but you could see his teeth marks on the tuna perfectly between all hooks! Ben

[MudRiverDan]

ha very interesting stories, I never knew they did that.

[kc]

& here i was thinking I was "Special"...obviously happens a fair bit but I had never seen or heard about it. Amazing to watch the one that I had and feel it must do it a bit out at the reef the way it went about it.
Just another reason that it is better on the water and interacting with the environment than sitting in a classroom or in front of computer become an "expert".
KC

[randell]

A dolphin took a live mullet in the Tweed Rv while jew fishing, 40lb line.
My mate said he just headed towards the mouth of the river at lightning speed...
Must have been hooked, hope the hook rusted away.................
One reason to use just steel hooks
randell

[skipalong]

Had them pinch 1.5/2kg snapper this year at the side of the boat, best thing to do is move !! never seem them so bad.

[deckie]

Eons ago we had a long and lumpy trip back up from Wollongong to Syd after a point score day and were having a beer sitting on the deck looking back when a whole bunch of flying fish came out about 10-20m back..followed by dolphins jumping out after them. Was really late maybe 1hr b4 dark and had a couple of flat lines with little xmas tree bait lures out for frigate mackeral. We were luvving the carnage and cheering on the flying fish and obviously no need to worry about the bait lines but then WHACK... SNAP. One of them just snapped like a shotgun. Figured a stray yellowfin or something but we always wondered if we came across the dumbest dolphin in the ocean.
Never seen a dolphin do anything like what u saw mate...you got lucky seeing something like that. He must've been peckish or maybe just playing. You see some magical things out there.

[hellfish]

Yeah also had it happen. Took a while to work out what was goin on, Fishin for jew in the Tweed and kept getting these short fast runs that would result in bare hooks every time ya strike. No matter what size and positon of hooks in the livie we couldnt hook whatever it was. Until it happened andi struck and felt i still had the bait so cranked it back in to inspect and as it skipped across the surface as i was about to lift it into the boat a cheeky bastard dolphin came from right under the boat grabed it, and headed off on another run. i didnt strike cause i didnt want to hook him so he stoped and swam back to the boat so i wound up the slack line and he took off again. so i struck and pulled in the bare hooks. He knew that was gonna happen. Another free meal the smart arse.

[kc]

What an interesting thread. Makes me wonder if this is becoming a "learned" activity being passed down. "My" dolphin was a really big one, so assumming it has a few years up and knew what it was doing. It will be interesting to see if this becomes more widespread, particularly in areas where dolphins are stareting to associate man with a free feed (Tangalooms, Monkey Mia, Rainbow Beach etc). Really nice part about being a "fisho" is we get to see things like this. Some of the Whale encounters I have had in the last 2 years have been amazing as well.

KC

[Slider]

Think that dolphins learned that there was a free feed around fishing boats a long time ago Kc. They would teach their offspring that this is the case. Sharks have also been attracted to fishing boats for decades and it wouldn't surprise me if this is becoming an instinctive thing.
Dolphins would hear a livey or hooked fish from some distance as well and sharks would feel the erratic vibrations through their lateral line.

[Camhawk88]

I havent had one steal a livie but about 6 months ago I was out over some shoal areas near the reef off Townsville and we had one hang around us for about 5 hours- which is highly unusual. He was a big one too so probably well experienced. He was around the boat and would follow the fish up but never take them. He knew that these crazy creatures in the big white floating thing would only keep some fish. So whenever we chucked an undersize back we would watch him chase it around under the boat and once caught he would bring it to the surface, stick his head out to say thanks and scoff it. This went on all day.
We even had a 6-7ft Hammer head come round the boat looking for a free feed but the dolphin didnt want him cutting in on his game so we watched amazed as it chased the shark away. It is the first time I have fished that area without loosing a heap of fish to sharks and I put it down to our dolphin escort.
Amazing creatures, these are the sorts of things about fishing the blue water that stick with me even more so that a good day on the trout or macks.

[kc]

No doubt about the sharks learning. It is most apparent in Weipa around the tuna schools. Quite amazing. I fish their every year (for the last 9) and it has become more and more obviuos. If you sit, in a small boat, with the motor running, anywhere near a tuna school or bait ball, 3 or 4 big Bull sharks park under the boat and just wait till you bring a wore out fish into the boat and then, game on. Makes for some good video and these are BIG sharks. We have taken, in the last 2 seasons, to turning the motor off as soon as we are in range and our landed fish to sharked fish ration has gone up form 10 to 1 to 50/50. Clearly it is the motor noise of a small engine they are associating with the food...pavlovs dogs? As to the dolphins, the amazing part of my encounter last week was watching how carefully it eyed off the livie and made sure to avoid the hooks. Just gotta love being a fisho!

KC

[therapy]

Had a dolphin try to take this hooked tuna during the fight whilst fishing north of Rooneys last year. Made for interesting viewing as the tuna tried to get away with the dolphin in hot pursuit.

[BLOOEY]

Yeah those dolphins can be viscious buggers!;)

[Tim_N]

Very cool! Had a cheeky bugger come up beside the boat, and I mean beside like 3 or 4 feet away, and come 3 parts out of the water and scare the crap out of us. This was while we were on a Snapper bite and we were tossong back the just unders and things had gone quite for a while. No wonder with this bloke around. I think he came up, scared the sh!t out of us and say, "hey, where is afternoon tea?"
We thought he was gone as the Snapper started to come back on the bite and when I threw a just under one back, it flapped on the sufrace briefly before being smashed my Mr Dolpin again. He hung around on the surface around the boat so he didn't frighten the Snapper downstairs and had a nice feed before coming back, saying "thanks guys, see you next time" and left us be.
Quite an unreal experience, got some of it on my phone video.
Also, very cool.
See you next month KC.
Tim