13 Tight Lines Bulletin - Spring 2016 Mark Prazak Dolphin - continued from pg. 1 don’t troll squid. I use a very simple, easy to make rig made with 40-pound mono leader material and a 6/0 hook, a small egg sinker and a few small red beads,” said Waller. Gene first ties on the hook using a loop knot, which helps the bait swim naturally. Then he slides on a small crimp, which he compresses lightly on the leader line, allowing him to slide it up and down the leader. Above this sliding crimp he places a small bead, then a ¼ to ½ ounce egg sinker and then another small red bead to complete the rig. The sliding crimp, weight and beads are adjusted to the proper length to match the size of the squid. Using a rigging needle, the mono leader is threaded up the inside of the squid coming out dead center on top of the bait. “With the hook inserted between the eyes and the point lightly inserted behind the squid’s squirt tube the rig is effectively made weedless. Last year there was a lot of sargassum weed, so this rig really performed great for us. It was our best dolphin year ever,” said Waller who almost always heads out Palm Beach Inlet on a 120-degree compass heading looking for a weedline or noticeable color change. “I troll on that course and if I don’t come across anything that looks good, I pick up and run to the 600-foot contour, if that doesn’t work out then I go to the 1,000-foot contour, and if that is no good we run to the 20-mile point,” added Waller. • Capt. Stan Kobeski – For Capt. Stan the old saying, “The early bird gets the worm” rings very true when it comes to dolphin fishing. He is usually headed back in when many anglers are just clearing the inlet. His boat is aptly named Weedline for a reason, he’s usually the first one to find the line and catch the dolphin! “Unless conditions are very bad, I almost always put my lines out as soon as I clear the Palm Beach Inlet sea buoy…one flat line, one downrigger line and a line in each outrigger. I also use dif- ferent color skirts on my baits, if one color is getting hit more than the others then I’ll switch themalltothatcolor. Generally,oncloudydays I’ll go with bright colors like chartreuse, and on sunny days I’ll use more muted colors like black and purple,” said Kobeski who emphasized that to be successful at catching dolphin you must constantly be looking at your fathometer and scanning the water for signs of fish, birds, bait, temperature breaks and debris. “If I get a hit or catch a fish I’ll mark that spot on my GPS and note the depth and water tem- perature. Then I’ll work that area for a while, it usually pays off.” • Gary York - Tagging dolphin has become this club member’s specialty in recent years. Of course in order to tag dolphin you have to catch them first, and Gary has gotten very proficient at that.  Here’s a few of his top tips.  “I look for the warmest water I can find.  My best fishing generally occurs the days just before or just after the full moon and new moon phases when currents are stronger.  The weedlines build up better then,” said York who sets up a drift along a productive looking line and drift fishes while chumming.  “I only troll when I can’t find any weeds.”  Gary gets a lot of peanut sized dolphin practicing this drifting technique, which is perfect for tagging, but he is quick to add that really big dolphin often lurk below the small ones.  So he sinks a bigger bait deep when he’s got the schoolies fired up.  “I also use lighter rods than most.  Not only do I get more strikes on the lighter stuff, but I lose less fish.  With heavy outfits you will sometimes lose fish near the boat if you forget to back off on the drag when the fish is close.  The lighter rods absorb more of the resistance and you don’t lose near as many fish,” said York.  Perhaps Gary’s best tip is one related to safety when heading offshore.  “Just meeting the Coast Guard’s minimum safety gear requirements is not enough.  I promote these three safety tips.  First, wear an auto-inflating life vest.  The new designs are not cumbersome.  Second, wear a personal locator beacon.  Third, use a Autotether ‘Kill Switch’, www.autotether.com.  This device is small and activates automatically when immersed in water.  When you are far offshore bad things can happen quickly.  Investing and using these three things will save your life. I don’t think anyone should head offshore without them.” • Capt. Rick Ryals – With over 50 years of bluewater fishing experience Rick knows a little something about catching dolphin. At his recent visit to the Fishing Club he emphasized the use of release clips on all lines. “Even if I was fishing out of a 17 foot Carolina Skiff I’d still make sure every bait we had out was con- nected to some sort of release clip. That momentary drop back is critical,” said Ryals who rigs his ballyhoo with circle hooks using the O-ring rig. You can see how to make this simple rig, which is ideally suited for dolphin trolling, by visiting www.fishtrack.com. • Mark Prazak – With 35 years of troll- ing experience off the Palm Beaches Mark has become one of the clubs most productive dolphin anglers, although he is reluctant to admit it. But his catches don’t lie. “Most of the time I don’t even put my trolling spread out until I’m in at least 700 feet of water,” said Prazak who generally works a zig-zag pattern in an easterly or westerly direction making sure that his path intersects one or more of the known sea mounts between Boynton and Jupiter in 1,000+ feet. “I always start on a spot that I already have in my GPS, usually a location where we’ve caught fish before. Every time we catch a fish we are logging those numbers. After time you build up a pretty good log book and those numbers reveal patterns.” Mark usually trolls six baits. Two plain ballyhoo, two lure/ballyhoo combinations and two pure lures, his favorite being the Black Bart 1656. “That lure catches everything, including blue marlin. I also use fluorocarbon leaders on all my dolphin rigs.” Other lures Mark often uses are Schneider skip baits and Black Bart Tuna Candy lures. “My best advice is to find clean water and look for birds. I don’t pay attention to the big gannets, its the little terns that are the ones that will lead you to the fish. If I can find them flying and working on a north-south line that pretty much tells me I’m in the right zone.” Black Bart 1656 lure Gene Waller's adjustable squid rig