The mahi mahi is an awesome fish! Just look at those colors. So how do you catch these fish? Read below to find out.
Trolling Reels For Mahi
Let’s start with the trolling reels. I use a Penn International 16 VS with 30lb Bullbuster mono, a Avet MXL 5.8 MC with 50 lb Bullbuster Braid. I then have one heavy spinner a Penn 7500 Spinfisher loaded with Bullbuster 50lb braid. Then I have three light spinners 40 series Quantum Cabo’s with 30 Bullbuster Braid. These rods and reels with that type of lines are perfect set ups when fishing for mahi-mahi. I then top off my trolling reels with 40 pound Bullbuster fluorocarbon the Penn spin fisher with 50 pound Bullbuster fluorocarbon. Then the three light spinning reels with 40 pound Bullbuster. I have a 23 foot bay boat so I don’t have outriggers so what I like to do is just put two trolling reels out, one with a rigged ballyhoo with a skirt and the other trolling reel with the either a feather lure or one of the swim baits like below.
Lures For Mahi
Lures
These lures can be just as good as trolled baits. These lures swim and dance in the water and attract the Mahi from everywhere. If there are Mahi around they will find these lures and hit them! I always use at least a few in different colors to see what the Mahi like that day. These lures already come Ready with their own leaders sometimes steel leader so you just have to have a snap swivel on your trolling rods ready to interchange them when you want to try a different one.
Mahi fishing takes preparation, you have to be ready and have the lures, bait, gaff and everything ready beacause when the Mahi show up its mayhem! So I have four spinners ready with various types of jigs and lures ready to go and at least one rod with just floro and a small hook for live bait… just in case they are picky. Below are my favorite Mahi jigs and lures for the spinners.
So we have our rigged ballyhoo for the trolling reels, our trolling lures or feathers for trolling reels. Two trolling reels one on each side of boat and 3 medium reels with jigs and lures ready to catch schoolies. Then one heavy spinner with big jig or just hook for live bait for big bull Mahi or big cow. Live well with 3 dozen greenbacks, and cut bait ready to throw in water to keep schoolies around. Once your out there you can start trolling from 80 feet on… the Mahi could be there. You can look for debris like tree logs floating, wood planks, floating buckets, any type of structure and you will find them swimming underneath. Look for birds diving after bait or circling in the air… the Mahi won’t be far away. They will also be swimming under or around seaweed or sargassum weed lines. You can troll around them or drift around them looking for the Mahi…just look for the rainbows! Just remember once you hook a Mahi the first one… don’t take it out of the water… leave it next to boat to see if the other schoolie Mahi follow that one in to your boat….if they do…its showtime! If you do this right you will have a feeding frenzy around your boat and you will load up on Mahi. I hope you enjoyed this article and it helps you catch more fish!
All credit goes to BullBuster. https://bullbuster.net/community/articles/how-to/how-to-catch-mahi-tackle-set-up-and-lures
