YFT - Dolphins + Tactics
Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: Saltwater Fishing
Forum Name: The Work-Up
Forum Description: Game fishing related topics here
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=106798
Printed Date: 05 Nov 2026 at 3:24pm
Topic: YFT - Dolphins + Tactics
Posted By: [email protected]
Subject: YFT - Dolphins + Tactics
Date Posted: 18 Jan 2015 at 7:42pm
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So we have seen a major shift in the amount of YFT in our waters already this season and along with this comes the Dolphins and work ups. Most of the Dolphins/Gannets I have been following seem to be working widely spread bait schools and the Gannets are shallow Diving mostly. Dolphins and YFT seem to go hand in hand in these times so what are the strategies when you get a goopd school of Dolphins etc working an area.
Anyone with any experience with this care to share the strategies :) ------------- http://www.blackbillsportfishing.co.nz/" rel="nofollow"> 
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Replies:
Posted By: petethemeat
Date Posted: 18 Jan 2015 at 7:48pm
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According to Sam Mossman (in Serious about gamefishing), as a general rule of thumb- if the dolphins are traveling into the wind, then the tuna will be in front if them. (And vice versa). Can't comment personally, my only YFT was caught with no work up, birds or dolphins in sight.  ------------- 
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Posted By: the demon
Date Posted: 18 Jan 2015 at 8:19pm
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Behind ,Y.F.T lag just behind.Have seen it first hand blackbill. Really cool to see all the yellow fin being caught around north island .
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Posted By: Renegade
Date Posted: 18 Jan 2015 at 8:37pm
| in front Lance, I have found the Dolphin are following the YFT waiting for them to find the bait and push it to the surface. Often you will have to move away from the Dolphins to allow the bait to be pushed up. Once it's pushed up most often the first boat to the work up will hook up, the rest will struggle. could of changed tho, this is my experiences from 10 years ago. |
Posted By: kaveman
Date Posted: 18 Jan 2015 at 8:45pm
Never caught a yft from a dolphin workup EVER and we used to catch quite a few 10-20yrs ago, the jft are as Renegade says, supposedly in front of a school of dolphins but we never managed to find any -------------  www.kavemantackle.co.nz
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Posted By: Lethal
Date Posted: 18 Jan 2015 at 9:48pm
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ive caught a Mako behind the dolphins, ive pulled one yellowfin out from in front, while we fought one Y/F and the dolphines went passed saw others swim in amongst the dolphins... also pulled one out from under a Trawler, my outriggers where nearly touching its side as went passed, we had just pulled away when the Y/F hit the closest lure to it... you catch them where they are i guess... ------------- Thanks for everything you did for us Eric. may you rest in peace, You were one of the real legends of NZ recreational fishing |
Posted By: Bigfishbob
Date Posted: 18 Jan 2015 at 9:52pm
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Around the outside, normally in front, but the ones you catch are usually away from the surface action. ------------- www.waikatosportfishing.co.nz |
Posted By: Fishb8
Date Posted: 18 Jan 2015 at 9:58pm
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Wow..remembering tuna tactics. You want yft, then don't tuna marlin lures...jetheads, cedar plugs, heavy metal, cedar plugs and bibbed minnows...swimmers like hookers are When close to the action...stop boat for 5 minutes and let the heavy lures sink, then slowly start up. ------------- Be yourself; everyone else is already taken |
Posted By: seawolf
Date Posted: 18 Jan 2015 at 10:28pm
in front, around, thru, get 500meters in front then turn and troll thru em head on! two close in lures go of first then the other three lures as the fish move past! seen the bigger ones 60 to 80kg models swimming fin to flipper with the dolphins! Spend enough time doing it and some guys reckon they can tell which dolphins have tuna with them? last fin caught on my boat the lure was in between two dolphins and the tuna took it shouldering the dolphins aside!  
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Posted By: Marligator
Date Posted: 18 Jan 2015 at 11:04pm
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If you have got live jack mackerel on board, get about 200m in front of the dolphins, stop the boat and drop your liveys over on 100 lb fluorocarbon leaders and wait for the strike with the reel in gear, They just scoff them down, no need to free spool them. ------------- http://www.legasea.co.nz" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: anarchy
Date Posted: 19 Jan 2015 at 6:46am
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mate we used to pull quite a few yft from the dolphins infact 90%:of our yft came from dolphins approach them from the side quite quickly and turn to get ahead of them when 200 ish meters away. we used to then slow down until the dollies where 100m behind the boat then match there speed. yft were always sitting in front of them. use zukers tuna clones but most important one is the rapalas cd14 and 18 in mackeral and oranga gold last yft we did like that we hooked 5 at once 6th lure had weed on it. but that was the last year they were in the bay hope it helps |
Posted By: RH580ikanui
Date Posted: 19 Jan 2015 at 9:29am
I would love to come across a work up out wide with gannets and dolphins... Never happens for me  Next time it happens please PM me the coords ------------- "IKANUI" RH580 SUZUKI DF140 |
Posted By: [email protected]
Date Posted: 19 Jan 2015 at 9:38am
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Keep Listning on CH3 up there for the B.O.I . We are always sharing information on whats happening unlike many others so keep your ear out or call me up ------------- http://www.blackbillsportfishing.co.nz/" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: RH580ikanui
Date Posted: 19 Jan 2015 at 9:48am
------------- "IKANUI" RH580 SUZUKI DF140 |
BlackBill wrote:Posted By: Falco
Date Posted: 19 Jan 2015 at 6:23pm
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Apart from meatballs (sighs) all our big ones 50-70kg have come from trolled Zuker Zucchini grass skirts trolled far too close to the prop, we did get one on a small B/P Pakula out back too. Spent a lot of days early on amongst dolphins for no return but always got them ahead of them, the indicator was the high wheeling gannets, as soon as we saw them start to wheel we would make sure we got to that area to work it. Have heard plenty of old school stories about whales being worth following as they heard bait fish pushing them up with their bubbles, tuna climb all over them. Edit: All circa 2005 , glad to see them back in some better numbers this season...cool fish.Just thinking I have caught them casting stickbaits in Samoa too, they move pretty quick and again from memory the only indicator was the birds wheeling again. ------------- as dead as dead is |
Posted By: mangre 2
Date Posted: 19 Jan 2015 at 6:58pm
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only ever caught one. and we were passing in front ------------- Beautiful is better than ugly, Explicit is better than implicit, Simple is better than complex, Complex is better than complicated. http://oceanmobilemap.blogspot.co.nz/ |
Posted By: Catchelot
Date Posted: 19 Jan 2015 at 7:25pm
A wise fullah told me if you come across Pilot Whales swimming faster than normal to follow them and get ahead of them as they follow,chase and feed on YFT also.
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Posted By: mangre 2
Date Posted: 19 Jan 2015 at 7:33pm
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been a few of them around this season Al ------------- Beautiful is better than ugly, Explicit is better than implicit, Simple is better than complex, Complex is better than complicated. http://oceanmobilemap.blogspot.co.nz/ |
Posted By: Metal Float
Date Posted: 19 Jan 2015 at 7:53pm
| Have never caught or seen a YFT but heard of pilot whales absolutely smashing albies on the surface off Tauranga last week. Seems sensible that they'd also feed on YFT given the opportunity |
Posted By: Catchelot
Date Posted: 19 Jan 2015 at 8:48pm
I know bro thats why I thought it helpful to mention pilot whales
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Posted By: Catchelot
Date Posted: 19 Jan 2015 at 8:59pm
A few years back NZTurtle - Dave and I did a reconnaissance mission early December, we were sort of from memory about 170m just off the Kumera Patch and we headed NEE of there at speed...18-20knots cos there was dolphins moving faster than us and gannets chasing them also, we ran and chased to about 270m running a small Pakula Dojo on a shotgun 100-150m back...we never did get any closer but we did wonder if was fast moving YFT that they were after... and then we came back towards KP and saw a big pod of Pilot Whales, the first time I had seen them and they were moving quick... and later that week I was told to "Chase The Pilots!"
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Posted By: the demon
Date Posted: 19 Jan 2015 at 9:03pm
We were doing the nats when the earth quake hit chch the 2nd time ,came across some at the 120meter just up from the nights in front of the kumera p .They were 300 meters in front of us on a mission when a 110kg est stripy took a pacific fruit salad .You are dead right catchelot ,when the pilots are there ,they are all there .
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Posted By: TOSF
Date Posted: 19 Jan 2015 at 9:06pm
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Spent more days than I care to remember chasing and hunting yellowfin, people say yellowfin feed with dolphins but its more the other way round. If dolphins are moving in a consant direction with birds at the front of the pack then Tuna will most likely be in front and sometimes way in front. Watch for birds changing direction and also dolphins changing direction to give you hints where the tunas are feeding. Trolling lures in these situations is probelry the least effective way of targeting yellowfin and only good for a short time gain. In mexico anyone trolling lures back and forwards through dolphins and tuna would more than likely have you abused and a possible beating at the dock. Get up in front of the dolphins stop the boat turn the engines off drop live bait, jigs and cast topwater lures. Stealth approach is by far the best approach to keep the bite going on. When the tuna pass sneak back around and get in front again and do it all over again. Seen this so many times before the first boat trolls through the area gets a bite and shuts the bite for everyone else. ------------- http://www.facebook.com/TonyOrtonSportFishingOffshoreAdventures www.offshoreadventures.net http://www.legasea.co.nz" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: mangre 2
Date Posted: 19 Jan 2015 at 9:29pm
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or watch the boats change direction, from 1/2 a k away. ------------- Beautiful is better than ugly, Explicit is better than implicit, Simple is better than complex, Complex is better than complicated. http://oceanmobilemap.blogspot.co.nz/ |
Posted By: part-timer
Date Posted: 19 Jan 2015 at 10:37pm
I know Mexico and NZ are chalk and cheese... but do have you seen similar behavior in NZ water?
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Posted By: Xtoad
Date Posted: 20 Jan 2015 at 11:50am
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I treat em like a school of kahawai, don't mess about with trolling, go up beside and fire poppers at them. You don't disturb them as much and can target the front middle and back until you find them. They LOVE poppers. Alternatively if you must, troll your lures and when you hook up have someone up front chuck a lure in. I use a single large jig hook on a 5cm assist cord or stainless wire out the back of whatever popper/stickbait or lure I use. |
Posted By: mangre 2
Date Posted: 20 Jan 2015 at 12:21pm
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We used to run a stainless steel home made 8inch shoe horn shaped spinner, with a heavy weight and swivel half way up the leader, don't know if it was legal, but we wanted to get the lure deep, and troll fast. curved, with the wide part that goes, in your shoe with the hook and the skinny end with a ring crimped to the trace, used to send flashes of light for miles Caught sharks and heaps of skippys. ------------- Beautiful is better than ugly, Explicit is better than implicit, Simple is better than complex, Complex is better than complicated. http://oceanmobilemap.blogspot.co.nz/ |
Posted By: dustin
Date Posted: 20 Jan 2015 at 11:08pm
If tuna are being hassled by whales they're very likely to be more worried about being eaten than eating. Commercial fishermen in the Canary Islands and Madeira who use their boats as FADs, catching bigeye, yellowfin and skipjack with live bait/pole and line, absolutely hate pilot whales and false killers for that reason. I've heard them referred to as "pez mal" = bad fish. I'm a bit of a whale geek as I used to work with a skipper who did whale watches, but it's not a bad idea to learn how to tell between pilot whales and false killers. In my area pilot whales are often where squid is (we once picked up the carcass of a giant squid in an area where pilot whales had been hanging around, have a couple of pics if anyone's interested). False killers (Pseudorcas) tend to feed more on pelagic fish and it definitely wouldn't surprise me that some sightings of "pilot whales" taking tuna were in fact these things. Tuna and marlin are pretty high up in the pelagic food chain, but not at the top. |
Posted By: mozz
Date Posted: 21 Jan 2015 at 1:55am
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Tony's onto it. Don't troll through them and spook straight away, be a little stealth and you will be able to pull more than one fish out. I like to establish the direction they are moving on the radar (sometimes we spot them from miles away and have to pull in our gear and run) and plot every minute or 2 and you get a good idea where to set up. I have huge live bait capacity on my tender and often we will start live chumming with scoop fuels of bait at a time until I have 50-60 baits happily hiding under my boat (cubing works to) with a bunch of hooked baits at different depths. Once set up someone usually drops a jig or throws a popper..... then fingers on its game time! |
Posted By: wanabe
Date Posted: 21 Jan 2015 at 6:59am
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While in Fiji I was able to catch a few, most came from workups with dolphins and sometimes wales do not go through the school as they will sound and mostly come up 1k away so you loose the chance, go ahead with lines about 150 meters behind the boat and cut across the moving school that way the lures will be by the tuna. If the birds turn and drop back do not follow them they will be regrouping to find the tuna and fly back and you will be behind the school, motor about 400 meters up 200 meters to one side and angle ahead then drop to trawling speed set some lures and go for it |
Posted By: dustin
Date Posted: 22 Jan 2015 at 11:22pm
| Mozz, TOSF.. do dolphins in other parts of the world (like the Florida gulf stream/bahamas where you're fishing mozz) hold tuna as well as the eastern tropical pacific? Also when I was in Pinas there was a specific behaviour that the spotted dolphins (held tuna much better than spinners at least during my trip) would do just before the bite happened: like kind of lining up all abreast on the surface. They were using live goggle eyes there but I'd imagine any kind of small live bait (jack mackerel, blue mackerel, koheru etc) would be great. |
Posted By: mozz
Date Posted: 23 Jan 2015 at 1:30am
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we get them on what the locals call black porpoise a lot but more often than not just under birds. Often after a big northerly blow when all the bait is hard on the northern drop we get bigger yellowfins feeding in or on the skippys and blackfins. When that happens the whole food chain erupts with blues and wahoo getting in the mix. I fished spinner dolphin pod's a lot in Mexico and Panama with great success trolling spreader bars and marauders as well as fishing gog's. Just need to find them and thats where radar and stabilised bino's comes in very handy!
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Posted By: TOSF
Date Posted: 23 Jan 2015 at 8:44am
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In Central America spinner dolphins would be more productive for tuna, if you have birds at the front of the pack of spinners, moving in a constant direction (normally into the current) more than likely the tunas are up in front. A sure tell tale sign was the small birds a few meters ahead of the dolphins and tunas would be up in front of this. Just like work up fishing in the Hauraki gulf any one that plows a boat right into the middle is going to disrupt the feeding pattern and eventually shut it down. The problem we seem to be having in NZ is there is not as many yellowfin as people are making out, the schools seem to be spread out and a lot of single or indiviual fish caught. Most people that only troll lures would never be ready for a situation to get up in front of a pack opf dolphin, stop the engines and drop live bait or jigs and the temptation would be far to great to just keep doing what they are doing by trolling plastic and hoping which inturn would stop or slow the bite. There is a lot of signs to look for, birds in front of a pack of dolphins, direction dolphins are moving and if they are changing direction and exellerating to catch up with something and if you get up in front of the pack of dolphin and you see marks down a little deeper on the sounder. We were very lucky to fish Central America for many years and got to see some truly great tuna fishermaen in action and to learn from them and see the truley hard work and array of thecniques they use in different situations to target tuna. Trolling lures was mainly ever used when moving from one spot to another while looking tuna then thecniques would change once the fish were found. Kite fishing was also a very good techniques to target the ever shy tuna where you could get the boat away from the action and direct your bait to the area wioth out spooking tuna feeding. ------------- http://www.facebook.com/TonyOrtonSportFishingOffshoreAdventures www.offshoreadventures.net http://www.legasea.co.nz" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: mangre 2
Date Posted: 23 Jan 2015 at 9:41am
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Dead right Tony, In whakatane you just watch the direction of the boats hugging the school, usually about 30 boats, Hang of 500m and and wait till the boats change direction, then come in on the side to the school. Usua;lly hookm up 200m from the boats. ------------- Beautiful is better than ugly, Explicit is better than implicit, Simple is better than complex, Complex is better than complicated. http://oceanmobilemap.blogspot.co.nz/ |
Posted By: Johnz
Date Posted: 09 Feb 2015 at 10:34pm
Hey Dustin. I study false killers and am always super keen to hear about any sightings. They were off Tuts last Tuesday. If you hear of any sightings I would love to find out. Cheers John |
Posted By: dustin
Date Posted: 09 Feb 2015 at 10:44pm
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Sure, but I am only a visitor to this excellent site - most of my fishing is done in the atlantic. False killers aren't so common in the higher latitudes here (maybe less so in the Azores, but I haven't seen them there yet). Pilots however are pretty common although I haven't always been able to tell whether they were long finned or short finned. The only true orcas I've seen thus far, strangely enough were in Cape Verde which I understand is pretty far south of their usual distribution - my skipper went to an area offshore of one of the islands that he liked to try for yellowfin but when we got there it was spookily quiet until we saw the big dorsals. Very impressive sight. What do you think the false killers you study mainly feed on, John?
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Posted By: Johnz
Date Posted: 10 Feb 2015 at 7:34am
| Thanks for the info Dustin! False killers here feed mainly on large fish YFT, mahi mahi, hapuku, bluenose but also kingfish and kahawai when they come closer inshore. They hunt together with offshore bottlenose dolphins. It probably helps them to find food and also to avoid the orca which sometimes eat them. I suspect that at least some of the whales that get reported as pilot whales are in fact false killers. False killers are a lot more active than pilots and often breach and bowride. Pilots here also have a very pronounced white patch on the back while false killers are all black. Pilots mainly feed at night and are usually fairly chilled during the day. False killers travel fast (7-10 knots) but if you stick with them they will take you to the fish. |
Posted By: NZTurtle
Date Posted: 10 Feb 2015 at 12:40pm
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Do false killers spyhop/ stand verticle on their tails? ------------- http://www.legasea.co.nz" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: hunt&gather
Date Posted: 10 Feb 2015 at 1:11pm
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There is a video circling from the bay of Islands showing an orca hunting a pod of false killers and shows a mother and pup getting nailed from below and flung about 10m in the air breaking it's back. Bloody impressive. It was on the shimonoseki Facebook feed ------------- http://www.legasea.co.nz" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: [email protected]
Date Posted: 10 Feb 2015 at 2:20pm
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Thanks for the info on False Killers JOHNZ that is most interesting ! ! ------------- http://www.blackbillsportfishing.co.nz/" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: Lethal
Date Posted: 10 Feb 2015 at 2:56pm
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http://www.fishing.net.nz/asp_forums/orcas-on-the-hunt-new-photos_topic107334.html%20" rel="nofollow - http://www.fishing.net.nz/asp_forums/orcas-on-the-hunt-new-photos_topic107334.html ive added some new pics to it as more come to life about the Dolphin's, also some info on False Killer whales, yes these mammals do target Yellow fin and seam quite able to catch them... ------------- Thanks for everything you did for us Eric. may you rest in peace, You were one of the real legends of NZ recreational fishing |
Posted By: Johnz
Date Posted: 11 Feb 2015 at 3:59pm
Yes they will spyhop. Not as frequently as pilots though. They also stand on their tails and will often leap right out and land with a massive splash. They also raise their head more than pilots when they surface. |
Posted By: Johnz
Date Posted: 11 Feb 2015 at 4:03pm
Thanks Lethal! I will post some photos when I'm back on my computer. Have you seen any false killers yet this season? |
Posted By: Smuggler
Date Posted: 11 Feb 2015 at 8:11pm
We ran into a pod of False killer whales a couple of seasons ago out of Whangaroa. There would of been about a dozen of them in a very tight group orientated vertically with their tails in the air. We weren't sure what we were seeing at first so went in closer for a look. Got about 50 or so metres away and had a triple strike of stripies. Dropped one early, hook pulled on another after 20 min close to boat, landed the other one. Suspect they we're feeding on bait that marlin were rounding up. Either that or they are a bloody great FAD 
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Posted By: Lethal
Date Posted: 11 Feb 2015 at 11:35pm
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they may also might have been having a sleep, just guessing with that, but from what Graig Worthington has said about how Pilot whales behave i wouldn't discount that thought... welcome aboard Smuggler, great first post as well, great spotting... ------------- Thanks for everything you did for us Eric. may you rest in peace, You were one of the real legends of NZ recreational fishing |
Posted By: Johnz
Date Posted: 12 Feb 2015 at 8:40pm
Very interesting, thanks for posting! I've not seen them do that. However, when they are all close together and not moving very much they usually share their prey. I've seen them share big kingies just inside of Stevenson's Island. I think you're right that they were going for the same bait as the marlin. |
Posted By: roddholder
Date Posted: 13 Feb 2015 at 10:51am
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when chasing y/f remember they travel into the wind when feeding. and look for the gannets, they will show you where the bait is and how deep. keep your lures in real close to the boat, two lures in the first pressure wave. y/f will often come in from out front, to the side of your boat, i have seen one come in from about 50m out and target the lure from about a 45deg angle. green and yellow lures always worked best for me, i still have a yo-zuri 5in lure that has caught about 30 fish its rigged with a single vmc round point hook. ------------- she was only a fishermans daughter, but she reeled at the sight of my rod!. |