Dolphin are very nomadic, and there is a good chance they've never encountered anglers before.

A 30-pound dolphin is only 1 year old, or so say biologists, and that is a phenomenal growth rate.  The 14-inch "chicken" dolphin so common around weedlines are said to be only 3 months old! To me, that means more fish of that size should be released. Given only a year's reprieve, the young fish will grow to 30 pounds, and a dolphin of that size is more than enough dynamite to please any angler.

Everyone knows that catching dolphin (mahi-mahi) is one of the finer moments of offshore fishing. When you're hooked up to one of these guys, you can relax and enjoy the fight. Very likely it's a calm day, and there is lots of room for battle. These nomadic wanderers love open water, but they cluster around floating pieces of debris where they can be found.

It almost goes without saying that, years ago, offshore boats carried only heavy fishing tackle. That practically made them ineligible for casting at floating weedlines and floating trees, where there might be hundreds of these fish. Instead the anglers likely trolled nearby, hoping to pick up some of the bigger dolphin. Who knows, maybe there were so many big dolphin back then, no one cared about the smaller ones! You don't see any old pictures of small dolphin, that's for sure.

Even a 6-pound dolphin will sprint 30 yards and jump in some wild fashion, sometimes landing right in the motor well.

On many days, one would be hard-put to find a bait that dolphin won't hit -- that is, if some other boat hasn't been there first, educating them. These fish are very nomadic, and there is a good chance they've never encountered anglers before.

The most reliable action on dolphin, in my experience, has been by hitting the floating weedlines of summer offshore. Off Louisiana, the prime and dependable weedlines off the mouth of the Mississippi River are a constant draw, with lots of 30-pound dolphin prowling around them. Most weedlines off the other states have schools of smaller fish. 

These weedlines accumulate sargassum and floating trash, even trees, when two currents collide. The dolphin wait underneath. Twitch a small jig or spoon past them, and they will streak in from every direction.

You'd better have the reel's drag loosened and ready to go; even a 6-pound dolphin will sprint 30 yards and jump in some wild fashion, sometimes landing right in the motor well. There, they thrash around with the hooks among gas lines and motor-control cables, items that really shouldn't be punctured offshore. For this reason, a single-hook jig is safer to use. Usually the is safely buried in the fish's lip or often in the eye -- which by nature's accident is located at the corner of the mouth. Dolphin will hit a multi-hook plug, but reaching for one of these fish while it flounces around with treble hooks is something most guides don't want to think about.

People have been hurt by these fish; never doubt that. The big marlin plastic baits with two 10/0 hooks often draw hits from big dolphin in deeper water. During one marlin tournament, and while thrashing around on deck, a 30-pound dolphin rammed the second hook into Galveston's Capt. Howard Horton, who was barefoot as usual. The more the dolphin flopped, the louder Howard yelled. They went 'round and 'round the cockpit in some kind of macabre dance, and the agony was evident on Howard's face. When the dolphin quieted down, someone produced a pair of bolt cutters on that 42-foot boat, and the heavy hook was snipped off and pulled out. It had impaled Howard on top of the foot where it joins the leg, in a tough piece of gristle. Without the bolt cutters, it would have been a long ride home. Howard was calmed down by various means, but was limping noticeably back at the dock.  

Some Mexican deck hands, who commonly catch these fish within a mile of their shores in places like Baja or Cozumel, and who realize the danger, have found a way to immobilize  dolphin in the cockpit. They shake up a bottle of beer, pop the top, and jam it into the fish's mouth. The explosion of icy carbon dioxide (and maybe the beer) paralyzes even a big fish instantly.

By August, only two months later, schools of these same dolphin will more than triple in size.  The typical school of dolphin found in August seem to average about 3 pounds. So, if anglers would only resist taking these fish in June, what a difference it would make!

I've even gone so far as to pull from the water a sheet of plywood that had a big school of these tiny and fearless dolphin around it. I drove the boat a mile or more, and then heaved the plywood back overboard. Nobody was going to wipe out that school of little fish -- not that weekend, anyway.

In the absence of real limits for dolphin, restraint by anglers can only be hoped for. There are always those anglers who specifically target fish species not protected by bag limits. Off Florida's Gulf Coast it is sea bass, grunts and sand trout that are piled high in the coolers on a good day. (No bag limits on these three species just yet.) Fish dinners, especially fresh fish, are an expensive item these days. And frozen fish is still much better than TV dinners, right? Thus the meat-fishermen. 

Biologists may argue that dolphin are the fastest-growing sport fish offshore, but that doesn't mean they can't be wiped out while schooling around a big weedline off Galveston on Saturday, for instance, so that Sunday's charterboats won't find a single fish there. The logic that these fish need no protection seems a bit misplaced. If you factor in the rough seas found off Texas so often before July arrives, perhaps it evens out. Throw in a series of calm weekends where the small boats can get offshore, however, and the dolphin are often hit hard. 

we can do is release the smaller "chicken" dolphin, those too small to offer a decent fillet on the table.  And hope they grow up into the magnificent gamefish often depicted on Guy Harvey paintings and t-shirts, a living work of art grown into collector's art. 

If you happen to catch a bigger dolphin, let no one talk you out of it. Instead, mesquite grill a big piece of fillet on the backyard grill, with Cajun spices and butter and later, fresh lime juice while on the table. 

It will make your eyes roll back in your head.  

Joe Richard is a Gainesville, Florida, writer and photographer who owns Seafavorites.com, a stock photo web site of outdoor photography.