Well its been a while since I've posted a trip report and an even longer while since it was bluewater related. But seeing as the weather was playing the game I decided to do a run out to Fenton and North Gutter on the last set of neaps. Didn't hit the water until after 8am with Jay Harris on his last top end fishing trip before heading back to the Gold Coast. Figured it was good tides for a bit of jigging so didn't even bother with the bait, just loaded up the gulps and knife jigs and away we went. Pretty smooth ride out to our first stop at one of the wrecks at Fenton, and had the spot to ourselves. A quick sound around and we found the fish hanging a few metres off the edge of the wreck. Down with the gulps and jig jig whack! I had hooked the first fish of the day and had my little spin outfit squealing for a bit before pulling a nice little Brassy Trevally? over the side. A quick photo and back he went. In the mean time Jay had also hooked up and was mid fight in 20 odd metres of crystal clear water. A flash of silver a long way down, then up she came leaving a trail of bubbles behind it. Being Jay's first time using the gulps he was pretty stoked when they produced on the first drop. However when he found his gulp was missing from his jig head he wasn't so sure. As he was looking for another to rig up, I was on again to another trevor. As I pulled it over the side, I noticed something funny colored in its mouth. On closer inspection it was the gulp that Jay had lost on his previous fish! We thought it was pretty crazy that I had caught the one fish out of the hundreds beneath us that just happened to have eaten his gulp. Jay then proceeded to use the same gulp and catch another 5 trevally before it finally died.

After an hour of stretching our arms on the midsized trevors, we thought we'd head wider and try to find some bigger models. I had planned to head to North Gutter where I had plenty of marks, but of course I had forgotten to bring my SD card with my blue water marks. Ah well I figured we'd just sound around for a while and see what we could find. Just short of the gutter we spotted some bird working and few schools of tuna appeared here and there. With jay still being a tuna virgin I told him to tie on a chromie and we'd see if we could chase one down. After a couple of failed attempts to get in range Jay finally fired a good cast in amongst them and was hooked up. The tuna were only small versions but still had a bit of fight about them, although quickly tired and came aboard for a photo. Another tick on Jay's list of fishing "To Do's". A couple more were boated and lost before we tired of the chase and went back to searching the bottom.

There wasn't a lot showing on the sounder and with no marks to go on we flew blind for a while. We drifted over one area where both of us were snipped off, presumably by macs but wanted to hook one and find out. Next drop Jays little reel is screaming on a solid run and the call of mac was made. After a few minutes we finally got a look at it and anticipation turned to disappointment when up came a 1.5 metre reef shark. I attempted to get the knife jig back and thought I had got it when the shark decided it didn't care that the hooks were out it was taking the jig anyways. It had sunk its teeth into the jig with both hooks clear of its mouth. I let it drift off hoping it would just let go but instead it flicked and cut the line, so goodbye to another jig. The action on the bottom was pretty slow and another couple of boats turned up but we didn't see anything landed. Although the tuna again kept us entertained as they would start busting up right next to the boat. Not having to chase them made it a lot easier!

Well it was soon time to start heading back in and I thought that was the end of the day, but I was wrong again. The most unexpected part was still to come. As we motored back towards Fenton I noticed a large floating log. Now I've heard all about how triple tail hang around such things and had seen them before but never actually caught one. I figured this would be a good chance to have a crack. I pulled up about 200 metres for the log and idled up to it. I wasn't sure what to use but I had a small chromie on and I told jay to find a shallow diver. Seems we didn't have any on board so my chromie would have to do. We got within range and I cut the motor and could see fish hanging around the structure. I fired off a tentative cast about 5 metres to the left of the log and before the lure could hit the water I noticed something skipping across the surface towards where it was about to land. No sooner did it hit the water I was on, but to what? A midsized fish of about 60cm launched itself from the water with flashes of blue down its back and a bright yellow tail. Calls of ahhhh... No idea? Maybe Kingfish because of the yellow tail? But the shape didn't seem right. After a number of jumps with some massive airtime I had it close enough to ID. Its a Dolphin Fish! Well I guess that was the last thing I expected to see?! Definitely a first for me and another opportunity for a photo. Jay is now frantically tying on a chromie while I cast again for the same result. Another feisty Mahi Mahi jumping like crazy but still somehow staying hooked all the way to the boat. I motor back around the log for another drift passed but no joy for Jay as the Dolphins were gone, but hey the triple tails were still there. A couple of lure changes and finally Jay hooks onto one. It wasn't huge and the fight didn't take long but I was finally able to say I'd at least seen one of these up close now. A few casts later and Jay has another one which was a fair bit bigger but still no match in the open water, so some more photos and it was time to go.

A bit of a bumpy ride into the harbour with the wind pushing one way and the tide the other causing a fair amount of slop, but once inside east point we were all but home. No dramas with the boat on the trailer and home just in time for the work xmas party. Was a pretty good day with a few firsts and probably a good way to end Jay's top end experience for the time being.

Cheers
Moonman

Awesome stuff... Dolly's off Darwin you don't hear of that very often...

Hi bloke great post the mahi mahi is a great catch this close to Darwin should be pretty proud of that one !!!

Hi Moonman,

Great post!
Getting some Dolphin fish is a dream of mine, they are supposed to make some spectacular jumps.
And now I know for sure that once in a while it is possible to get some around Darwin.

Great!
Did you keep any to test how they taste?

Have a good day,
Pecheur

Great to see you back into it

Top day by the sounds

Cool report mate. That dolphin looks like its still growing into its head... all eyes and mouth. Did you get the tripple tail on a soft plastic?

Pech - They taste great

Well done guys especially on the dolphin fish ....nice calm conditions not often seen at the Fentons..

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Good write up Shane!!!! We had some thing similar quite a while back with a big floating log hundreds of dolphin fish and triple tail on it we kept quite a few dolphin fish as we were told they are top eating they turned out to be real mushy let us know what you think if ya kept any to eat

How did you prep the dolphin fish Doug? Cos normally they have a very nice firm, sweet flesh that starts off a bit pinkish then goes white as cooked.. We have found if you don't kill them straight away they bash themselves around a bit and it can turn the flesh mushy. maybe that's what happened?

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Thanks Fellas. Was a good trip topped off with the Dolly's! I had heard that they were supposed to be good on the chew, but after getting them home and trying them I don't think I'd keep them again? Flesh was firm enough and looked similar to mackerel, but had that really distinct fishy flavour that is sort of over powering. The Tripletail on the other hand was awesome! I did both shallow fried in a light coating of flour with salt and pepper, so you could really taste the difference between the two.

Cheers
Moonman

what! no barra at fenton? losing your touch moony!

we use to get a poop load of dollys at the rigs. they hang around the moorings in numbers and the boat lights at night..
i wasnt a huge fan of eating it either.. but when your catching robbos, goldband and reds every day you get abit spoilt!
on the other hand prob the best strip bait we had out there! stayed on the hook way better than tuna and the skin works like a flasher! haha

Perfect little green skip baits there shane,...

fASTEST GROWING FISH IN THE OCEAN THOSE DOLPHIN FISH.......Great post and nice pic,s

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Great post and pics - thanks. Will always check floating logs now but would not have expected a dolly that close! Well done...

caught dolphin fish in gove when i used to live there.
only keept one after hearing they are good eating as well. normally just let them go as a rare catch. (here anyway)
and they are - top fish to eat.
not as good as "red" fish thou (coral trout - emperor - naniguai) but nothing is.

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