Mahi mahi love a tough fight and tend to turn up when you're fishing for other species. Dean Butler explains the best tactics to capture this flamboyant but feisty fish, wherever you are.

It was one of those picture perfect days: glassy flat seas on Moreton Bay, Queensland, where ripples of the smallest kind were visible for miles.

The bait was nervous and for good reason - sailfish were on the job and biting well. We also had the good fortune to have a camera crew onboard to capture this rare combination of great weather and even better fishing.

Between sailfish hook-ups, we met up with schools of very lively, good-sized mahi mahi. That's the way it so often goes with these fish - you bump into them when you're after something else. But the encounters are usually welcome ones, because they're primo sportsfish.

STRANGE RELATIONS
With conditions so good and fish everywhere on Moreton Bay that day, it was an ideal opportunity to get a camera over the side for some underwater footage, as the mahi mahi were being brought boatside and we ended up with some great film of hooked fish and wheeling free swimmers.

But it was not until we were back in the editing room that it occurred to me why the fish the Hawaiians named mahi mahi (translated as strong, strong) are also commonly known as the dolphin fish.

You don't have to be Jacques Cousteau to realise that a mahi mahi looks about as much like a dolphin as BlueWater editor David Granville looks like Mr Universe. Given this flashy fish's neon colour repertoire, it's far easier to understand why in Central and South America it's called dorado, meaning golden in Spanish. But even a passing likeness to good old Flipper? Well, it just ain't there.

Then, while reviewing that underwater footage, I was amazed to note that the fish were making squeaking sounds that were very, very similar to the communication noises of dolphins. I admit I had never read or heard of this as the official theory of the name's origin, but it seemed to me as good a reason as any to hang the name dolphin fish on something that looks far more like, er, mahi mahi.

Over the years I have been lucky enough to see mahi mahi in many of the South Pacific's great fishing holes: PNG, Fiji, Vanuatu, Tonga and, close to home off NSW, southern Queensland and Far North Queensland. In all locales, they were a welcome catch - not only for the great sport they offered, but also for their renowned table qualities.

Mahi mahi is among the better performers to make the journey from bluewater to human tastebuds. In all, the mahi mahi is a pretty package indeed: flamboyant good looks, great table quality and a handy habit of responding well to a variety of sportsfishing tactics and tackle.

FLASH IN THE PAN
Certainly the most distinctive feature of the mahi mahi is its colouring: vivid neon blues, greens, golds, and even pinks and mauves - bright and scintillating as a Las Vegas billboard.

Colours can change in a wink of the eye and their electric blue flash is rarely missed when they light up to strike a trolled lure or bait.

Mahi mahi is also one of the few species whose sex can be easily identified by shape. As they reach the adult phase of their short life, the males - known as bull mahi mahi - develop a big, blunt head. The females, on the other hand, retain a more gently sloping, rounded head shape.

Possibly the most remarkable fact about the mahi mahi is its growth rate. Very few mahi mahi (scientific name Coryphaena Hippurus) survive beyond three years of age. Most don't even make it to 12 months.

When examined, the 1976 IGFA world record mahi mahi of 87lb was found to be only four years old.

In the early 1960s, The Miami Herald ran a story about three mahi mahi kept in a large Florida aquarium. In less than eight months, the fish had grown from between one and one and a half pounds to 32, 36 and 37lb respectively. This growth rate of almost a pound a week explains why the fish are nearly always ready and willing to take a lure or a bait. They're eating machines.

Mahi mahi are found all along the Australian east coast from midway on the NSW coast and along just about the entire west coast. They are most prolific during the warmer months, tending to hang in large schools around any sort of floating debris.

FINDING MAHI MAHI
Many big mahi mahi are caught by anglers working the deep bluewater for bigger prey like marlin and yellowfin tuna. Many times I have spotted a rampaging bull mahi mahi screaming across the water's surface, bright dorsal fanned out like an Indian warrior's head gear, sending up an eager rooster tail as it zeroes in on a lure aimed at fish 10 times its size.

Fast movers when they're in the mood to eat, they can spot a lure from 100m and, when interested, there is normally no doubt of the end result. Even if they're not in the mood - and I can remember many days when the mahi mahi were less than eager to take a bait - they can still be caught. You just have to work at it a bit harder.

Apart from incidental encounters on the troll, the best signpost to mahi mahi is any sort of floating object - logs, buoys or even dead sea creatures.

While once fishing Lord Howe Island we pulled mahi mahi to 48lb off what appeared to be a deceased giant squid. These floating objects - and they don't have to be very large - seem to provide cover for the schools. They also provide a food source as other fish are attracted, and a point of reference from which to launch broader-ranging feeding trips.

FIGHTING TACTICS
When you spot something floating, the standard approach to possible mahi mahi action is to troll a spread of different-sized lures in an arc past the object. Keep the spread long and maintain a keen eye on the lures, as any fish ready to bite will make its presence known with a crashing strike.

If the fish are not so keen, often a change to smaller offerings like Pakula Uzis, the humble Xmas tree lure, or even a trolled fly will get results.

If, after a couple of passes, the fish elect to leave their cover to check out your lures but then quickly fade off, a rethink may be needed to switch the fish on. Drifting up onto the school and dropping live baits at a variety of depths is probably the best option, but livies may not always be on hand.

Berley and baited hooks are the next best ploy - try either cubes of pilchards or fresh fish pieces. Berley used in conjunction with sweetened high-speed jigs is another way to get results, with the free feed in the water and a high-speed jigging retrieve often the bite trigger.

You can also sometimes get them cranked up by casting big bloopers around the area and working them back in a slow, erratic chugging retrieve. The sonic attraction of a big blooper will often switch on fish when all else fails.

Once a fish moves towards the slow chugger, it's best to increase speed as it zeroes in. Perhaps this is taken as the last-ditch effort of a crippled bait fish, but the accelerating mahi mahi generally won't let the lure get back to the boat.

If you have ever seen mahi mahi hunting flying fish, you don't have to use much imagination to see the potential of fast-running poppers such as big Cordell pencil poppers or the new Halco Roosta poppers.

Cast long on big bluewater spinning outfits and cranked back at a super-fast speed, the skipping, splashing and airborne presentation can drive big mahi mahi mad. My personal best was taken this way and it was a hell of a bite from a big bull as he smashed the high-speed offering in mid air.

When close to a known mahi mahi hangout like a FAD or fish trap (see breakout box for FAD information), anchoring up current and using all of the above techniques can get you a bite. This is also the way to get mahi mahi on fly. The combination of pilchard berley, hookless chugging teasers and a well-tied Lefty's Deceiver or Flashy Profile fished in a variety of depths can make for some great fishing when large numbers of fish are concentrated.

It's worth noting that a largish fish destined for the table can be a real handful once it's gaffed and pulled onboard. They can really thrash, so be very careful of free swinging double- or treble-hooked lures. If possible, the best strategy is to drop them straight in to a fishbox. Alternatively, you can jam the fish into the corner of the boat, curving its body until it settles down.

In areas where big fish are often encountered, a small, strong hook connected to a piece of dacron about a metre long can be kept on hand. Once the fish is jammed into a corner, the hook is carefully placed in the mahi mahi's mouth, then the dacron is pulled tight and wrapped around the tail so the fish forms a U shape. This strategy renders the fish helpless while the last rites are administered.

Once you've worked out the right technique to switch on the fish, it's best to try to keep some turned-on or hooked-up fish in the water to maintain the school's excitement.

Mahi mahi is a fantastic species to encounter, whether for the first time or the hundredth. But be aware that when they are whipped up they can be easily taken in large numbers. So when you have a feed, enjoy the sport and don't overdo the catch.

FADS and the NSW Fisheries FAD programme
Man-made fish aggregating devices (FADs) are widely used around South Pacific island countries. They provide a reliable food source for the locals as well as consistent harvests for domestic commercial fishing ventures.

They are basically magnets for oceanic pelagic fish species such as skipjack and yellowfin tuna, runners, wahoo, marlin and of course mahi mahi.

In their most simple form, FADs are nothing more than a float attached to a rope and anchored some way to the sea floor. From here, in often vast, featureless expanses of ocean, tiny fish life will begin to congregate and in turn attract bait fish and pelagic predators to congregate around the FAD.

On the both coasts of Australia, fish traps and CSRIO research buoys have long been favourite fishing spots for anglers chasing mahi mahi.

Over the past three years, NSW Fisheries has spent a considerable amount of money to deploy FADS up and down the NSW coast. Ultimately the aim of this program, which ends in 2005, is to determine and test appropriate FAD designs for the NSW coast and to assess their usage within the recreational fishing community.

Out of Port Stephens I have had many great sessions with mahi mahi on our local FAD and have heard many similar stories on other FADS (15 in total), which are scattered along the east coast. It's great to see our fishing licence at work on something that is improving saltwater fishing options.

In order for the FADs program to continue to develop and expand past its completion date in 2005, NSW Fisheries needs the support of the recreational fishing community. Catch returns from recreational anglers who fish any of the NSW Fisheries FADs are essential to assess the effectiveness of the program.
Logbooks are quick to complete and can be supplied to any individual angler or fishing club free of charge. Completed log sheets can be returned to NSW Fisheries via postage-paid envelopes (also supplied).

Please show your support by participating in the logbook program. To obtain a FADs logbook and learn the GPS marks for the ones deployed closest to your home port, visit www.fisheries.nsw.gov.au or contact Heath Folpp at NSW Fisheries, tel (02) 9527 8411 or email heath.folpp@fisheries.nsw.gov.au.