Go Big or Go Home

Try live-baiting with oversize offerings such as Spanish mackerel or lobster. It's not as crazy as it sounds.

- George Poveromo

The worn adage "elephants eat peabig sometimes consume small baits. But is that an exception that proves the rule? Big fish have insatiable appetites, hence their inclination to hunt for one or two satisfying meals versus expending energy herding tiny prey. In the offshore world, some prime examples include blue marlin keying in on mahi and tuna, big mahi cannibalizing smaller mahi, and wahoo gorging on tuna.

UNLEASH THE HORSES

Large and horse ballyhoo, popular for blue marlin, have long been my go-to baits when seeking big mahi on the troll. Whereas school mahi readily devour small and medium-size offerings, oversize ballyhoo are generally too big for them to eat. The more soak time these big ballyhoo receive, the better the chances of hooking a larger mahi. I've caught mahi up to 43 pounds via this tactic, along with numerous 20- and 30-pounders. One of the largest mahi I've ever seen attacked a splashing mackerel I had out for blue marlin off Walker's Cay in the Bahamas. Unfortunately, the hook pulled after one amazing jump.

Recently, I've been trolling more small and medium ballyhoo for mahi, mainly to generate action for my television series. However, I keep a couple of pitch-bait outfits and large ballyhoo on standby. Should a gaffer mahi appear, a horse ballyhoo goes into play. The larger bait should deter smaller mahi and hordes of bar jacks long enough to score the big fish.

Such a scenario repeated itself this past October off Marathon in the Florida Keys. Erica Lynn and I raised a large school of mahi from under a weed patch. The hookups came as quickly as our ballyhoo chunks hit the water. A couple of larger mahi soon appeared. Despite precise casting, schoolies rapidly intercepted our small baits. It took a large ballyhoo on a spin outfit to catch both fish.

FIRE DOWN BELOW