While "running" a rip in this manner, it's almost inevitable that you will encounter a surface melee. Most often those are created by either hardtails or Spanish mackerel, but dolphin can be present around the periphery of the madness. They can be differentiated from the other predators by their yellow pectoral fins, which can be plainly visible at some distance. Cast the lure right at the dolphin and begin a fairly rapid retrieve -- and hope that a hardtail doesn't get to it first!

Spotting those yellow pectoral fins at a distance offers the best shot at catching the dolphin. Then you can make long casts to retrieve the lure past the fish. You can't do that if the fish are close to the boat -- where lots of folks tend to look for them. Jigging for dolphin under the boat isn't very effective. The exception to that rule is when a dolphin is hooked and you keep it in the water at the boat. That fish often attracts the schooling fish in close and gets them excited, thus making jigging practical.

Anytime you encounter floating debris, such as a tabletop-sized patch of Sargasso grass thickly matted along the rip, first work your lure along the length of the weeds. Even if no fish show themselves, this is a good situation for trying a natural bait. Have a rod ready to bait with a freshly thawed menhaden that's been cut into pieces the size of your little finger. Toss a half-dozen or so of the pieces to the clear side of the patch, quickly followed by another half-dozen or so. If dolphin appear, the next couple of pieces should have a hook embedded in them when tossed.

Scattered grass, particularly Sargasso, can be really aggravating. The fish can be virtually anywhere. Still, such stuff does hold dolphin, as was proven when I caught my largest ever. That fish was taken on a fly rod!

If you locate the fish, casting flies to them is actually a pretty successful method. A combo of a 10- to 12-weight outfit, a 20-pound-test leader finished with a 40-pound fluorocarbon shock tippet, and a size 2/0 to 4/0 Deceiver-type fly in chartreuse or green and yellow will be a smart option. While the rod may be a bit of overkill for the dolphin, it's not uncommon to encounter larger cobia in such a setting, and these fish will hit the same flies.

A mat of floating grass isolated from scattered vegetation is a prime piece of structure for holding dolphin. However, the fish may not be visible or susceptible to blind-casting. In that case, you want to toss your lure or bait blind; prospecting may result in naught, and a couple of handfuls of chunks may appear to go unappreciated. In this case, it's heartily recommended that you toss your lure just beyond the target, let it sink for at least 10 seconds -- longer may be better -- and then rip it back up. The same procedure also works around anything else drifting randomly across the Gulf's surface -- a 4-foot-long 1-inch-by-6-inch board produced a very nice fish that had been holding quite deep beneath it!

Without a doubt, this fish is fun to catch! But the best treat that it offers -- along with sautéed fillets and aerial acrobatics -- is the visual spectacle of its attack on the lure. Its fondness for flotsam often keeps them shallow enough for that to happen.