For many local anglers, this has been the worst year for catching dolphin that they can remember.
And fisheries scientist Don Hammond has the data to back up their claims.
Hammond is the founder and director of Cooperative Science Services, LLC, in Charleston, S.C., which runs the Dolphinfish Research Program (dolphintagging.com). The program issues tags to anglers and keeps track of how many dolphin were tagged and where. Recovered tags have provided insight into where dolphin travel and how quickly they grow.
"I am 50 percent below the worst year in the tagging program's history," Hammond said. "As of the end of July, we have had fewer than 350 fish tagged. The worst year prior to this had over 700 fish tagged. Typically we have 1,000 to 1,500 fish tagged by this time of year."
Hammond noted that some people say anglers could simply be tagging fewer fish, but he's had apologies from "some very dedicated taggers" for not being able to tag more fish.
Joe Kessling of Davie said the dolphin fishing has been so poor, he hasn't even been able to use all the tags that Hammond sent him earlier this year.
He is one of many South Florida dolphin diehards who are disappointed with the fishing this year, especially over the past few months, when catching dolphin has historically been pretty reliable.
"I've resorted to bottom fishing this summer because I'm tired of getting skunked," said Kessling, adding that he's had days when he trolled for eight hours and never had a hit. "I'd have been happy if I got a swing and a miss."
"It's unbelievable how bad it's been and every week you say they'll show up next week and they don't show up," said Capt. Bouncer Smith of Miami Beach, who has tagged numerous dolphin for Hammond over the past several years. "And yet every once in a while, someone catches some nice ones."
Kessling said he thought about trailering his boat to the Keys, where he has friends with homes where he can stay for free.
His friends told him "don't waste your time."
"It has been overall one of the worst years I've ever seen," said Richard Stanczyk of Bud N' Mary's Marina in Islamorada, who did say that several fish 10-30 pounds have been caught this week. "Let's hope it's a cycle."
Even floating debris, which holds schools of bait that attract dolphin, has been surprisingly unproductive.
"We've found logs, we've found trees, we've found pallets, all with more bait than you can imagine and no dolphin," Kessling said.
Kessling said he had one good day this year, on June 11, when he caught several dolphin over 20 pounds, including a 32-pounder.
Another day, he had the heaviest total weight for three dolphin in a local tournament with just 21 pounds.
"Mother Ocean is sick," said Kessling, who grew up in Key West. "I've been out there all my life. There's something that's not right."
Hammond said there are a few possible explanations. One thing his tagging program has shown is that dolphin use a vast area of the Atlantic Ocean.
"They can be in the Atlantic where we don't know what they're doing," Hammond said. "It could be a change in the circulatory pattern and these fish didn't show up close and next year will be fabulous. I kind of doubt it.
"The pessimistic side, and this is what concerns me, you could be seeing the latent effect of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill."
Hammond said a University of Miami study has shown the toxic effect of crude oil on newly hatched dolphin. Female dolphin release their eggs year-round, so dolphin born in the Gulf could be killed by any lingering oil.
"It's not quite time to panic yet," Hammond said. "We've got to see what's going to happen next year. I've been studying dolphin for 15 years and no two years have been identical as far as abundance and distribution. Next year, if we don't have a good run of fish, that's the time to look at the problem."
