The postcard was from Miami, Florida. If memory serves me correctly, this was taken in the 1920s. In the photo, a man in a full-brimmed hat and button-down shirt stands on the dock next to the scales. In his left hand is a rod and reel, which appears to be a Finn-Nore or some other top-shelf offshore reel of that era. His right hand is touching the catch hanging next to him. This pose is an old-time Florida classic. There have been thousands of nearly identical photographs and postcards over the decades, but this one always stuck with me. What you would expect to see on this fisherman’s shore is a giant tarpon, goliath grouper, amberjack or hammerhead. Instead, the catch is a giant porpoise.
I’ve spent a lot of time scouring the Internet looking for the shot, and for the life of me, I can’t remember exactly where I first saw it, though I believe it came across my desk at work several years ago. Saltwater players. You can still find ancient photos of well-dressed Florida fishermen on the Internet Posing with a trophy porpoiseBut they all appear to be holding spears. The Miami postcard was the only postcard I saw that showed the marine mammal being caught on a rod and reel. It was a jarring image, because anyone who spends time saltwater fishing knows two things: porpoises and dolphins are very abundant, but eating one hooked never happens… or almost never happens. Why not?
1. Picky eaters
recently, Daytona Beach News-Journal ran a story Covering the interactions between porpoises and fishermen. Several charter captains are interviewed in this piece, with the author questioning whether they have ever stranded dolphins. All but one said ‘no’—and I’ll get to that conclusion in a moment. But what has always baffled fishermen is how dolphins and porpoises are so adept at No Become addicted. It is almost unnatural, as they are sometimes so bold as to grab the fish you are fighting, but they do it so surgically that they miss the tip of the hook. Meanwhile, as soon as you release your grip, the dolphins will snatch it away in the blink of an eye.
I saw the jungle’s famous freshwater pink dolphins firsthand in the Amazon years ago. They followed our boat all day, circling wildly when we connected with peacock bass, and although they charged at the struggling fish, they never touched it while it was on the line. Releasing the little peacocks became somewhat of a game, where we would cheer on the peacocks that managed to get back to the cover of the shoreline before they became the pink dolphin’s lunch. So, how do these animals know which fish have hooks and which do not?
2. Brain Games
Dolphins and whales are equipped with echolocation abilities. This means that they send sound waves and interpret the echoes that bounce off objects and return back to them. This is how they navigate and avoid boats and predators. I’ve heard a theory that this built-in sonar is so strong and accurate that it will ping the metal hook, alerting the dolphin not to scream. according to StoryMost fishermen simply assume that dolphins and porpoises are extremely smart and are able to differentiate between the movements of hooked live prey and unhooked live prey. Captain Jeff Patterson, featured in this article, believes that dolphins have so incredible vision that they can see through his fishing line. Captain Billy Pettigrew told the story of dolphins swarming his boat during a nighttime snook trip. If he did not feed them the small fish, they would become angry. From the story:
“If I wasn’t feeding them, they would run away from the dock light and scare everything away,” he says. “They knew how to tell me to feed them. And they’re more adventurous at night. They’ll sit five feet away from my boat all night.”
3. Kiss your spool goodbye
I never liked dolphins. As a little kid, I was totally into shark coloring books. Whales and dolphins? No, thanks. Later, as I spent more time saltwater fishing, I learned to mentally despise dolphins – you see what from a distance look like plucking tuna or stripers, zip up, and it’s just a bunch of bottles. The number of times I’ve had to turn down a solid meal because of a flock of porpoises approaching is innumerable. I’ve certainly never experienced the smell of any of my baits, but remember I said one of the captains featured in that story felt the drag of the flipper on the end of his line? He was Captain Cody Moore of New Smyrna Outfitter. And this happened to him twice.
“Offshore, I had a naked big ballyhoo,” says Moore. “He cast about 600 yards and broke the spool in about 10 seconds. In the lagoon, I ate a pigfish and did the same on a spinning rod.”
Read further: Charter captain says sharks are out of control and they are losing more fish to ‘taxmen’
I guess these types of things happen more than we think, we just don’t hear about every incident. But I hope this never happens to me. I would love to know the specifics of the catch documented in that old Miami postcard, because I don’t believe there is any modern reel that can successfully hook (let alone land) an adult porpoise, so how was this accomplished with the gear they had in the early 1900s? However, keep this in mind: marine mammals are highly protected. Don’t mess with them. If one screws up your live pinfish, cut the line. Then when you get back to the dock, buy a lottery ticket.
