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Fishing Porpoises

14K views 64 replies 39 participants last post by  mocity31 
#1 ·
Cruising the open bay (E Matty), saw 3 Porpoise working over an area. Looked like a female and 2 pups had some bait hoarded up and they were doing circles around the hoarded up bait. Looked strange. Upon closer look 3 large schools of redfish were working with them. They were circling like you would see under a submerged light. Immediately hooked up with upper slot rods. Brilliantly orange colored. Got those in boat and got 1 more before they went down. Never seen that in my decades of fishing bays. Couldn't tell if the Porpoise were feeding on the reds (maybe rat reds mixed in) or both species were working same bait. Ive caught trout with Porpoise (Porpoise love trout) in the area but never reds. Winds were light that day and lots of needle fish that day. Limited on both trout and reds. Anyone ever seen that?
 
#3 ·
The reds were probably pushing bait and the dolphins moved in on the action. I've seen them do that a few times when the reds effectively push a large school of mullet off the flats.

PS: There are no porpoises here. They are found in almost every other large sea/gulf/ocean, but their are no porpoises in the Gulf of Mexico or any Texas bays. You're seeing bottlenose dolphins.
 
#5 ·
I’ve seen that 3 or 4 times. It’s amazing to watch them herd then stun their prey with their tails. I’ve never been able to tell what they had cornered but it’s something to watch.

I know that there are no porpoises in Texas waters but I have called them that all my life and still do so. Communication is about understanding and I knew exactly what the OP was talking about.
Ignorance is Bliss...These are the same folks that just can't wait to correct others for saying hot water heater
 
#4 ·
I’ve seen that 3 or 4 times. It’s amazing to watch them herd then stun their prey with their tails. I’ve never been able to tell what they had cornered but it’s something to watch.

I know that there are no porpoises in Texas waters but I have called them that all my life and still do so. Communication is about understanding and I knew exactly what the OP was talking about.
 
#11 ·
LOL. I saw the thread title and though, "Well, that guy will be having the porpoise/dolphin conversation. Truth is they went easy this time. I've seen that argument go on for pages. Just call 'em "sea-cows" next time. Everyone will still know what you're talking about, but it's fun picturing the heads exploding.


Wouldn't it be nice to get the answers to what was feeding on what there? When we flounder at night on a shelf next to a channel, the sea-cows will swim along beside us sometimes. Fish will swim off the shelf, and the sea-cows will grab them. I've seen plenty of redfish get nabbed, so I know it's a possibility. (I've also seen redfish swim up with stripes that I am sure came from sea-cow teeth.) If the redfish were herding bait, the sea-cows may have been nabbing whatever escaped them too. You can't just filet one to see what's in its stomach. :biggrin:
 
#17 ·
LOL. I saw the thread title and though, "Well, that guy will be having the porpoise/dolphin conversation. Truth is they went easy this time. I've seen that argument go on for pages. Just call 'em "sea-cows" next time. Everyone will still know what you're talking about, but it's fun picturing the heads exploding.

Wouldn't it be nice to get the answers to what was feeding on what there? When we flounder at night on a shelf next to a channel, the sea-cows will swim along beside us sometimes. Fish will swim off the shelf, and the sea-cows will grab them. I've seen plenty of redfish get nabbed, so I know it's a possibility. (I've also seen redfish swim up with stripes that I am sure came from sea-cow teeth.) If the redfish were herding bait, the sea-cows may have been nabbing whatever escaped them too. You can't just filet one to see what's in its stomach. :biggrin:
Technically a sea cow is the nickname for mantees, but I, as well as all my friends, call them porpie not because it is right, it just sounds better.

otherwise, I've seen porpie doing all sorts of things in the bays surrounding the rockport area. harassing my kids trying to string trout, but the worst was when one grabbed my stringer of trout out front of long reef bend and actually dragged me several feet before he let go of my stringer. took 4 strung trout off it in a matter of seconds. that was several years ago, the aggression has seemed to abate in the last few years, but theyre ever present; sometimes scaring away the trout, but often times not. Had one eat a trout that I had hooked, spooled me in a flash, was cool, and i'm glad I had several witnesses, because anyone not there has told me I am full of **** because they are smarter than that. my response is like people not all of them can be that smart. I am a bit leery after my F2F encounter but they are most times something to watch.
 
#14 ·
No dog in this silly fight...but funniest thing I've seen on the water is a couple of dolphins playing 'catch' with a flounder. One would surface with the flattie and chunk it about 20 feet and another would be there to grab it in mid air then he/she would sling it back to the other one. Went on for about six chunks and never a miss by either one. This was all taking place about 50 feet from my boat in East Bay… Really entertaining and I am sure they were just playing until the last throw...then that one must have gotten hungry...

(and...they have always been 'porpoises' to me too...LOL)
 
#30 ·
So your saying my boat is Dolphining not Porpoising trimmed up too high since there is no such thing in this area? How about mind your own business and let people call them what they want. Its not like they are bagging them with a limit. Who cares. You know what the heck they mean.
 
#32 ·
I'll assume you're addressing me, even tho you apparently don't know how quotes work.

When you see dolphins breaching; what they are doing is called porpoising. Just like your boat, but you go right ahead and start using dolphining.
I'll just ignore the mind your own business comment, because who the hell are you to tell anyone to mind their own business? "boat trim dolphining guy"
"Who cares" Obviously I care, and probably thousands of the people who are mislead when they hear someone confidently calling dolphins porpoises like they know what they're talking about.

I saw that OP only had like 10 posts, so I was politely correcting him. Thinking he may not know. Then people like you come out of the woodwork to defend your ignorance right out in public like it's cool to be stupid or something. Grown men proudly talking about the fact that they know they're wrong. Why would you want either: A. mislead children or anyone unaware B. sound(dumb) like you don't know what you're talking about to people who know you're wrong.

As for the mahi mahi/dolphin excuse.. That's the absolute dumbest argument I've heard on the subject. You guys really need a better excuse for your ignorance. "Don't want people to be confused, so I'll just sound like i have no idea what I'm talking about."

Wouldn't it be easier to just admit that you're wrong and try and not be wrong in the future? What do you guys have invested in being wrong about this that makes you defend it like this.

Bottom line: There are no porpoises in Texas. It's really just that simple, sorry that's so hard for some of you to grasp.
 
#31 ·
Captain Sandbar, I had the same happen to me. I had about 18" trout and he dived under boat only to be grabbed by flipper. He started taking line and I pointed rod at him and tighten drag and he broke off. Another incident, I was wading about 10 yards from boat and just put a trout on stringer. I had a dolphin surface right behind me. I took the trout back to boat put in cooler and changed underwear. Scared the hell out of me.
 
#38 ·
There is no such thing as a porpoise in gulf coast waters. You will not see any porpoise until you get around the Carolinas. What people see in the bays are gray Atlantic bottlenose dolphin they are also off shore along with spinner and spotted dolphin. A dolphin will have conical teeth (cone like) a porpoise will have spade shape teeth. A dolphin will have more of a curved dorsal fin and a porpoise will have a triangular dorsal fin.:wink:
 
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