Circus Act

Scott Hamilton Circus Act

Capt. Scott Hamilton

Scott Hamilton Mahi Circus

The Singletons’ weather was marginal for the four days that we fished, with the seas being a sloppy three to four foot, but with little going on inshore, we buckled down and headed offshore anyhow.

The first day was spent warming up on runners and other assorted little stuff, Scott Singleton managed a twelve pound dolphin on his eight weight the second day, but the third day was where things got crazy.

I managed to get a few albies coming up on dead glass minnows, fish in the six to eight pound range. Both of the Singleton’s were holding their eight weights, and I figured the eights would be fine on that size albie.

I gave Lanette Singleton the go ahead, she dropped a cast in and sure enough, a twelve pounder came in from nowhere and pounds her fly. Just as the albie goes off on it’s run, here come two dolphin in the twenty pound plus range.

I told Scott to lose the eight and grab a big rod. Well, Scott just drops the eight on the deck, line still stripped off of it and gets his twelve weight.

He makes a nice cast right in front of the larger dolphin, only to have another big albie pick the fly off right from under the chin of the dolphin.

So, I grab the only other big rod, a ten weight, and get a hook into the first big dolphin. I hand the dolphin rod over to Scott and take the albie on the twelve weight off his hands.

Now, that albie has headed to the front of the boat, taking me with it. Scott has followed the dolphin to the back of the boat where Lanette is fighting her albie.

The chum is all in the back of the boat where I can’t get to it, and the second dolphin is still swimming around the boat!

I figure I better do something about this or he’ll be leaving, and looking down, there’s the eight weight laying on the deck ready to cast. In a fit of temporary insanity, I pick it up one handed and make a cast at the second dolphin.

Sure enough, I get a hook stuck in the fish and it goes off on a running, leaping sprint. For those of you not keeping count, this is now four fly rods, four fish, and three sets of hands doing the work.

Lord I wish I had someone there in another boat filming this circus.

Anyhow, in an effort to keep up with the dolphin that is just putting on a spectacular jumping show, I put the twelve weight in my mouth (along with all the glass minnow scales I had covered it with).

The albie on it, up until that point, was being somewhat passive. Of course, when I brought my teeth into play, it decides it’s time to do a scorching run well into the two hundred yard range.

I’m doing my best to stay focused on the dolphin, but my teeth being pulled out of my head is making this difficult.

Anyhow, my dolphin jumps off right about this time, and about twenty seconds later, something eats the albie, (shark), whole.

We can now get back to the other end of the boat with the Singletons, remember the Singletons?

Scott has done a fine job of keeping his dolphin fairly close, and Lanette is just putting the finishing touches on her albie.

We get the albie in the boat and released, and just as I turn my attention to Scott’s dolphin, well, here comes another dolphin about the same size.

Another round of frantic activity ensues as I try to chum this new player into the mood to eat a fly, but he’s having none of it.

More than likely, it’s the dolphin I jumped off.

Anyhow, I spend enough time messing with this fish before I give up on it, that when it comes time to land Scott’s dolphin, as I’m trying to lead it into a net, the hook basically falls out and he swims off.

I straighten up and look at the other two and we all just burst into hysterical laughter.

It would have been nice to get the dolphin, but that would have just been frosting on a very tasty cake.

I must have made some kind of impression on the Singletons though, (I’m not sure what kind of impression I could have made other than being some kind of nut) because they extended an invitation to join them in the Bahamas for a few days. Which I took them up on and it turned out to be a great trip with stories for another story.

Capt Jason Sullivan
Capt. Scott Hamilton

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