Southerly Movements

This past month, our program received a recapture report for a dolphinfish tagged and released on January 20th, 2026, by Southern Run off West Palm Beach, Florida. The small 16″ fish was recaptured three days later 85 miles to the south off Elliot Key, FL, by angler Bill Conover.  This event is our 10th southerly recapture recorded for our program during fall and winter months off East Florida, a movement pattern that comprises 12% of our total fall and winter recaptures (n=78).  The recapture rate for fall and winter tag deployments off East Florida is 5.1%.  For fish tagged and released during spring and summer the recapture rate is 2.1%.  The higher recapture rate for dolphinfish that occur off East Florida during fall and winter indicates that fish may linger in a higher proportion during these months than during spring and summer.  Or, the higher fall/winter recapture rate is due to the fact that more anglers are fishing in a confined area adjacent to the coast targeting other species that commonly occur close to shore during those months.

These southerly and lingering movements are important aspects of the movement dynamics for this species.  These dynamics show released dolphinfish due to conservation measures such as minimum sizes, bag, and vessel limits can stay in Florida waters and be recaptured at a larger size (fish can grow .77″ per week) and can continue to spawn in the region over short time scales.  This analysis does not include East Florida tagged dolphinfish that were recaptured after 2-3 months.  These fish are thought to move through the Bahamas back into the Florida Straits.  Our program refers to those movements as semi-annual fall dolphinfish migration movements can be examined in more detail at this page.