Nice dolphin! Oh, sorry... The betas call that Mahi Mahi these days.
With regard to rough seas, we chartered a boat back in the early 80s for a fishing trip out of Islamorada. Up to the day, the seas looked calm, but a storm system developed on our scheduled day. The seas were 10-12', but the fishing was unbelievable. We were all puking our guts out, but we were catching so much fish, we didn't want to turn back. I think the smallest fish caught that day was a 30 pound Amberjack. We never hooked into any billfish, but we caught some monster grouper, snapper and a few 40-50 pound Tarpon. Probably the best and worst fishing trip that I ever experienced...