Downrigging for Dollies

After a fantastic session on the dollies at Broken Bay FAD a week ago, Fitz and I decided to try for more of the same action on Friday. A bit concerned at the forecast cool water, and no current:

So we decided to head south this time, to FADs 23 and 24. These are both double FADs so we would have four shots at finding a place where the mahi were holding. Also, FAD 24 is the eastern most one off Sydney, anchored in 130 metres. We figured the further out we went, the clearer the water:

First stop, the Obelisk bait grounds (bottom green circle.) The last time we were here at dawn the yellowtail came to the surface in a brown carpet. But on Friday, it was dead as a doornail. Eight boats trying, and not a lot of bait coming aboard. Greg confirms it was the same story at Botany Bay:

Thankfully, a friendly fisho phoned up and told us that the Balmoral Island bait grounds were firing (top green circle.) We headed over there and quickly put 20 in the tank. The forecast 5 -7 knot westerly had turned into a 12-15 knot westerly by the time we got to Bondi. My boat doesn’t have a deep vee (not needed because I only fish on good weather days, and can go mid-week):

So I wasn’t relishing the 13 mile bash to FAD 24. Luckily,the wind and chop started to back off so we decided to go to FAD 23, at the southern end of the famous Peak reef. Much closer. Despite no current, and the water being a murky colour, they were there:

We started to fill the big Dometic with small 60 – 70cm mahi. Lots of fun on light gear, but we wanted some larger models:

So, off to Fad 24. Started out downrigging live baits, because we find that getting the bait down deep increases the chance of hooking up larger models:

But that wasn’t happening on Friday. We kept catching just legals. Nice to see good mate Greg Stevenson out there in his brand new TABS:

We ran out of live bait pretty quickly. Pilchard cubes and lures didn’t work (for us.) I put some nice Drummoyne Bait garfish on Head Starts then ran out one of our spreader bars (no hook) on the downrigger with the garfish set 10 metres behind the spreader. Trolling at 5 knots, note red squids in the wake:

That produced a few more keepers:

Wind backed off around lunch and we came home at 20-25 knots. Great day on the water. Greg scored a mixed bag:

Fitz prepped his for the table, like the pro he is:

Out again chasing them next week and still looking for those one metre plus models. Confident that will happen but thinking I’ll have to head north to increase our chances. Will keep you updated when and if that happens! Thanks for reading
Andrew Hestelow

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