Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'dollies'.
Found 15 results
-
Went for a trip over the weekend to the private fads off from Sydney harbour. I have been avoiding the public fads because of the divers that are usually there and the high number of boaters that congregate around them. we caught livies around middle head, which have also been super small, but I don’t mind this. We caught around 25 between the three of us. Only issue was that majority of the dollies around right now seem to be quite small, most being 60-65 cm compared to February where we were averaging 75-90 cm fish. At least they fit into the esky easily… the hot bite died off around 8:30 AM but we switched private fads and kept on catching till about 12 pm. They were not taking dead baits after 9 AM but were still taking trolled lures, poppers. Water temp was 27.3 degrees, the warmest I have ever seen it.. there were hundreds of them everywhere. Even when we drifted far away from the fads we still found massive schools that seemed to follow the boat. Really interesting how many there are when you’re out wide. Came back to check the pots and had some blue swimmers waiting for us. I have uploaded a vid feel free to watch it https://youtube.com/@99FishingWorld
- 9 replies
-
- 14
-
-
- dollies
- blueswimmers
- (and 2 more)
-
Went out with a plan to look for kingies outside Botany Bay . Got a dozen yakkers and headed outside to troll on the way and picked up a couple of Bonnie’s . I asked the boys what they wanted and the youngest had just got his license so he was keen to learn how to navigate with plotter . So I punch in 1st fad and he headed off . We didn’t pick up anything on the troll but when we got there there were free jumping there so we hooked up a yakka and he was on after 10 sec . The oldest and I started with lures as only had 11 left . They were hungry for Lucien’s as usual but finicky with any thing else . Very tough getting the lures and baits down with the sooties in plague numbers and diving deep . We hooked 3 . We ended up with 5 legals and only 4 not . That’s the first time the first fad has given me a feed since they have been put there . It was a great day with the boys
-
Hi Raiders, Headed out to the close Fad a couple days ago before work with my brother. Got to boat ramp at 4 am. And headed get some lives near balmoral. Took a while to get the yakka going but eventually got 5 yakka. This was the first time targeting mahi mahi sp we were both full of excitement and anticipation. Also we both had never caught a fish off a livie, so we were hoping to tick off a few things off the bucket list. At the crack of dawn we headed out past the heads on route to the FAD. Once we were were a couple hundred meters away from the FAD, we threw to skirts out and trolled the rest of the way. Almost instantly got a hook up and we were on to our first ever dollies, as my brother was winding in the other line to clear it out of the way, that line hooked up to a dollie as well so we had a double hookup of dollies. Bring both to the boat and not them but they were both undersized at about 50cm. After that we did some drifts past the FAD with cubed Pillies and live yakka. Almost instantly the live yakka gets a hit , and the line starts peeling off, I strike and set the hooks. Not long after a just legal dollie comes up which was kept for a feed. From then onwards the dollies were swarming everywhere and anything we threw out was getting hit. But they were all well undersized. Ran out of livies pretty quickly but the bite continued with pilchards. Back inside the harbour at about 9am. Ended up with 2 legal fish and had a great time. Also could I get a fish ID on the second pic, it was caught on pilchard piece when catching yakka. Was about 30cm in length and we caught a couple of them Thanks
-
Hey Raiders, It was my first time putting the boat in the water since moving down to Gerringong 6 weeks ago. My mate drove down Friday night for an early start in the morning. Our plan was to hit the Kiama Fad then chase either kings or snapper on the way back in. I received a message off another mate saying the fad doesn’t fish that well, but we decided to stick to our original plan. We launched and Gerringong at 5:45am to see only two trailers in the car park. We found some bait not too far from the boat ramp. The yakkas were thick in numbers! We had about 10-12 so decided to call it and head out to the fad. The wind and swell made it a bit of a lumpy and bumpy trip out, be we arrived smack on 7am. Only about 4 other boats out there at this stage. We put out a few livies and threw stickbaits on the first few drifts. The stick baits only caught the smaller speciemens ranging from 50-60cm. Great fun on light gear, especially when they get aerial. However the livies did the trick on the bigger models. My mate caught his fist ever Dollie going 66cm that went in the esky and about 4-5 others, all released. I managed a keeper, my biggest going 77cm and about 3-4 rats. The wind was picking up and we were down to our last two livies so we decided to to one last run. About 100m past the fad, I start losing line quickly. I saw this one come out of the water and it was the biggest of the day... I tightened up the drag a little as it was heading towards another boat after some solid runs! After a 10minute fight, a failed gaff shot, a failed tail grab we netted her!! She went 102cm and went into the esky for a feed. My mate stil had his last Yakka and we did two more drifts for nothing. Decided to head in to a spot at the back of Rangoon island for some kings. We threw plastics and jigs for some rock species them my mates livie got hammered! He had two really solid runs and he couldn’t stop it and it ended busting him off on the reef. We called it for a good king, even though we didn’t get a look at it. The wind started to get up so we called it quits and headed back into the ramp to clean the fish. Pulled the boat out at 11:30am. Dinner was sorted for our family, my friends family and the neighbours for last night and tonight!! Absolutely loving the south coast! Tight lines, Stu.
-
Hi all, I went out Friday morning with the aim of catching my first dolphinfish as I’ve heard there are a few around the Fad at the moment. I’ve never been to the fad before and as I have a 460 Coastrunner I wanted to follow some mates out in a bigger boat. Unfortunately they pulled the pin at the 11th hour, but the conditions looked perfect and the morning of we decided to head out. We picked up some live squid of the way out of the hacking, only managed 2 lollipops. We found a heap of yakkas but they weren’t taking the sabiki jigs. So we decided to head out with 2 squid and flick plastics if all else fails. Well to say I was impressed with how the boat travelled out and back was an understatement! We got out to the port hacking fad in about 35mins, I thought it would have been longer. Had the two squid out and they both got hit in the first 10mins! A double hook up, not to massive bulls, but they put on a good display. Our very first dollies!! One went 68cm and the other 64cm, so in the esky they went for a feed. With no more livies I turned to throwing a stickbait, I had one follow in about 20mins. Then my mate was jigging hooked a rope (must have been an old anchor line or something as it was 60m down. While he fought that back for his jig (and won) I hooked a Dollie on stickbait on my 4000 reel. Great fun on light gear and was just on 60cm so I returned it to the deep blue. After about another 30mins we called it quits and headed home. Trolled a few skirts on the way back just in case but nothing. All up it was a ripping day on the water and it’s always good when a plan comes together!! Most pics are on my camera but I’ll put up what’s on my phone. Cheers, Stu
-
Got out there yesterday with another Raider. High speed trolled at 15 knots to the 12 Mile for nothing. Put the whole spread out at the 12 Mile, water temp around 21.5. We got a couple of small Dollie hook-ups near the 12 Mile but dropped them, they looked really small anyway, but there were plenty jumping around. Trolled our way to Heatons from there, along the shelf we found a trap and got one 70cm Dollie around it, we saw others jumping around it but they all looked pretty small so we kept heading wide, plus we couldn’t find the trap again anyway . We got Stripy and Dollie hook-ups along the way out. Around 10NM from Heatons we landed a nice Bull in 21. Happy with that we started trolling back with just big lures out hoping for something big, but got nothing else. Seemed to get more fishy the wider we went, more birds, more current and more hook-ups out wider. Blue lure chain with pillies inside got every hook-up except for the Bull which was on a 12 inch purple lure with stripy and pillies inside. Our red and black lures with squid inside didn’t get hit once this time out, maybe the predator’s menu items are changing with the colder water. Lures: http://www.scentblazer.com/Products/tabid/292/ProdID/962/CatID/128/Purple_Frigate__Medium_Pusher_Head.aspx http://www.scentblazer.com/Products/tabid/292/ProdID/1254/CatID/196/Lure_Chain_Sardine__Bullet_Head.aspx Good luck to anyone heading out on the w/end. Peter
-
Hi All After 5 years of fishing the harbour, and getting the boat out past the heads several times, i think I have enough confidence and know how to move to the next step. I will shortly install an VHF Radio and aquire an Epirb, and other needed equipment to go past the 2 mile zone. Since it would be the first time, my question is where is the closest reef to the sydney heads where I could go on my first mission.
-
Seas beautiful last weekend, flattest and smoothest with the light westerly I've seen in ages. The Mrs decided she wanted to head out with myself and my mate, perfect chance for her as she gets a bit green when there's swell. Put in at Shellharbour and made the dash out to Kiama FAD. Zero bird activity on way but quick trip due to lack of swell. Had it to ourselves when we got there, 4 or 5 metre long Dollies lit up and circling the FAD we thought happy days here. Well the next half hour incredibly frustrating- was cursing I didn't grab any livies. We tried plastics, jigs, trolling, every lure in the box with no success. Started cubing a Stripey up, Dollies ignored the bait but dozens of rat Kings came out of nowhere and literally were feeding at the back of boat. Put a hook in a cube it was left alone... got some Go Pro footage of them pigging out will put up later. Still cursing the decision not to stop for livies we headed in closer and hit the usual drifts. Managed a few Snapper, Trevally, Mowies, Red Rock Cod and Grinners between us but had to keep moving as the dreaded Jackets were everywhere. Probably had only 10 minutes each spot before they showed and there were hundreds. Kept a couple for the kids to eat, when cut head off and throw overboard dozens of others would just chew the head until they were out of visibility. Water so clear we decided a quick snorkel near Harbour on way back in and got our limit of Abalone. Visibility best have had in months. That afternoon made a French Fisherman stew- mixed in all the fish types and Abalone and add fresh fish stock, tomotoes, veg, herb and saffron. Sensational dish if you've never made it and very easy too. Mrs very happy with me- I have earned a pass to go again this weekend- happy wife- happy fishing life! Cheers
-
Headed out of sydney harbour first thing this morning in the poly in search of a feed of Dollies. After getting a full daisy chain of slimeys we made our way out and werent disappointed. first cast dredog is on to a rat dollie on the silly string while i hook up to a bull on a livey. fearing some boat driving was needed i was happy when dredog popped his fish and helped me land my pb dollie. all the better in my little boat. It went 125cm and 25lb. it was full off baby jackets when we did the autopsy. Dredog managed another sydney first for us, a nice rainbow runner which complemented the bag of about 6 dollies plus many more released. no luck on the Marlin front, but dollies aplenty. we both went home with plenty of feeds. still need to buy a gaff. tight lines
-
We went offshore Sydney for our mandatory game fish session. Finally a day that wasn’t that rough, maybe because we actually went out a bit earlier before the wind picked up. We caught 8 Dolphin Fish and 1 Yellowtail Kingfish. We high speed trolled to the Whale Fad going about 12-15 knots from Sydney Heads. We got to the Whale Fad at around 11am which had about 6 boats sitting on it throwing lures and baits, couldn't see anyone catching anything, so we trolled straight passed it and went to Manly Hydraulics. That also had about 6 boats around it as well, we trolled past it and got a nice kingie, we didn't see anyone get a hook-up around there, so we decided to just head NE even though we got a fish, we wanted toget away from the other boats. Water had a bit of a greenish tinge, not quite blue, around 22.5 degrees on our NE heading towards the shelf. We started getting dollies just inside the Bait Station. We managed to get some underwater footage of the strikes. We lost a bigger Dolphin Fish that looked like it would have gone 3-4 foot long about 15 metres behind the boat. Also interestingly we hooked a couple of dollies including the biggest one trolling at only 3 knots. We also got a hook up on a sinking lure when we were pulling in another Dolphin Fish. We used a couple 6 inch lure chains, a six inch red/black lure, a 9 inch purple lure and 12 inch pink mackerel coloured lure. We had various baits inside the lure, pilchards, slimeymackerel and tuna. After we got a few dollies we swapped all the lures out to bigger 12 inch lures looking for a marlin or a much bigger Dorado, but no such luck. We also got some Kite-Pro footage and pics, another one of our Go-Pro experiments. Basically we attach a Go Pro onto a kite. We clip the kite to one of our jigging rods and let it fly up,you have to do it heading into the wind for the kite to work properly. Got some good shots, it also helps us work out how far back we need to set our shot gun lures so they are swimming in clear water. From that aerial shot that’s about 10-12 boats lengths for us, which is about 80 metres back. It’s good to get a lure out there in the clear, wash-less water. Often fish like Yellowfin Tuna, Stripped Tuna and even Dolphin Fish are a bit gun shy of the boat and will only hit the lures that are a long way back. The Plug: If you want try Scent Blazer lures and products go to www.scentblazer.com. We also sell other Game Fishing and Fishing accessories, Replacement Skirts, Lure Bags, Hooks, Rigging Sleeves, Teasers, Bait Chambers, etc. Happy fishing, and if you see us out there in our Caribbean 26 give us a yell on channel 22, our call sign is Happy Hooker II. Peter Nice little Yellowtail Kingfish. Scent Blazer Trolling Lures we used. Kingfish on 6" Trolling Lure. Dolphin Fish on camera after a hook-up. Little Dolphin Fish caught on trolling lure chain. Nice Dolphin Fish around 80cm. This little Dolphin Fish took a sinking trolling lure, the boat was stopped when it took the lure. Aerial Go Pro shot, the prop wash on our boat goes back about 10 to 12 boat lengths so we know to set our shot gun lure about 80 metres back to get it into the clear water. Go Pro attached to kite photo. Scent Blazer Store items. -
Decided late in the morning on Saturday to make the most of the weather so called up the boys, setup the boat and trolled from Sydney to Palm Beach and back. Put the spread out as soon as we hit 80 fathoms. Water was blue, 22 degrees and bait balls were everywhere between 10 and 40 fathoms. Had only been on the troll for 20mins when the shotgun started screaming - was so loud it woke up one of the boys who was out cold after an entire night out prawning. After a good 5min fight and a last minute dart under the boat we landed a nice 70cm stripey tuna. Continued up the coast for the next couple of hours for zeros and then at about 4pm - bang - the dollies came on. Were so thick we couldn't get a few hundred metres down the coast without hooking up - at one stage we had a triple hook up which made things interesting with only three on the boat and 5 lines and 2 teasers out the back - thank god for autopilot. Finished up the arvo having landed 9 dollies, ranging from 50 - 65cm, 3 stripey tuna, ranging from 50 - 70cm, and a number more fought and dropped. Kept one tuna and a couple of dollies for feed and sent the rest back to fight another day. Hopefully this wind starts to die down so we can get out there this weekend and chase some beakies.
-
Hi Guys Arrived at Botany boat ramp 5am OMG could not believe the boats lined up. Anyway short report, Stop 12mile caught a leather jackets and some of those that chew through your line, I hate that Stop Fad 19 lots of undersize Dollies great fun trolled a few miles towards shore no hook ups Stop Maroubra wide many drifts working our way in towards the 25m depth, few flathead and JACKETS. Then my first keeper king for the season Trolled back to the bay hook ups on some Mac tuna great fun overall great day with my mates Dogbox
-
Went out early yesterday to Kiama FAD. Lovely warm seas, hardly any swell or wind. Only got one decent King out there, lots of rats, ended up getting it on a pilly. Decided do a troll in, nothing about. Dragged some lures around rocks for more rats before heading to favourite flatty drift. Within half hour had a dozen good size blue spots. Dolly rats started following them up, had some fun on them before heading in. Shows you don't need to go far to get on the Dollys, I went all the way to FAD and saw none, then ended up catching them in 20m water on sand. Lots of baitfish about, should be a good couple of weeks coming up. Here's a pic of the smallest Dolly you will ever see, 20cm if that:
-
1st trolling session of 2014, Kingies, Dollies, Marlin Strike – Sydney Offshore Hey Raiders, Happy New Year. First game fishing session of 2014, 3-1-2014 and we're off to good start. We arrived at Sydney Heads around 3pm and as you might have guessed by now we don't get up early, we sleep in and fish afternoons. Water was a little choppy and only a small swell. Nice blue water around 22 degrees was only about half a mile out, so we put our lures in. Our spread consisted of four 6 inch Scent Blazer Nano Lure chains and one larger 10 inch purple lure for a marlin or something that’s interested in a bigger lure. The lures chains have been working really well, they look like small bait fish schools and get the fish biting, so why change. We trolled north east towards the Whale FAD, when we got there, there were 2 boats casting lures around it so we kept a wide berth and just kept trolling NE. About 30 minutes later about half a mile from Manly Hydraulics we hooked up on nice Kingie, which went around 15-18lb. Kept trolling around the area and kept picking up kingies, all different sizes, 6lb, 4lb, 2lb and one small Dolphin Fish as well. It went quiet for a little while before a sprinkler (Stripped Marlin) showed up behind of the one lure chains, we hooked up and it peeled about 200 metres of line off before settling down. Only 2 of us on-board so I left the rod in the holder and I cleared the gear to get ready to back down on it, by the time gear was cleared unfortunately it had thrown the hook, still its bloody exciting. Just a tip, even if you are trying to target big fish I would always run a small lure somewhere in your spread. In the last few weeks every fish we kept had its stomach full of pilchards and small slimey mackerel, I am guessing the Marlin would be feeding on those baits at times as well. Quite often Marlin will take the smallest lure in the spread. Think about it, if you are hungry you going eat a big meal if you are not you will have a snack. You don’t know what each fish out there has just eaten, it could be full or famished. We kept trolling a little while longer around the area then started trolling back towards Sydney Heads, we got 2 small dolphin fish on the way back. One was hooked only about 1 mile from Sydney Heads. Have a successful 2014 of fishing and if you would like to try Scent Blazer Lures for yourself you can get a 5 lure rigged pack which is ideal for Dolphin Fish and Small Marlin for only $99.99. Happy hook ups for 2014 Raiders! Peter Scent Blazer Lures Leaving Sydney Harbour for afternoon trolling session. Trolling lures we used. We’ve been running Scent Blazer trolling lure chains with great success. They look like a small school of bait fish and the pelagic fish have been striking them like crazy. Put pilchards inside the stinger lure of the trolling lure chain to make the stinger the most appetising of the 3 lures in the chain. Nice Yellowtail kingfish for the first fish of the day. Another nice kingie. Kingie caught on Scent Blazer trolling lure chain. Even the really small kingies couldn’t resist our Scent Blazer lures. Caught a couple of Dolphin Fish during our trolling session as well, only small but still fun to hook.
-
1st trolling session of 2014, Kingies, Dollies, Marlin Strike – Sydney Offshore Hey Raiders, Happy New Year. First game fishing session of 2014, 3-1-2014 and we're off to good start. Arrived at Sydney Heads around 3pm and as you might have guessed by now we don't get up early, we sleep in and fish the afternoons. Water was a little choppy and only a small swell. Nice blue water around 22 degrees was only about half a mile out, so we put our lures straight in. Our spread consisted of four 6 inch Scent Blazer Nano Lure chains and one larger 10 inch purple lure for a marlin or something that’s interested in a bigger lure. The lures chains have been working really well, they look like small bait fish schools and get the fish biting, so why change. We headed north east towards the Whale FAD, when we got there, there were 2 boats casting lures around it so we kept a wide berth and just kept trolling NE. About 30 minutes later about half a mile from Manly Hydraulics we hooked up on nice Kingie, which went around 15-18lb. Kept trolling around the area and kept picking up kingies, all different sizes, 6lb, 4lb, 2lb and one small Dolphin Fish as well. It went quiet for a little while before a sprinkler (Stripped Marlin) showed up behind of the one lure chains, we hooked up and it peeled about 200 metres of line off before settling down. Only 2 of us on-board so I left the rod in the holder and I cleared the gear to get ready to back down on it, by the time gear was cleared unfortunately it had thrown the hook, still its bloody exciting. Just a tip, even if you trying to target big fish I would always run a small lure somewhere in your spread. In the last few weeks every fish we kept had it's stomach full of pilchards and small slimey mackerel, I am guessing the Marlin would be feeding on those baits at times as well. Quite often Marlin will take the smallest lure in the spread. Think about it, if you are hungry you going eat a big meal if you are not you will have a snack. You don’t know what the fish out have been eating, they could be full or famished. We kept trolling a little while longer and started trolling back towards Sydney Heads, we got 2 small dolphin fish on the way back. One was hooked only about 1 mile from Sydney Heads. Have a successful 2014 of fishing and if you would like to try Scent Blazer Lures for yourself you can get a 5 lure rigged pack which is ideal for Dolphin Fish and Small Marlin for only $99.99. Happyhook ups for 2014 Raiders! Peter Scent Blazer Lures Leaving Sydney Harbour for a afternoon trolling session. Lures we used. We’ve been running Scent Blazer trolling lure chains with great success. They look like a small school of bait fish, the pelagic having been striking them like crazy. Put pilchards inside the stinger lure of the trolling lure chain to make the stinger the most appetising of the 3 lures in the chain. Nice Yellowtail kingfish for the first fish of the day. Another nice kingie. Kingie caught on Scent Blazer trolling lure chain. Even the really small kingies couldn’t resist our Scent Blazer lures. Caught a couple of Dolphin Fish during our trolling session as well, only small but they always fun to catch.
