Luringbream Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 (edited) Hey all, i've been getting into a few dollies over the last couple of days at the close fad at botany. Upon arrival on wednesday there was another boat already there and he was tossing flys around and hooked up so it had me excited. First troll of the fad sees a dollie jumping at the back of the boat and then within seconds my 4lb outfit goes off and he fell to a Zoom Tiny Flukes in the baby bass colour..He was around 60cm and it was a good start to the day. From here on in the dollies were loving the Tiny Flukes and i boated fish after fish. The guys with the flys were boating 1-2 fish per drift and the boat with the pillies(i think they were pillies) were boating one or two fish every drift. I also had a pillie and a strip out and it didnt get touched. So it was clear the Zoom 3" Tiny Fluke softplastics were outfishing everything else. While i was at it i wanted to try a popper as i've never caught anything on a popper before and second cast had me onto a nice dollie. I noticed alot of people there were using heavy gear, i even saw one guy using a game rod. All my fish were caught on a 2-4kg bream outfit with 4lb fireline and 12lb leader and alot of the smaller dollies were being skull dragged to the boat on this light gear. I had my bag within the first hour and caught around 30-35 fish before another 2-3 boats arrived and they just switched off. Mind you, there was a diver there the whole time i was there and the fishing was great, i really didnt have any problems with him being there, i think it was the reckless driving of boats driving over the schools that sent the fish down. By this time it was 8am and the fish sat much deeper so i switched to a larger jig head still with a Tiny Fluke and managed to boat a couple more. For the next 2 hours things were real slow, i boated one every half hour and boats kept on coming and going so i wrapped it up at 10:30. This is wednesdays haul; There were alot of small fish in the pack, a few were around the kilo mark, and many were aroud 45-70cm I went back out this morning and on the first drift i boated a small dollie. I saw a dollie leap a few meters away from the fad so i went around and drifted over its path. This drift (the current was really pushing today) saw me boat 7 dollies in consecutive casts and there was another boat out there by this time which stopped right on there heads. I think that was enough to spook the fish for the whole day!! I stayed there another hour for zilch so i called it quits and was home by 10am. I can't imagine what the fads will be like this weekend, and if your heading out get there early as i found the fish switched off around 730-8. Still there are plenty of fish to be had after this, but they just seem to slow down with all the boat traffic. All fish both days were caught on 3" Zoom Tiny Flukes on a 3gram jighead and i only went through 8-9 lures for all the fish. DAN Edited April 19, 2007 by Luringbream Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACZ Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 (edited) nice HAUL mate....kept a few didn u!! Edited April 19, 2007 by Flightmanager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildfish Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 good to hear mate, i was planning to have a crack with the zooms this weekend so thats reasuring! good work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaybee Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 Hey Dan, the boat traffic definately spooks them especially when someone comes roaring in to the fad at a hundred mile an hour while you're drift quietly catching fish. Hopefully the dollies will stick around for another month ah. Cheers Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netic Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 Well done Buddy, great report...gotta love the dollies ACZ.....He can keep as many as he wants...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luringbream Posted April 20, 2007 Author Share Posted April 20, 2007 (edited) good to hear mate, i was planning to have a crack with the zooms this weekend so thats reasuring! good work Mate fish them on a 3 gram jighead 2ft under and you will get plenty! Just get in there real early, try to get to the fad before first light. Hopefully the dollies will stick around for another month ah. We all hope so. I was reading on fishingwa that dollies grow one kilo a month, so hopefully we will be getting into a few bigger ones before they go. And hopefully some bulls will pass through!! ACZ.....He can keep as many as he wants..... Its very rarely i keep this many table fish. I release most of my catches however there were a few people that i had to return the favour to and give some fish. (Also I chucked 2 fish in the photo that i was given on tuesday) DAN Edited April 20, 2007 by Luringbream Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
costello Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 Nice bag there Dan, go the light gear! How do Dollie's taste on the table? Well done. Cheers, Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ophet Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 I agree with you Netic, he can, but what can you possibly do with that many Dollies? They do not freeze well at all and basically turn to mush. They pretty much need to be eaten fresh.... The Dollie season has been slow as it is, and if we continue to take hundreds a day from the Fads (between the tens of boats that fish there), surely it will not improve in future years? Or maybe Dollies are that fast growing, that such hauls wouuld be inconsequential...... I hope so. I hope he has a large family! Nonetheless, an excellent effort in getting in to them. Well done. I agree with you too Keepin_TABS, but what I think Netic is trying to say is that it is up to the person to decide whether they want to keep the fish or not. Who are we to judge? I love catching fish and giving them away, to family, friends and neighbours. I get joy out of seeing them enjoy freshly caught premium table fish, something not everyone gets a chance to experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ophet Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 despite all other claims re: dollies freezing poorly, ive had great success de-frosting them up to 2-3 weeks after capture so i believe this isn't really an issue it is a great catch and congrats luringbream, however what are you going to do with all the little ones? i find they have absolutely no meat to them. CFD I agree with the little ones having little meat on them. Probably best for fish cakes. I don't think I will keep any dollies that are less then 50cm, they are just way too thin. This will allow them to grow a little more, preserve our stocks some more, and keep everyone happy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CR@ZY OS@M@ Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 great haul of dollies mate,but i do agree with cf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 Nice catch of Dollies there u must have had a ball. These fish do grow at a phenominal pace, and are not targeted by comercial fishos in Syd, as far as I know. I also strongly believe in site rule no. 15 penguin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netic Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 Nice catch of Dollies there u must have had a ball. These fish do grow at a phenominal pace, and are not targeted by comercial fishos in Syd, as far as I know. I also strongly believe in site rule no. 15 penguin Spot on Penguin.........If i catch 40 tomorrow.....im keeping forty...they grow at a amazing rate and i have plenty of people to give them out too...and as CFD said....i disagree with the frozen thing about dollies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammy0884 Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 Just remember guys...... The Bag limit for Dolphin fish is 20 fish per person per day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netic Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 Just remember guys...... The Bag limit for Dolphin fish is 20 fish per person per day. Mate we will have four people on board so we will be fine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammy0884 Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 Mate we will have four people on board so we will be fine Hi Oz, that was not directed at you , i just wanted to make sure that people know that they are entitled to take 20 fish per person. Take 80 as long as they don't go to waste! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsswordfisherman Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 A mention here to all raiders Site rule number 15 states No criticism of legal catches and/or inappropriate imposing of C&R views in fishing reports Please observe this rule to avoid consequences. Admin will consider banning persons who persist with this line of posting. Sorry to luringbream. Well done on the catch. This post is now closed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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