queensland Offshore PB Dollies

[Manni79]

I’ll start with saying it’s so nice when work doesn’t get in the way of fishing, usually the weather is better and there are less boats to contend with and when the fish play the game it’s that much sweeter. Earlier in the week we hatched a plan with Ted & Henry to head offshore and target Dollies in hopes of not only Henry popping his Dollie cherry but for the rest of us to upgrade our PB’s

We make our way to the bar meeting Shane on the way and was greeted with a sloppy bar but still manageable to cross.

We load up on livies and before you know it we hit the Dollie grounds. After success last week with surface lures it was an easy choice in deciding what to tie on this time around and we get our rods ready.

When we got to our spot things looked pretty quiet, usually you’ll see the Dollies free jumping or at least swimming near by with the bright colours flashing through the water. We drift past slowly throwing casts around the boat with a few casts thrown for nothing however as we drift further and a few more casts thrown the Dollies start chasing our stick baits and bang!!! I’m on and then seconds later Henry is on!! Double hooks ups, theres nothing better unless it’s a triple hook up which also occurred as the day went on....

As we both fight the fish we can see them jumping high out of the water and straight away we both new we had some good sized Dollies on the end of our lines. After a short battle we landed these two fish. What was awesome about this start is that this was Henry’s first Dollie and was also around 90cm and mine in the high 80's! How awesome to pop your cherry on surface and with a decent sized Dollie!!!

We spent a few hours there with a fish being caught every drift and again with multiple double and triple hook ups. The fish were a bit shy however the quality of size was bigger than average and rat kings also made for awesome fun and these guys were not shy!!!

More and more fish are being boated and then Ted’s hooks up to a Dollie that gave a great account of itself after a short fight we have the fish near the boat and it didn’t look that big in the water but after we netted it we knew we had a beauty!!

Ted landed his PB Dollie around 93/94cm. The metre mark getting oh so closer again!!

Not long after that Ted also lands this nice (Legal) rat king which was another first for him I believe

We fished this spot a bit longer and Henry was using a Sharpshooter now to land a King & Dollie and this made for some great rod bending action on the silly string....

Henry was now feeling a bit green so we thought it was time to leave the Dollies and look for Tuna or Mackeral (Which eluded us today) and headed to the sevens reef. Things started well with my second cast using a 60gram slug getting smashed and at first we picked it for a mackerel but it was another rat king.

Ted’s on next but on the heavy overhead that had a livie. The fish was fighting hard but was hard to call, cod, kingie, shark, scuba diver.... but Ted fought the fish well and we got this fella boat side. We weren’t sure what species it was but it has since been identified as a sandbar shark, we took a few happy snaps in the water and let it go.

It was a great day on the water and again awesome company. We wrapped up the day fairly early and had a cruisy run back home. Thanks again guys!!

[crazywalrus]

Another great Day out there Manni. We spent 4 hours chasing the dollies and kings. Hard to leave them when you are getting 2 to 3 fish each a drift. I can not explain the disappointment on catching the shark. A descent fish off the bottom has eluded me of late. It gave a good account for itself and the fight for the first bit was not a typical shark fight.

Great day out and it was good to get out again with you Manni and also great to finally have a fish with you also Henry. Got the boys now for a month so there goes any midweek fish unless they are truants.

[Do$tylz]

Thanks again Ted for getting me out there. It was a great day to be out and was a stark reminder to myself that it has been too long between sessions. Getting a bit seasick after a few hours in the rolling swell had me needing a bit of a lie down for about 40minutes after popping a quells.

Landing that first dollie on topwater was AWEWOME. They look fantastic under water and to catch topwater fish in 50-60m of water is crazy cool. What was also awesome was when the rat kings were hanging around and they were only hitting the pillie cubes getting thrown over. Too lazy to change from a topwater lure I asked Ted to chuck me a pillie cube. I stuck that onto the back treble and lobbed it into the water. Ted's there chuckling away when we both saw the kingies have a look at it then commit and hook up. Does that count as a kingy on topwater?

[aussie123]

Sounds like a top day out.

Well done Henry on your first Dolly, they are a beautiful fish to watch swimming around the boat and to catch.

They are awesome pics too.

[Luvit]

What a way to open your account Henry. clapping

The colour in the water and fish look amazing.

I love reading the reports and seeing people getting on to fish.

Another PB next time Ted should see you crack the meter mark.

Good luck Manni with the move, you're doing well to get a few session in before you head off.

Cheers

Wayne

[Angus]

So good.

So jealous!!!

It does not make me feel better knowing the issue that kept me from going has yet to be resolved.

At least I got some rods shipped

Angus

P.S. Thanks again Henry for the fillets. I would actually have to rate dolly as easily in my top 3 eating fish. I have thought this in the past but it has been a long time since testing the theory!

[Manni79]

What a way to open your account Henry. clapping

The colour in the water and fish look amazing.

I love reading the reports and seeing people getting on to fish.

Another PB next time Ted should see you crack the meter mark.

Good luck Manni with the move, you're doing well to get a few session in before you head off.

Cheers

Wayne

Cheers mate, will not be back for quite a while so getting in what sessions I can and tick off a few more species, I found out today most likely will not move for 2 more weeks now, although partly frustrating it does mean I can squeeze in some more fishing up here

[kmcrosby78]

Awesome dollies there fellas, well done. Unlucky on the shark Ted, can imagine the disappointment. Seems to have a bl00dy big dorsal fin!!

[Binder]

Well done, and there was Ted telling me on the weekend he hardly gets to catch a fish himself these days.....

[Terry H]

Some nice looking Dollies there! Was there much aerial action or do they tend to stay down a bit more?

Very jealous! Looks like good weather too

[crazywalrus]

There is a fair bit of aerial action with the dollies. if you hook them up near the surface they will jump a lot. A fair few of these were hooked deep so they tend to jump less.

[jon]

nice work Ted,and co. you guys did a bit better than us that day, good work. we were wathcing ted from afar and hoping that shark was a massive cobe, but after 10 mins and by the look of the fight we knew it wa s shark, but at least you got a good work out. Dont those dollies look and taste so good!

[crazywalrus]

nice work Ted,and co. you guys did a bit better than us that day, good work. we were wathcing ted from afar and hoping that shark was a massive cobe, but after 10 mins and by the look of the fight we knew it wa s shark, but at least you got a good work out. Dont those dollies look and taste so good!

Yeah I was the same. It was fighting really well and did not seem like a shark. I agree Dollies are the most beautiful fish in the ocean.

[Carter]

Nice session guys :cheer: