Slim pickings at the FADs

 On Sunday 3 rd December 2023 at 4:30am, we launched ABF out of Cleveland. This was the first trip

that my Dad was joining us after moving to Australia. Carl and I were hoping to show him some of

the good fishing that the area had to offer.

There was a light SE wind blowing but not enough to make the run across the bay eventful. The low

tide was at around 6:20am, but with the small tide difference, there was no surf to speak of on the

bar. We headed straight to the artificial reef off Cylinder beach and found masses of bait. It took us

all of 20mins to fill the live well with slimies.

We had our usual arsenal of light tackle gear on board so that we could accumulate club and

Queensland points. The idea was to run to the Fads and tag a few dolphinfish. There was currently

an internal club competition for the highest scoring dolphinfish, so we were hoping to get a few

contenders. With the SE wind, the most comfortable run was to fad 4. As we ran out, we noticed

that the water was blue out to 70m but then turned a bit green. When we got to the fad, there were

already 2 boats there, but it looked like there was not much happening. After livebaiting for 20 mins,

we made the call to run 12km north to fad 16. It would be an easy run with wind behind us. When

we approached the fad, there were again 2 boats there. We put out 2 livies and made a pass by the

buoy. I had a dolphinfish chase my livie and miss it a few times before it faded off. We were hoping

that we had found the shoal, but our excitement quickly turned to despair when after an hour, there

was no more action. Being in the are we were, there were not too many alternative plans. After

checking a few options, we opted to make the long run back south, into the wind, to fad 15. This was

not the first trip I was hoping to show my Dad. After over an hour of bumping our way to the fad, we

made our first pass with 2 livies. Carl had a pull on the 2kg line and hooked up to a dolphinfish. This

fish was determined to cut him off and we had to do some fancy foot work with the boat to stay out

of the barnacles. After a few minutes, the leader came up and, in an attempt, to control the fish, I

grabbed it, but it went mental and pulled the leader through my hand and the double line popped

before I could let go. We would need to settle for the leader and release points.

While Carl was sorting out a new leader, I put my livie out and soon had a pull. I hooked up and

luckily the fish played fare, giving us a quick shot on the leader where Carl lifted a 71cm dolphin into

the boat. It was quickly tagged and released. With 2 quick pulls, we were hoping to get a few more,

but alas the bite shut down.

We decided to head toward the bar but on the way, have a quick stop at sevens reef. On arrival ,the

water was blue and quite a bit of life on the surface. We put out 2 livies and soon Carl’s reel smoked

off. Unfortunately the 2kg line popped during the initial run. I suggested we up lines and make

another drift. A few minutes in, Carl went tight on a small longtail tuna on 3kg line that he measured

and released. With there being some action, we made another drift and this time my Dad caught his

first longtail on 4kg line which was also released. On the last drift Carl released another longtail on

3kg before heading home.

We used 75lt of fuel and traveled roughly 140km.