Where:	The Perth FADs, up to 28mn from Fremantle
When:	November to May
Gear:	2-6kg spinning or baitcasting gear with 4-12lb Fireline
Tackle:	N/A
Bait:	Mulies, Live Baits, Squid
Lure:	Snapback Jerkshads, 1/2oz lead jigheads with 2/0 hooks
Leader:	20lb Fluorocarbon

Mahi mahi or dolphinfish don’t live anywhere near land for most of their lives, preferring warmer waters like those provided by the Leeuwin Current off the coast of WA.

They are certainly a world class sportfish and give even small boat anglers the opportunity to tangle with the sort of fast running, high leaping and tenacious adversary rarely found in southern Australia. If you’ve never given the dolphinfish a try, this is the year for you!

Mahi mahi, or dolphinfish, are caught all over the world, essentially in a global band stretching south as far as Albany or Cape Town and north as far as the northern United States or Portugal.

They are rarely, if ever, caught from the mainland because they prefer deep water and warm currents found near the continental shelf or open ocean. They are just as common in southern WA as the northern parts and are probably actually caught more often due to the excellent Perth FADs program.

They travel in huge schools of brightly coloured fish, wandering the currents and rarely choosing to live near reefs. This makes them vulnerable to predators, especially marlin, and so they will be attracted to anything floating on the surface that offers protection.

This is why the FADs (Fish Aggregating Devices) behind Rottnest are such a success for the Perth Game Fishing Club and the local TAFE schools that put them in place each spring.

Dollies are an extremely resilient fish, being able to grow fast and double their population every 15 months. They can breed in the wild before they are 6 months old and in captivity at only 3 months old.

They are, in fact, one of the fastest growing fish species in the world. Fish off Perth can literally be seen growing at about a kilo a month, starting out the season small and ending up around 6 or 7 kilos by March. With their powerful forked tail, the dolphinfish can produce speeds as high as 80km/h.

Another trait that keeps anglers coming back for more are the spectacular leaps they perform when hooked including forward somersaults that can sever your line. These are usually followed by several exciting runs before settling into dogged tug-of-war tactics.

Ferocious and Fussy

Mahi mahi are pelagic and can be ferocious feeders at times, or totally fussy at others, depending on their mood. Their forked tail and a long dorsal fin provide the speed and agility to outrun a marlin and this makes them an exciting catch as they run long and jump often when hooked.

Free swimming in the water, they appear a royal purple or blue but turn bright green or yellow when hooked. These are known as their “fright colours”. Most fish are caught off Perth in depths of over 130 metres, even though the fish swim mainly in the top 10% of the water column, but their pelagic nature can make it very hard to find a roaming school.

That's why local anglers owe a debt to The Perth Game Fishing Club which puts out FADs at the start of each summer with the help of the local TAFE and some WA Government funding.

The Perth FADs are yellow, cone shaped floats which are anchored to the bottom of the ocean. The closest one is usually around 8nm from Rottnest's west end in 90 metres of water but it rarely produces good fishing. There are usually five deeper FADs that produce more fish in larger sizes but these can be 7-12nm further again and at least 5nm apart. This means you could be 30nm plus from shore so care is certainly required. It’s a dangerous open ocean out there that can change quickly.

The deeper FADs out near the Rottnest Trench are not only much more active for mahi mahi, but other sportfish like tuna and marlin as well. Mahi are attracted to any structure, and school around these devices, making summer the prime fishing time.

It’s basically true that you’ll find them are out there at most times of the year (in lesser numbers over winter) but FADs must be removed in autumn or the rough weather will damage them.

It is believed that the fish are attracted to FADs for not only the baitfish but the cover they provide from marlin, which love to eat them. It’s an amazing sight to see the water around the floats explode with hundreds of previously unseen dollies porpoising frantically in an effort to escape a rampaging marlin. Boom! A hole appears in the school and one disappears down the throat of a massive billfish.

November signals the start of the season and most early fish are "rats" around the 2-4kg mark. These are usually the easiest to catch and it can be hard to get through the small ones to the larger fish that swim beneath them. As the months progress, the fish grow rapidly at almost a kilo a month and, in March and April, 7-10kg fish are not uncommon.

They are notoriously spooky at times and very partial to calm water and weather. Even if they’re active at first, mahi mahi certainly don't like 20 props carving up the water around the FAD. Unfortunately, calm days that far out are rare and having the FAD to yourself on a weekend doesn't happen very often, so many a time they will turn their noses up at any bait or lure you use.

Trolling pink skirted lures about the size of small squid is certainly productive at all times of the season, but, these days, we prefer soft plastic leadhead lures.

The advent of tons of quality bream / bass sized tackle that can be loaded with 2 kilo line has also opened up new options for the FADs. The feeling of a fast running, high leaping, 6 kilo fish charging around in 200 metres of water connected to 2 kilo bream gear is pretty awesome and soft plastics are making this possible.

Firstly you need to have the mahi there and feeding. Birds working around or just off the FAD are a good sign. No birds generally means no fish, or hard work for just a couple. Birds always follow feeding schools of fish and just the sight of dolphinfish cruising on the surface is bound to attract at least one bird and probably several.

TT Jigheads and Snapback soft plastics are our weapons of choice and we connect them to 4lb Fireline with 10-20lb Fluorocarbon leaders, depending on the size of the fish. Our best method is to let the boat drift past the FAD in the current, engine off, and cast the lures around the chain. We let them sink and count to five, lift the rod tip with a twitch, pause, lift, pause, WHACK!

It’s a major thrill to catch any dolphinfish on light gear but to twitch them up bream style on bream gear … well you just have to experience it. We have learned that by far the best way is to cast far from the boat and work the lure back slowly against the current, letting the heavy jighead sink down sharply and the plastic tail wiggle and do its thing. Fish under the boat almost never show interest in the lure because dollies always go to the biggest floating object as a FAD – namely us! Once there, they will hardly ever feed.

Finally, the eating qualities are excellent with a sweet, tailor-like taste and long, thick fillets. They cook up superbly but don’t freeze at all well, so it’s best to take only what you need for that day to avoid wasting the rest.

Quite simply, whether you call them mahi mahi, dolphinfish or dorado, they could very well be the perfect fish!