Six new FADs have been deployed off the Perth coast, marking off a huge milestone in establishing Recfishwest’s three-year State-wide FADs trial. And, after only three weeks in the water, they’re already producing great dolphinfish action!
On Friday 13 December, Hon-Su Chin from Tackle West and Blake from Compleat Angler and Camping World Rockingham, headed out to the recently deployed FADs and got into some great dolphinfish action.
“It’s sensational to see the FADs already producing great sports fishing for metro fishers, opening up the sensational offshore pelagic fishing on offer,” Recfishwest CEO Dr Andrew Rowland said.
“So as the water begins to warm up this summer, it’s perfect timing to put dolphinfish, tuna, wahoo and billfish on your target list.
“We’ve put two additional FADs at the back of Rotto, which will complement the existing spread of six FADs out there deployed by the Perth Game Fishing Club, with whom we have been working closely with to get this great project off the ground.”
In addition, in really exciting news for northern-suburbs recfishers, we’ve deployed a cluster of four FADs due west of Mindarie Marina. This means you now have access to FADs within a 40-50 km steam out from boat ramps at Hillarys, Ocean Reef, Mindarie and Two Rocks.
See the FAD deployment video below!
Launching these FADs gets our toe in the water, gets the attention of Government and potential future partners and gives us the capability to learn more about when and where best to deploy the devices.
This is why we’re going for deployment in places like Albany, Cape Naturaliste and Geraldton as well to see how they might work there and closer to shore in Exmouth and Broome to see if they can open up more fishing opportunities.
When we publicly launched the FADs with Fisheries Minister Dave Kelly a couple of weeks ago, we said this is exactly what RFIF money should be spent on – new innovative projects meeting a high demand from the community that can dramatically enhance recfishing opportunities.
That’s why we’ve been so keen and persistent in pursuing this project, however, we’ve encountered quite a few obstacles along the way.
The approvals process has been particularly long and bureaucratic, but we kept our eyes on the prize – fantastic sportfishing for pelagics off the metro and regional centres for recfishers.
Now – it’s over to you – get out there, give the FADS a crack and let us know how you go – we’d love to hear from you and see some of your pics of prized catches on the new FADs.
