When to fish for Mahi Mahi: Tide is largely irrelevant for mahi — they're a blue-water pelagic over deep water. What matters is current edges (the colour change between two water masses), water temp 22°C+, and floating structure.
Also known as Dolphinfish, Dorado, Dollies. Bait, technique, tide windows, and where the bite is on right now.
Mahi Mahi — Acrobatic blue-water FAD-loving summer pelagic. Also called Dolphinfish, Dorado, Dollies.
Mahi mahi live four years maximum and grow fast enough that a 12 kg fish can be eighteen months old. Once one is hooked on a FAD, the school will follow it to the boat — that one fish in the water buys sight-casts at every other fish in the school. Leave it tied, do not boat it first.
Mahi Mahi is also known as: Dolphinfish, Dorado, Dollies. Acrobatic blue-water FAD-loving summer pelagic.
Regional names can confuse anglers and cause misidentification. The table of common names below covers the most-used alternatives across Australia, New Zealand and the US:
Key to correct identification: check the regulations-authority species sheet for your state or territory before keeping any fish — minimum legal sizes, bag limits and identification guides are published by each fisheries department and are the authoritative source.
Hero spots in our coverage where Mahi Mahi is in season for August. Click through for the live forecast.
Out of season across our covered spots in August. Check back in September.
Deeper reading on the species, the tides, the safety, and the timing windows behind the forecast.
In Australia, fish FADs (Fish Aggregating Devices — government-deployed offshore in NSW/QLD/WA — find them on coordinates published by state fisheries) by pulling up 20–30 m off, casting plastics or stickbaits, and burley with chopped pilchard. Once one fish is hooked, leave it in the water — the school will follow, and you can sight-cast to the rest. Floating debris, weed lines and current edges hold fish offshore too — a single floating palm frond can hold dozens.
Field-proven Mahi Mahi methods compiled from published tackle guides — AU East offshore FADs, fish traps, current lines and shelf edges. Every method links its source.
1drifting or slow-trolling live baits near FADs
Bait / lure: live yellowtail scad/yakka or slimy mackerel
Rig: about 1-1.5m trace with 5/0-6/0 hook pinned through back or nose; keep reel in freespool until the fish takes off
When & where: FADs and fish traps; stay off the buoy/rope and fish up-current or just outside the crowd to avoid tangles
2casting topwater and plastics to FAD fish
Bait / lure: poppers, stickbaits, small jighead plastics or baitfish-profile lures
Rig: light to medium spin outfit for school fish, heavier 40-50lb braid/40-60lb leader outfit if larger fish are likely
When & where: visible schools around FADs, especially early/late or around tide change; cast near rather than over the FAD
3trolling around FADs
Bait / lure: deep divers, small skirts or marlin-sized skirts for larger fish offshore
Rig: troll loops or figure-eights outside the FAD; do not run over the buoy or rope
When & where: early morning around FADs, fish traps and current lines, including 200-300m off the FAD for larger fish
4cubing and strip-bait drifting
Bait / lure: pilchard/yellowtail/slimy mackerel cubes, squid strips or unweighted bait cube
Rig: 5/0-6/0 hook through strip/cube, unweighted or tiny bean sinker; maintain a steady berley trail
When & where: start the drift up-current of the FAD; keep cubing while hooked up to hold the school near the boat
Tide is largely irrelevant for mahi — they're a blue-water pelagic over deep water. What matters is current edges (the colour change between two water masses), water temp 22°C+, and floating structure. The exception: where current pushes through a FAD or buoy, the windward / down-current side is where the fish stack up.
Moon phase has minimal documented effect on mahi. Solunar major and minor windows align with feeding bursts but the bigger driver is water temp and finding the fish. Mahi often feed actively all day in summer once located. Cloudy days arguably fish better than bright high-sun days.
Figures come from each jurisdiction's own fisheries authority, with the source linked on every page above. Rules change — closures in particular are reset annually — so confirm with the authority before you keep a fish.
Mahi limits differ between the Australian states, and in American waters federal Highly Migratory Species rules apply offshore rather than the state limits — confirm which regime you are fishing under before you keep a fish. The per-jurisdiction figures are above. Mahi are short-lived — four years is an old one — and fast-growing, which is why their bag limits are comparatively generous.
NSW size & bag limits for Mahi Mahi — current DPIRD limits, verified →
Other Australian states — size & bag limits for Mahi Mahi: QLD · NT
The IGFA all-tackle world record for Mahi Mahi is 39.46 kg, caught by Manuel Salazar at Papagayo Gulf, Costa Rica in 1976. The Australian record (GFAA all-tackle) for Mahi Mahi is 31 kg, caught by Ray Bourke at Port Stephens in 1981.
| Record | Weight | Angler | Location | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World record (IGFA all-tackle)Coryphaena hippurus | 39.46 kg | Manuel Salazar | Papagayo Gulf, Costa Rica | 1976-09-25 | IGFA → |
| Australian record (GFAA)Coryphaena hippurus | 31 kg | Ray Bourke | Port Stephens | 1981-02-16 | GFAA → |
Records as published by the IGFA and the Game Fishing Association of Australia — verify against the linked source before citing.
Olli-Mikael Vaittinen has fished his whole life. Fifteen years of fly fishing, guiding seasons on Norway's Lakselva — his favourite Atlantic salmon river — and a blue marlin landed in Vava'u, Tonga. Founder of Fishare — the app that puts the data behind the decisions every angler makes on the water.
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