Depends on species for me. I find gurnard, and to some extent Lemonfish seem to hook up better with a simple dropper rig. No idea why, but thats been my experience. I know others here who have found the pulley rig catches everything they want.

I think most Kiwis use the pulley rig more for its long-cast capabilities than anything else. I use it probably 90% of the time for 'exploratory' fishing when I'm not targeting a certain species, but just hoping for a hookup on anything.