Talking about Tailor – May/June are months for Tailor traditionally the tailor run kicks off 25th April – ANZAC day. Tailor can be on the open beaches, ocean rocks or estuary. They are a ferocious surface feeder and are commonly known as the poor man’s game fish. Pilchards on ganged hook rigs are the most commonly used tailor baits as well as spinning metal lures. Birds working the surface is a sure sign of tailor activity, at times the fish themselves will chop the water during a feeding frenzy. It’s a fun action fishing, Tailor are a hard fighting fish, with sharp teeth. Tailor have a soft flesh and require bleeding upon capture, they lend themselves well to smoking or best eaten fresh. Best times for Tailor fishing are before dawn or dusk. Best locations to catch Tailor in the Bay are the Nelson Bay Break wall, Anchorage Break wall, Shoal Bay Wharf, Wanda Head, Torpedo Tubes or any of the deeper ocean beaches, such as Fingal Bay, Box Beach One Mile and Samurai and holes on Stockton. Legal minimum size is 30cm with a bag limit of 10. Interesting fact on 12/9/17 81cm Tailor was caught in Lake Macquarie, studies at DPI aged the fish at 6 years of age which is the oldest recorded tailor on record.
Luke & his 820g Tailor
When fishing on the Beach for Tailor don’t make the mistake of casting over the fish. Tailor like deeper gutters and holes. When feeding on the beach they move into the intertidal zone to feed. The intertidal zone is the area between the tide levels. The move cover they have the closer they move in, cover in the form of darkness, white-water or an overcast day. So, if fishing with two rods then always have a bait in close.
Reading the beach
Best baits for tailor. Tailor will attack most baits although fish baits are far the best, the most commonly used fish bait is the humble pilchard on a either 3 or 4 gang hook rig. I recommend 4 ganged hooks, many times the fish will attack the bait and take the tail from the baitfish missing that 3rd hook, the 4th hook will cover the tail area and have a much better chance hooking the fish. This is of course depending upon hook size used. The pilchard can be either brined (salted) or fresh. Garfish are also a popular bait although are a little harder to come by. U can buy them although Garfish are great fun to catch, Shoal Bay is a current Garfish Hotspot for this. Rig the Garfish the same as a pilchard. Although when the Tailor are feeding and active amongst bait school metal surface spinners are the way to go, they hit the spinner instinctively and hard. Many anglers have their favourite spinners, although really any metal spinner will work, the only factor to consider is the weight depending how far you need to cast. The further the cast with the spinner the more water you cover and greater your chances are of a bite.
Upon capture the fish needs to be bleed to preserve its flavour. As Tailor has a soft flesh I suggest refrigerate overnight which firms the flesh. Fillet the fish and then either pan fry or grill. The fish can be baked whole and lends itself well to smoking. Regardless which method of cooking you choose I recommend eating tailor fresh. Many places you can fish for tailor some of the best Ocean Rocks Spots for Tailor are Rocks N end Samurai, Middle Rock, Point at Sunny Corner, Rocks at the S end of Box Beach and the Torpedo tubes. Questions about Taylor either pop in store or call on 49820711 or check out Salamander Bait & Tackle Website; www.slamanader baittackle.com.au for the latest fishing reports
